We develop mobile apps for food delivery couriers. This role is specific: short routes (1–5 km), up to 30 orders per shift, frequent bike or scooter trips, tight timeframes — food must stay hot. The app must work without lag, with minimal taps on key actions, and accurately show the route from restaurant to customer. Over 7 years, we have released 15+ delivery apps and know every technical detail.
Why Is Order Acceptance Timer Synchronization Critical?
A new order arrives as a push notification with a timer. The courier has 30–45 seconds to accept or decline. If no response, the order goes to the next courier. The screen shows the restaurant address, customer address, distance, estimated time, and order cost.
The timer is implemented as a circular progress bar with countdown. On iOS we use CAShapeLayer with strokeEnd animation; on Android, a custom View with Canvas.drawArc. The timer is client-side, synchronized with the server using the offer creation timestamp, not the push reception time — push can be delayed 8–10 seconds due to FCM. We’ve seen the error: the timer counted from push receipt, the courier saw 22 seconds instead of 30, tapped 'accept' at the last moment, but the server had already assigned the order to another courier. Solution: include offer_created_at in the push payload; the client calculates the difference with Date.now().
How We Configure Navigation for Different Courier Types?
The route consists of two legs: first to the restaurant (pickup), then to the customer (delivery). Each leg provides turn-by-turn navigation. For bike and pedestrian couriers, we use walking routes; for cars, driving routes. The mode is determined automatically by speed (GPS speedometer: >15 km/h — car, otherwise pedestrian/bike) or selected manually during registration.
Mapbox Navigation SDK supports cycling and walking profiles out of the box. Google Maps Navigation SDK also supports them, but at large order volumes it becomes more expensive. Mapbox SDK is 2.5 times cheaper than Google Maps SDK at 100,000 requests per month.
| Parameter | Mapbox SDK | Google Maps SDK |
|---|---|---|
| Route profiles | Walking, cycling, driving | Walking, cycling, driving |
| Cost at 100k requests/month | ~$150 | ~$400 |
| Offline maps | Yes, with caching | Premium only |
| Ease of integration | Quick setup | Complex configuration |
Multiple Orders at Once
Advanced feature (Yandex.Lavka, Delivery Club 'batch'): courier takes 2–3 orders from one restaurant, delivers to different addresses. The route is built as a sequence of points with optimal ordering via waypoints in the Directions API. On the client, a list of points with a 'completed' button for each.
What Is Included in Courier App Development?
We provide a complete set of deliverables:
- Technical documentation and architecture
- Screen design (Figma) with UX for quick actions
- Source code for iOS/Android/cross-platform
- Push notification setup (APNs/FCM) and geofences
- Payment gateway integration (Stripe, PayPal)
- Deployment to App Store and Google Play with review passage
- Customer team training (2–3 hours)
- Support for 1 month after launch
Work Process: From Analysis to Publication
| Stage | Duration | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Analysis and prototype | 1–2 weeks | User stories, wireframes, API specification |
| Design | 1–2 weeks | Pixel-perfect mockups of all screens |
| Backend and client development | 4–6 weeks | Working MVP on staging |
| Testing and bug fixing | 1–2 weeks | QA report, fixed bugs |
| Store deployment | 1 week | App in App Store and Google Play |
Timeline: from 6 to 10 weeks to first release. Cost is calculated individually.
How to Ensure Offline Data Access?
A bike courier in a basement restaurant — no network. Critical data (customer address, phone number, door code) is cached when the order is received. For status updates, we use exponential backoff: if the 'delivered' request fails, we retry with increasing delay until server confirmation. The courier should not manually tap 'resend'.
Example offline queue configuration on iOS
let operationQueue = OperationQueue() operationQueue.maxConcurrentOperationCount = 1 // Use Reachability for network monitoring Order Pickup Confirmation at Restaurant
The courier picks up the order and confirms by scanning a QR code on the receipt (reliable) or pressing a 'picked up' button (simpler, but no verification). QR scanning via MLKit or Vision takes 0.5–1 second. To auto-show the 'picked up' button, we use a GPS geofence with a radius of 50–100 meters — the button is active only when the courier is actually at the restaurant. This prevents false taps from elsewhere.
Tips and Ratings
After delivery — a screen prompting to leave a tip (optional). We use Stripe Payment Intents for post-payment. The customer rates the courier; the rating is aggregated in the profile. At the end of the shift, the courier sees total earnings, number of deliveries, and average rating. Charts are built with SwiftCharts (iOS 16+) or MPAndroidChart — a simple bar chart by shift hour. On average, a courier receives 150 rubles in tips per order, which at 20 orders per day adds an extra 3,000 rubles.
How to Increase Courier Earnings Through the App?
- Optimize routes — less idle mileage.
- Add a rating system — high rating improves trust and tips.
- Implement offline mode — courier doesn't lose orders when network is lost.
Get a consultation on your project — we'll assess timeline and cost for free. Order turnkey development with quality guarantee and deadline compliance. We guarantee first-time store review pass — our experience confirms this.