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Once your driver is on the road, you can follow their progress on the dashboard and your customers can follow theirs through a tracking link. Every delivery can include a proof-of-delivery photo, and delivery notifications are sent automatically as the driver works through the run.
This page covers the shop-and-customer view. The driver’s side of the workflow (opening the app, starting a run, marking stops, capturing photos, handling offline) lives in the driver app guide.

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Live GPS tracking

While a run is ongoing, the driver’s location is shown on a live map in the delivery run detail screen. You can see:
  • Where the driver is at the moment
  • Which stops they’ve completed (shown in green)
  • Which stops are still to do (shown in blue)
  • The route they’re following
The map refreshes every few seconds, so you can give a customer a useful update if they call to ask where their flowers are. Location sharing is optional by default. If you want it required for every run, turn on Require Background Location Tracking (Settings > General > Delivery, off by default) — drivers must then turn on location sharing in the Digital Florists App before they can start or continue a delivery run. The driver’s side of granting the permission is covered in the driver app guide.

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Customer tracking

You can share a live tracking link with customers so they can follow their delivery without calling you. The link shows them:
  • A map with the driver’s location
  • An estimated arrival based on the driver’s current position and remaining stops
  • The delivery status — updated when the driver marks the stop
Each tracking link is unique to one order and one customer. They only ever see their own delivery, never the wider run or other customers’ addresses. Customer tracking is controlled by one master switch: Customer Tracking Links (Settings > General > Delivery, on by default). Turn it off and no tracking links are created, staff can’t copy them from orders, and any links already sent stop working — useful if your shop prefers not to share live driver locations at all. Each order has one tracking link. Re-sending a notification, copying the link from the order screen, or the driver starting the run all reuse the same link — it only changes if it’s been revoked (for example, the order was taken off a run) and then deliberately re-issued. What the customer sees follows the delivery itself, not when the message was sent:
  • Opened before the driver sets off, the link shows a preparing stage — the order is being made up and readied to leave.
  • When the driver starts the run, it switches to out for delivery with the live map and estimated arrival. Live tracking stays open for 24 hours from run start, so late-finishing runs are still covered.
  • After the stop is marked as delivered, the link becomes a delivery confirmation page. If the driver took a proof-of-delivery photo, the customer can view it there for 7 days after delivery. If your location has a review link set (in the location’s Notifications section under Locations), the page invites the customer to leave a review.
The page keeps itself up to date while it’s open — the driver’s position, arrival estimate, and delivery status refresh automatically without the customer needing to reload. Tracking links are sent through the Out for Delivery notification. That event is switched off by default, so the first step is always to turn it on. The default email template includes the tracking link out of the box; for SMS you add it yourself, so the choice of using a second text stays with you:
1

Enable the Out for Delivery event

Go to Settings > Notifications, find Out for Delivery, and turn on email, SMS, or both.
2

Check the email template

The default email template includes {{button:track_delivery}} — it renders as a “Track your delivery” button. If your saved template doesn’t have it, insert it from Insert Content in the Buttons section (or follow the Add tracking link prompt the editor shows for this event), or press Reset to Default to pick up the new template.
3

Add the link to the SMS template (optional)

SMS messages can’t show buttons, so insert {{tracking.link}} instead — it drops the tracking URL straight into the text. Use the Add tracking link prompt in the editor, or pick it from Insert Content.
How much SMS space does the link take? The tracking URL is around 50 characters (it varies slightly with your web address). A single text is 160 characters, so the default Out for Delivery message plus the link usually still fits in one text — but longer shop or recipient names can tip it into two, which uses more of your SMS credits. The character count above the SMS editor estimates the length as it will actually send, with the link counted at full size.
While you’re in the template, you can also add your shop’s name, a short personal message, or anything else you want the customer to see.
{{tracking.link}} is filled in on Out for Delivery notifications for orders fulfilled by delivery, and on Delivered and Carded notifications when the order already has a tracking link — there it points to the delivery confirmation page. Anywhere else it comes through empty.
The tracking link you copy from the order screen is the same link the customer received. If a customer calls with a question, open it yourself and you’ll see exactly what they’re seeing.
The tracking page only shows a live location while the driver has the app open and GPS active. If their phone loses signal mid-run, the page says it’s waiting for the driver’s signal rather than showing a stale position as live, and catches up when the connection comes back.

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Delivery notifications

Digital Florists sends customer notifications automatically as a delivery progresses. The full list of events and templates lives in Notifications; the table below is the delivery-specific subset. Each notification type can be turned on or off independently, and sent by email, SMS, or both. Most shops let the notifications handle Out for Delivery, Delivered, and Carded (left in a safe location), and call the customer for Returned to Shop or cancelled stops where a quick conversation is usually warranted.

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Proof-of-delivery photos

When a driver takes a photo at a delivery, it’s attached to the order and visible in two places:
  • Order details — open the order and the photo appears in the delivery section.
  • Delivery run history — review all photos from a run in one place.
Photos are useful for:
  • Showing the customer where flowers were left if they weren’t home
  • Resolving disputes about whether a delivery was made
  • Quality checking — making sure arrangements look right when they arrive
When you photograph a finished arrangement while marking an order ready, turn on Include photo in notifications to share it with the customer. Shared photos appear on the customer’s tracking page and in their delivery notification. Leave it off to keep the photo as an internal attachment, visible on the order in your dashboard but not to the customer.

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When deliveries don’t go to plan

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Carded deliveries

When a delivery can’t be handed over in person, the driver marks the stop as Carded and adds a short note saying what they did with the order — left with a neighbour, left in a safe place, or a card put through the door. The note is required, so a carded stop always records where the flowers ended up. That note does two jobs:
  • It goes to the customer. When the Carded notification is switched on, the driver’s note is included in it, so the customer can see where their order was left. The note reaches the customer who placed the order, through whichever channels you’ve enabled for that notification; the gift recipient isn’t messaged.
  • It’s saved to the order log. Open the order on your dashboard and you’ll see the note in the Order Logs, so if the customer calls with a query you can tell them exactly where it was left and when.
The order stays on your dashboard with a Carded status so you can follow up. Common next steps:
  • Contact the customer to arrange redelivery
  • Add the order to the next day’s delivery run
  • Convert it to a collection if the customer prefers to pick up
The Carded notification is off until you turn it on in Settings > Notifications. The customer only gets it when the driver has left a note, so check it’s enabled if you want carded customers kept in the loop.

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Other problems on the road

If a driver can’t find an address or can’t complete a stop (refused, unsafe, no answer), they handle it from the app — the driver app guide covers flagging an address issue and the Can’t deliver flow. Any order that comes off a run returns to your dashboard for follow-up; see Managing runs for removing stops and ending a run with undelivered orders.

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Common questions

Yes, if you’ve enabled tracking links. The customer sees a live map with the driver’s approximate location and an estimated arrival time. They can’t see other customers’ orders or addresses — only their own delivery.
GPS tracking pauses until the signal is restored. Deliveries can still be marked as complete once signal returns — the driver app keeps a short queue of updates and submits them when reconnected.
Yes. Photos stay attached to the order. You can find them in the order details or in the delivery history.
GPS is a per-device permission on the driver’s phone. Drivers can still use the app for navigation and marking deliveries without sharing their location, but the live map on the dashboard won’t update. The exception is when Require Background Location Tracking is on — drivers must then share their location to start or continue a run.

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What’s next?

Delivery Runs

Create and manage your delivery runs.

Delivery History

Review past deliveries, punctuality, and driver performance.

Driver App Guide

What the driver sees and does on the phone.

Notifications

Configure what customers are told about their deliveries.
Last modified on July 6, 2026