What the video shows
- The rider signs in and opens the home screen. No ride is under way, and there's no Lift notification.
- The rider chooses a destination and taps to request the ride. Android asks for notification permission.
- A notification appears: Lift - Looking for a driver…. This is the foreground service. It stays in the notification bar while the ride is under way.
- The rider leaves the app (home button). The notification is still showing.
- A driver accepts. The notification follows the ride: Driver is N min away, Your driver has arrived, then Trip in progress, and the rider gets an alert at each change even with the app closed.
- The trip ends (or the rider cancels). The notification disappears and the service stops.
Why Lift needs it
After requesting a ride, riders often put the phone away or switch to another app while they wait. The service lets them know the moment a driver accepts, when the driver arrives at the pickup, and if the ride is cancelled, without keeping Lift open on screen. Without it, a rider who left the app could miss their driver arriving.
What the service does
- Every 5 seconds while a ride is under way, it asks Lift's servers for the ride's current status and updates the notification.
- When the status changes (driver found, driver arrived, trip started, ride cancelled), it shows an alert.
- It doesn't use the phone's location. The driver's distance shown in the notification comes from the ride details Lift's servers send back.
- It only runs during a ride. It starts when the rider requests a ride, and it stops when the ride is completed or cancelled, or when the rider signs out.
- If Android closes the app during a ride, the service is started again the next time the rider opens Lift.
For how ride data is stored and shared, see our Privacy Policy.
