App builder

Build a driver app for the cab
that covers every stop and fuel receipt.

Describe how your drivers work and Netiva’s AI builds a web app they open on their phones for today’s jobs, stop updates, delivery photos, vehicle checks and fuel receipts — with code you own.

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Starter prompt

Build a driver web app for a regional delivery company running vans and tractor-trailers. Each driver signs in and sees only today’s pickups and deliveries, earliest appointment first, with the address, site notes and a Navigate button that opens the phone’s maps app. Drivers tap Arrived, then Done or Failed attempt. Done needs a photo plus the recipient’s name and an on-screen signature, or just a photo for unattended drops; a failed attempt needs a reason and a photo of the door tag or closed gate. Add a pre-trip vehicle check with defect photos and a fuel and expense log with receipt photos, gallons and the station’s name and address.

Build it in Netiva Paste the prompt into a new workspace and adjust it to your business.
Overview

Who this driver app is for

Plenty of delivery and freight drivers still start the day with a printed run sheet, a pad of delivery notes and a door pocket full of fuel receipts. When a customer insists a parcel never came, the office waits for the driver to get back before anyone can find the signature, and expense claims get pieced together at month end. A driver app puts each driver’s jobs, site notes, stop updates, proof-of-delivery photos, vehicle checks and receipts on the phone they already carry, so the record is made at the door or the dock instead of typed up later.

Key features

What your driver app can do

  • Today’s jobs on the driver’s phone

    Each driver signs in and sees only the pickups and deliveries assigned to them for today, earliest appointment first, with the site notes they need before they pull up.

    • A Navigate button that opens the address in the phone’s maps app
    • Gate codes, dock numbers and drop instructions above the job buttons
    • Arrived, Done and Failed attempt buttons that stamp the time
    • Time on site worked out from arrival to completion

  • Proof of delivery at the door

    When a driver taps Done, the app asks for whatever your customers accept as proof — a photo, the recipient’s printed name and a signature drawn on the screen — and saves it with the job as electronic proof of delivery (ePOD).

    • Photo-only proof for parcels left at the door
    • A reason and a photo for every failed attempt
    • Barcode scan of the parcel label to confirm the right item
    • Shortages, damage or a mismatched seal noted at handover

  • Vehicle checks before and after a shift

    Drivers work through a checklist for the truck, van or trailer they’re taking out and add a note and photo for anything that isn’t right, so defects reach the office the same day.

    • Pre-trip and post-trip checks tied to a unit number
    • An odometer reading taken with each check
    • An email to the office or workshop when a defect is reported
    • The last check on a vehicle shown before the next driver sets off

  • Fuel and expense log

    Drivers record diesel, DEF, tolls, parking and other costs as they pay them, with a photo of the receipt, instead of handing in a crumpled pile at the end of the month.

    • Gallons, fuel type, unit number and the station’s address on fuel lines
    • Weekly totals per driver and per vehicle
    • A saved view of fuel entries by vehicle and quarter
    • Receipt photos kept with each entry
Data model

The collections behind it

Netiva keeps your records in built-in collections. Here’s a starting structure — the agent adapts it to your prompt, and you can change it any time.

Jobs

Every pickup and delivery a driver has to make, with what they need to know on arrival.

  • Job reference (required) Order, pro or BOL number from the office Text
  • Driver (required) The driver’s sign-in email; each driver only sees jobs that carry their own address. Text
  • Job type (required) Pickup or Delivery Text
  • Address (required) Full street address, used by the Navigate button Paragraph
  • Appointment (required) Date & time
  • Site notes Gate code, dock number, contact name, where to leave goods Paragraph
  • Status (required) Assigned, Arrived, Done or Failed attempt Text
  • Arrived at Stamped when the driver taps Arrived Date & time

Delivery proofs

What the driver captured when a job was finished or couldn’t be done.

  • Job (required) Relation to Jobs
  • Outcome (required) Signed for, Left at the door, Collected or Failed attempt Text
  • Recipient name Printed name of the person who signed Text
  • Signature Drawn on the phone screen and saved as an image Image
  • Photo (required) The goods at the door, the loaded trailer or the door tag left Image
  • Failure reason No one available, No access, Refused, Wrong address or Closed Text
  • Driver’s note Where the parcel was left, or anything short, damaged or a seal that didn’t match Paragraph
  • Completed at (required) With the job’s Arrived at, gives the time on site Date & time

Vehicle checks

Each pre-trip and post-trip check, with any defect the driver found.

  • Vehicle (required) Truck, van or trailer unit number, from the fixed fleet list you give the agent Text
  • Driver (required) Filled in from the signed-in driver Text
  • Check type (required) Pre-trip or Post-trip Text
  • Checked at (required) Date & time
  • Odometer Number
  • Checklist results (required) Each item OK or defective — brakes, lights, tires, mirrors, couplings, emergency gear Paragraph
  • Defect details Every defect and where it is, such as a left rear marker light out and a cut tire Paragraph
  • Defect photo The clearest photo of what the driver found Image

Fuel and expenses

Money drivers spend on the road, logged with the receipt when they pay.

  • Driver (required) Filled in from the signed-in driver Text
  • Date (required) Date
  • Type (required) Diesel, Gasoline, DEF, Toll, Parking, Scale ticket, Lumper or Meal Text
  • Vehicle From the fleet list; needed on fuel entries for IFTA credit if you run qualified vehicles Text
  • Amount (required) Total paid, including tax Number
  • Gallons Fuel and DEF lines only; DEF gallons aren’t counted as IFTA fuel Number
  • Station Seller’s name and address as printed; the receipt photo carries the purchaser’s name Text
  • Receipt (required) Image

Required field. Types are Netiva collection field types.

Screens

Pages and screens to start with

A typical first version. Ask the agent for more, or annotate the preview to change any of them.

  • Today

    The signed-in driver’s jobs for today, earliest appointment first, each showing the address, site notes, status and a Navigate button.

    Signed-in users

  • Job

    One pickup or delivery with its appointment and site notes, the Arrived, Done and Failed attempt buttons and a barcode scan to check the parcel label.

    Signed-in users

  • Capture proof

    Take the photo, type the recipient’s name and have them sign on the screen; for a failed attempt, pick a reason and photograph the door tag or the closed gate.

    Signed-in users

  • Vehicle check

    Pick a unit, see its last check, mark each item as OK or defective, enter the odometer and add a photo for anything that fails.

    Signed-in users

  • My expenses

    Log fuel or another cost with a receipt photo, then see this week’s entries and totals by type.

    Signed-in users

  • Proof lookup

    Office staff search finished and failed jobs by reference or date to see the photo, signature, time on site and the driver’s note when a customer calls.

    Your team
How it works

From prompt to a live driver app

  1. Describe a day on the road

    Tell Netiva whether your drivers run parcel vans, box trucks or tractor-trailers, what counts as proof at a drop and which costs they pay themselves. The agent drafts collections for jobs, delivery proofs, vehicle checks and expenses.

  2. Load a test day

    Add a handful of jobs in the collection grid, or ask the collection assistant to draft sample pickups and deliveries so there’s something realistic to tap through.

  3. Walk through a delivery

    In the live preview, open a job, tap Arrived, capture a proof and fail another on purpose. Annotate anything a driver would struggle with, such as a button too small to hit in work gloves, and the agent changes it.

  4. Send drivers the link

    Publish in one click and share the link; drivers open it in their phone’s browser and sign in. Every change is checkpointed, so a new proof rule that causes trouble on the road can be rolled back.

Why Netiva

Netiva vs a traditional build

Building a driver app with Netiva compared with a traditional build
Criterion With Netiva Traditional build
Proof at the door A photo, printed name and on-screen signature saved with the job the moment the driver taps Done Paper delivery notes signed on a clipboard and handed in when the driver gets back
Fuel and expense receipts Receipt photos logged at the pump with gallons, the station’s address and the unit number, totaled every week Paper receipts collected in the cab and added up on a claim form at month end
Getting started Describe what you need in chat and watch it take shape in a live preview Hire developers, or stitch together templates, plugins and a hosting plan
Content and data Built-in collections with nine field types, bound straight to your pages Set up and connect a separate database or CMS
Making changes Ask the agent; every change is checkpointed and reversible File a ticket, wait for a sprint, redeploy
Hosting and domain Global hosting and automatic SSL; connect a custom domain from the Starter plan Buy hosting, then install and renew SSL certificates yourself
Code ownership Clean production code you own and can export Locked into a template, plugin or agency setup
Examples

Ways teams use it

  • A parcel courier running eight vans

    Most parcels are left without a signature, so the photo taken at the door is the proof. When a recipient says nothing arrived, the office opens the proof lookup and replies with the photo, the driver’s note and the time it was taken.

  • An owner-operator pulling loads for brokers

    The driver taps Arrived at the shipper, logs when loading finished, photographs the seal and signed paperwork and records every diesel purchase with gallons, the unit number and the station’s address, so detention claims and quarterly fuel tax paperwork start from real receipts.

  • A roll-off container company

    Drivers drop and swap containers at job sites where nobody is around, so the placement photo is the proof and the site notes say exactly where a container may sit. Pre-trip checks include the hoist on each truck.

Good to know

Before you build

  • Taps happen when parked

    FMCSA rules bar commercial vehicle drivers from texting or holding a phone while driving, even when stopped at a light, and many states limit hand-held use for every driver. Design each screen for a parked driver and keep navigation on a mounted phone.

  • Defect reports, signatures and ELDs

    Under 49 CFR 396.11 the driver signs a defect report — the DVIR — and the carrier certifies the repair; no defects on a property-carrying vehicle, no report. FMCSA allows electronic records and signatures (390.32). Your process makes it compliant, not the app. It isn’t an ELD.

  • Drivers need a data connection

    The app runs in the phone’s browser and doesn’t work offline. In rural areas or underground loading bays, drivers may have to save a proof once they’re back in coverage, so decide how late entries should be handled.

  • Map links aren’t truck routing

    The Navigate button hands the address to the phone’s maps app, which may not know your vehicle’s height, weight or hazmat limits. For larger trucks, use a truck routing tool or connect a routing provider’s API with your own key.

FAQ

Questions about building a driver app

Do drivers need to install anything to use the driver app?

No. Netiva builds web apps that run in the phone’s browser, so drivers open the link you send, sign in with their own account and see only their own jobs. There’s nothing to install or update on each phone. Ask the agent for large buttons and high-contrast text so the job screen stays readable in a sunny cab.

What counts as proof when nobody is there to sign?

You decide. A common setup allows “Left at the door” only with a photo that shows the parcel and the door or house number, plus the driver’s note on where it was left. Signed-for jobs need the recipient’s printed name and a signature drawn on the screen. You can also ask the agent to require that note before a left-at-the-door proof can be saved.

Can the fuel log help with IFTA records?

It keeps the fuel side in order. An IFTA fuel record has to show the purchase date, the seller’s name and address, the gallons, the fuel type, the price or total, the unit fueled and the purchaser’s name — and verifiable digital images of an invoice are accepted, which is exactly what the receipt photo on each entry is. DEF gallons aren’t counted as IFTA fuel. Records are generally kept four years. The app doesn’t track miles by state, work out tax or file returns.

Can drivers do their pre-trip inspection in the driver app?

Yes. The check screen lists the items you choose — 49 CFR 392.7 names the parts a driver must be satisfied are in good working order before driving, among them brakes, steering, lights, tires, mirrors, coupling devices and emergency equipment — and each is saved as OK or defective, with a note and a photo for anything wrong. A defect can email the office or workshop, and the next driver sees the last check before setting off. Confirm the records still meet FMCSA’s report rules.

Can drivers see tomorrow’s jobs the night before?

Yes, if you ask for it. A Tomorrow tab can list jobs with next-day appointments, and a scheduled email each evening can send every driver their first appointment time, the number of stops and any site notes. Changes made after that email still need a call from the office, because the app sends email, not text messages or push alerts.

Can our developer take over the driver app’s code later?

Nobody on your side has to write code to build this, and the code is still yours. Netiva writes clean, framework-standard code: your developer can switch from the live preview to the code view, edit files directly and export the project at any time, with no proprietary runtime. Every change the agent makes is checkpointed, so you can compare versions and roll back one that caused problems for drivers.

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Drafted with AI assistance from Netiva’s product pages and reviewed by the Netiva team. Example data models, screens and prompts are illustrative starting points, not customer projects.

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