Help centre

Pooly is a carpooling app. Drivers post the rides they're already making and earn back a contribution towards their fuel and running costs. Passengers find an affordable seat going their way. It's cost-sharing between people, not a taxi service. There's nothing to download from an app store — Pooly runs in any web browser, and you can add it to your phone's home screen so it works just like an app.

No. Pooly runs in your web browser, so there's nothing to install from an app store. For quick access you can add Pooly to your phone's home screen and it'll open and behave just like an app — on iPhone this is also what switches on push notifications.

You can search and browse rides without an account, so it's easy to see what's on offer first. To post a ride or book a seat you'll need to set up an account.

Booking a seat needs a verified email address. ID verification is optional for passengers — but some drivers choose to accept only passengers who have verified their ID, and those rides say so. To post a ride as a driver you must also verify a government ID (a New Zealand driver licence or passport). You only do this once.

It's up to you. Verifying earns you a verified badge on your profile, which helps drivers accept your requests, and it's the only way to book with a driver who accepts verified passengers only. You can verify at any time from Account → ID verification.

Pooly doesn't take a commission at this point but will in future. You only pay for the cost of the rides, and payment fees.

Yes. One account does both. You can post rides as a driver and book seats as a passenger whenever it suits — there's no separate sign-up. My Rides labels each one so it's clear whether you're the driver or the passenger for that ride.

Tell Pooly where you're leaving from, where you're going, the date and how many seats you need. You'll see the rides going your way, listed by departure time so the soonest options are easy to find.

No. You can also search by a landmark (e.g. shop, public building, etc) or town, or use your current location.

Often, yes. Many drivers let passengers hop on along the way, so you can ask for a pickup and drop-off point on their route rather than only their start and end. Rides that allow this show up when your journey fits part of theirs. Pooly uses advanced route matching (same town, within range, and along routes), so you see more of your real options.

You can set the number of seats you need, filter by time of day, or show only same-gender rides. With that filter on, you'll only see rides where the driver and passengers are the same gender as you. You can also include only rides that can be instantly booked (no need for driver approval), or rides that allow pets or smoking.

Between 1 and 11, depending on what the driver has free. The upper limit covers larger vehicles like minivans.

Tap Post, then set where you're leaving from and going to, add any stopovers, choose your dates and time, set how many seats are free and your price, and pick whether seats are instant book or by request. You can review everything before it goes live.

Yes. You can set up to 10 dates at once for a ride you make regularly, so you only enter the details once.

Pooly is for sharing costs, not making an income, so the price is capped at a rate per kilometre per passenger. You can always charge less or offer rides for free. Think of it as earning back a contribution towards your fuel and running costs.

Yes. Your driver preferences for smoking and pets carry through to each ride you post, and you can set a ride as same-gender-only. You can adjust these per ride.

When you post, Pooly works out the driving route and time between your starting point and destination so passengers get a realistic estimate. You can switch between alternative routes where relevant, and add stops to modify the route. Adding stops increases your chances of finding passengers, but you don't actually have to stop if no passenger has booked.

Yes. Editing a ride reuses the same screens you used to post it. If you change or cancel a ride, any passengers who've booked or requested a seat are notified straight away so they can sort out other plans.

Instant book confirms your seat immediately, with no driver approval required. Request to book sends the driver a request, and they choose to accept or decline. Each driver decides which to use for their ride.

A request expires after 24 hours if the driver hasn't responded, so you're never left waiting indefinitely. You'll be notified either way.

Drivers see incoming requests in My Rides and can accept or decline each one. The passenger is notified of the outcome, and an accepted request confirms the seat.

Yes, you can message before booking, for example if you need to check they have space for your large luggage. As soon as a booking or request is made, a chat is automatically created between the driver and passenger to sort out details like exactly where to meet. Keeping messages in Pooly keeps you safe as it avoids giving out your contact details, and it means there's a record if you ever need help from our team.

Yes, from My Rides. Cancelling frees the seat back up for someone else.

Everything lives in My Rides, split into upcoming and past, with a clear label for whether you're the driver or passenger and the status of each ride.

You pay securely by card in the app when you book. There's no need to handle cash, which keeps things simple and safe for everyone.

After the ride. Each passenger's payment is released to the driver once the passenger and the driver have both reviewed each other, and the passenger's rating is 3 stars or more. If either of them doesn't get around to reviewing, the payment is released automatically 4 days after the ride, so drivers aren't left waiting.

If you rate a ride under 3 stars, that payment is held while our support team gets in touch to help sort things out. It's a simple way to make sure issues get looked at before money changes hands.

Yes — a small service fee of $0.30 plus 10% of the ride cost is added to each booking, on top of the driver's contribution. It's shown as its own line before you pay, and it's what keeps Pooly running. The driver always receives their full contribution; the fee is never taken out of it.

That's up to the driver, but there is a cap per kilometre per passenger to make sure it only covers costs and doesn't generate a profit. On top of the driver's contribution you pay a small Pooly service fee and card payment fees, each shown as its own line before you confirm. Carpooling costs far less than a ride booked through a taxi app, driving alone, and in some cases even bus services.

Yes. Card payments are handled by our payment provider, Stripe, and Pooly never sees or stores your full card details.

Drivers add their bank details once through our payment provider when they set up payouts. Released payments then flow through to their account.

If you cancel a booking before the ride happens, note that the payment system we use doesn't refund its fees, but you'll get refunded the full cost of the ride. If a driver cancels a ride you've booked, you're refunded in full. There's generally no refund after the ride has departed, but we'll review each situation individually.

Every member verifies their email address, and every driver verifies a government ID before they can post a ride. For passengers ID verification is optional: a verified passenger carries a verified badge, and an unverified one shows "ID: not verified" on their profile, so you always know which you're travelling with. Drivers can also choose to accept only passengers with a verified ID. As part of ID verification, Pooly names all members based on the first name on their ID. This protects against fake profiles.

After every ride, drivers and passengers can review each other. Reviews appear on a member's profile 4 days after the ride, so while that window is open neither person sees what the other wrote.

Yes. You can view another member's overall star rating and their reviews, along with their profile, before you decide to share a ride. We encourage you to check this before deciding to ride with others.

Yes, you can see your own overall star rating and the individual reviews and ratings others have left about you.

A driver's payment is released once both people have reviewed each other and the passenger's rating is 3 stars or more. Tying the two together gives everyone a genuine reason to review, to be a considerate traveller, and to speak up if something wasn't right. A driver's rating of a passenger never affects the driver's own payment. The Pooly team looks into low reviews to ensure members remain comfortable and safe.

A member's profile shows their first name, photo, age, when they joined, how many rides they've completed, a short bio, their vehicle and their reviews. It's there to help you make an informed choice about who you travel with.

No. Public ride details show a street-level area rather than your exact address, and you arrange the precise meeting point in the chat once a booking is in place.

Go to Help at the bottom of your app screen, or access it via your account. There, you can contact support. You can report a member using the dedicated "Report" button on their profile.

• Share your ride details with someone you trust before you travel. Use the sharing buttons on each ride to do this.
• Use the in-app chat to agree a clear, public meeting point.
• Keep messages and payments inside Pooly, never cash or off-app transfers. We can't help with communications and transactions not recorded in the app.
• Check the other person's profile, rating and reviews before you book.
• Trust your instincts; if something feels off, you don't have to travel, and you can contact support.

Pooly is community-powered, and a bit of kindness goes a long way. We expect members to be respectful and considerate, and we do not tolerate abuse or harassment of fellow travellers.

Drivers do: you cannot post a ride until your ID is verified. For passengers it is optional — you can request and book rides without it. The two things you get by verifying are a verified badge on your profile and the ability to book rides from drivers who accept verified passengers only.

Pooly works with Didit, a specialist identity verification provider, to check your ID online.

Here is what happens:

• You photograph the front and back of your government-issued photo ID. Didit checks the document itself to confirm it is genuine — reading its security features and looking for signs that it has been altered, screenshotted or printed from a copy. This is like a bank teller checking your ID document is real.
• Didit reads your name, date of birth and document number from the ID and passes them to Pooly, so your profile shows your real first name and we can confirm you are over 18.

We do not use face recognition. There is no selfie, no liveness check, and no comparison between your face and the photo on your ID. Pooly checks the document, not your face, and no biometric information about you is collected or created.

We also do not run a background check. Verifying your ID confirms the document is genuine and the details on it — it is not a criminal record, driving history or credit check.

Before starting the verification process, here's what you need:

• A valid government-issued photo ID document. Not a photocopy or a picture of a government-issued ID document. Make sure that the ID document isn't expired.
• A device with a camera — use a mobile device if possible. Cameras on mobile devices typically take higher-quality photos than a webcam.

The quality of the images you capture affects success rates dramatically. Below are a few best practices to help make sure that your verification succeeds:

• Capture a clear image. Make sure that the images aren't too dark or bright, and don't have a glare. Hold steady and allow your camera to focus to avoid blurry photos.
• Don't block any part of your ID document in the image. Ideally you can lay it flat to take the photo.
• Find a location with ambient lighting. Avoid spaces with strong overhead lights that cast a shadow on your ID document. Avoid sitting directly in front of a bright light which can add a glare to your ID document.
• Get as close as you can while keeping the whole document in frame. Most problems we see come from photos taken too far away, which makes the small print and the barcode on the back of a driver licence hard to read.

Try again — take the photos again, as close and as sharp as you can manage. A blurry or distant photo can make the checks misread a date or a document number, and the same ID often passes on the next attempt. Re-verifying is expected and does not count against you.

If it says your verification is being reviewed, a person is checking it manually. You don't need to do anything, and we'll email you when it's done.

If a second attempt doesn't work, contact us and we'll sort it out with you.

Both Pooly and Didit have access to what you submit through the verification flow. Pooly does not store your ID document — we keep only your verified name, date of birth and a reference to the check. Didit holds the document images securely, in the European Economic Area, and deletes them after 12 months. You can read Didit's privacy policy at https://didit.me/privacy-policy.

Because Pooly is about sharing the cost of a ride rather than running a service for profit, carpooling is usually treated as personal use of your vehicle. We've worked hard to confirm this with insurers and have had confirmation from underwriting teams. Even so, despite our best efforts, some insurers may not consider carpooling personal use, and cover can differ from policy to policy. Please contact your own insurer to confirm you're covered before you carpool.

Yes. Notifications are on by default, and you can turn off the types you don't want in your account settings. Essential ride updates, like a booking being confirmed or cancelled, stay on because you need them to use the app.

On iPhone, push notifications work once you add Pooly to your home screen. If you haven't done that, you'll still get the important updates by email.

Open Account, then Help centre, and send us a message. You can link your message to a specific ride so we have the context to help quickly.

Your details are kept secure. The app interface makes it clear what information will be shown to other users and what remains private. Your ID document is never stored by Pooly — it is held securely by our verification provider, Didit, and deleted after 12 months. See our privacy statement for the full detail.

Contact support from the button at the top of this page and send us a message. We're a small New Zealand team but we read everything.

Get there together. — The Pooly team