Uber Driver App Troubleshooting: Unable to Call or Text a Rider

The Uber app can be difficult to navigate and troubleshoot at times. The last thing you want to be spending time on as a driver is researching, contacting uber support, and waiting to get help for various app issues that can occur. As part of an Uber Troubleshooting Series, we will be outlining steps to fix the most common Uber app issues over a series of articles. The first issue we want to tackle is when you are unable to contact riders through the app.

The first thing to check if you are having trouble connecting with riders, is to verify that your cell phone number is indeed typed in correctly on your Uber account. Many times, a simple typo or accidentally entering in your home number vs cell number is why you are unable to contact your riders. Once you have verified that your cell number is indeed typed in correctly, check to make sure that your number is not private, blocked, or a google voice number. Any one of these 3 things will also give you issues when using the Uber app.

If you have checked all of the above and everything is correct, our next suggestion to is make sure that your “Do Not Disturb” mode is OFF on your phone. If you have this switched to on, any phone calls will be automatically forwarded to your voicemail.

Steps to verify that your number is correct or to add a new number:

Tap your profile photo in the upper right corner
Select "Account" from the top menu, then "Edit Account"
Tap your phone number
Enter your new number
Tap "UPDATE PHONE"

Finally, it is important to not that Uber anonymizes rider and driver phone numbers so if you are trying to contact a rider after a ride you will be unable to. The phone numbers that are displayed when you are paired with a rider are unique and cannot be saved for future use. If you would like to contact a ride after you have given a ride you will need to go through the application.

Uber anonymizes rider and driver phone numbers in India, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Mexico, Canada, France, Singapore, South Africa, Brazil, Taiwan, Sweden, Poland, Netherlands, Romania, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Japan, Ireland, Israel, Estonia, Slovakia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Peru, and Hong Kong.

If you are still having issues, make sure your Uber driver app is updated as you may be experiencing a glitch.