Lyft: Pretty Bad UX

Lauren Ciulla
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read

Uber has become something of a household name. In the same way that if you want to know something, you “Google it,” if you want to get somewhere, you “Uber there.” With this in mind, any competitor has got to offer an amazing user experience. Lyft is Uber’s main competitor, offering an almost identical service at an almost identical price. The design of the app is beautiful, but the user experience is unfortunately subpar.

Users open Lyft when they need a ride (a lift, if you will) from one specific location to another. They can choose either a private car, a larger private car, or a spot in a carpool. Payment is handled through the app to avoid the inconvenient payment process of a taxi. The interface has an eye-catching and neat design, but the interaction design is more difficult to use than it appears.

When users open Lyft, they’re prompted to set their pickup location.

Upon opening the app, users are shown a map and the approximate street address of their current location. A vibrant purple button sits at the bottom of the screen prompting users to “Set pickup.” This prompt is slightly misleading, as many other rideshare and location apps first ask users where they intend to go. Interaction design typically draws on the knowledge users have from using other interfaces, so this unconventional prompt causes issues of learnability and consistency. Users are used to being asked where they would like to go when they see a map. Examples of apps functioning in that way are Uber, Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze. Upon seeing a map, users are primed to type in where they want to go, not where they are. This inconsistency in the design of Lyft’s interface makes the very first action counterintuitive and therefore affects learnability.

Google Maps (left) and Uber (right) both prompt users for their destination first.

Once users “Set pickup,” the bottom bar expands to include an “Add destination” option, and the bottom button changes its label to “Set destination.” In order to type in their destination, users must select “Add destination.” This design is problematic because the action of telling the app where they want to go is what most users were expecting to do first. Instead of being consistent with the design practices of other popular ridesharing and location apps, Lyft makes the user press two buttons before completing the action they expect to complete first. Furthermore, the words “Add destination” are written in small black text, while the “Set destination” button is a vibrant box with a purple and pink gradient. Both links bring users to the same page where they can type in their destination. These links present another issue of consistency. The perform the same action, but look vastly different and seem a bit redundant.

Users then have to hit another button to set their destination.

If users move the map around before selecting the option to add a destination, both a button with a back arrow and a button labeled “Skip” appear. This button is unclear, because users use this app to obtain rides from one location to another. Skipping the addition of a destination seems counterintuitive, and if users click “Skip,” they are brought back to the same screen that prompts them to add a destination. They do not skip over anything, but instead return to the previous screen. This button presents an issue of predictability. Users click “Skip” intending to skip over something, and are instead brought backward in the process.

The “Skip” button is unclear and affects predictability.

Lyft has a beautiful design, but is unfortunately counterintuitive in a way that makes it difficult to use. Although I’ve been using it for years, I still find myself confused by the process from time to time. Inconvenient features like the ones described make interfaces like Lyft more vulnerable to competitors.

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