---
title: "Track an order"
description: "Help customers and operators understand the tracking information available for an eligible delivery order."
canonical: https://docs.ordering.co/docs/products/customer-app/orders-support/tracking/
---

# Track an order

Ordering.co Customer App can show delivery progress and, for some eligible orders, driver or map information. Status, an estimated time, a driver marker, and a map are separate layers. None of them guarantees that tracking is live, exact, complete, or current.

> **Availability**
>
> Tracking depends on a delivery order, the current driver and location data, map configuration, and the current order state. Pickup orders and orders without usable driver or location data can present different information or no map.

## Follow the delivery journey when tracking is available

The delivery flow can move through these stages:

1. A customer places an order.
2. A driver is assigned through the dispatch flow or an authorized manual assignment.
3. The driver picks up the order.
4. Customer App can show an available tracking presentation, or provide a tracking link where configured, with a status, estimated time, driver location, or map.
5. The delivery reaches a completed state, and the tracking presentation can end or change.

Each stage has its own current result. A driver assignment, pickup status, moving marker, or delivery confirmation does not by itself establish the other stages. The current experience can make a map, estimated arrival time, and status updates such as on-the-way, arrived, or delivered available together, but a map does not prove route accuracy or arrival.

[Watch the delivery-tracking demo](https://www.youtube.com/embed/sNtPurPxu1o?rel=0).

When the current project makes them available, customers can use tracking to follow an order's visible progress, while operational users can use their authorized order or dispatch workflow. The available operational details and actions vary by configuration and role.

Tracking can help customers understand visible delivery progress and help operators answer status questions when its data is current. It does not promise fewer support requests, optimized routes, delivery accuracy, or a customer satisfaction outcome.

## Know where tracking appears

| Surface              | What it can show                                                                                              | What it does not prove                                                                                    |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Home order progress  | One selected order card with a status label, progress indicator, estimated time, and a path to Order Details. | Continuous driver tracking, newest server state, or that the selected card represents every active order. |
| Order Details status | The selected order's status, timing, progress, business, and available driver information.                    | That every field changed at the same time or belongs to one complete update.                              |
| Order Details map    | Conditional driver, business, and customer markers for supported states.                                      | Exact location, uninterrupted updates, route accuracy, arrival, or provider availability.                 |
| Reservation location | A conditional business-location image and a directions handoff.                                               | Live driver tracking, reservation capacity, or successful directions handoff.                             |

Home is a summary. Order Details shows information for the selected order, but it may not reflect the latest update or confirm settlement.

## Separate visibility from freshness

| Layer                    | What it can mean                                                                                                              |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Order read               | A response for an authorized order at one point in time.                                                                      |
| Status or estimated time | A derived label or estimate that can change and can temporarily disagree with other fields.                                   |
| Driver update            | A location update associated with a driver identity; order, session, revision, age, and completeness still need to match.     |
| Animated marker          | A visual transition between accepted points; it can smooth, snap, or lag and is not a measurement of the driver's exact path. |
| Map or image provider    | A rendered representation from an external service; availability and displayed geography are provider-owned.                  |

A realtime connection can be available elsewhere in Customer App, but it is not itself proof that the Home progress or Order Details views are fresh. Missed updates, room membership, and current order data remain separate. When layers disagree, treat tracking as unresolved until Order Details presents a reconciled current state.

## Internal and external drivers

| Driver class    | Possible information                              | Important boundary                                                                                                           |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Internal driver | Current order data and driver-tracking updates.   | Driver identity, order identity, account or project, update age, and revision must match before accepting an update.         |
| External driver | Current order data and an external-driver update. | External identity and data shape are distinct; do not reuse internal-driver tracking or messaging assumptions automatically. |

Either class can have no usable current location. A name, photo, phone control, or earlier coordinate does not prove that tracking is currently available.

## Treat maps, directions, and contact as separate handoffs

Tracking can disclose precise driver, customer, or business coordinates and marker images to a map or image provider. A reservation map can also request an external image, and a directions or phone control can open another app.

Do not use documentation or troubleshooting to open directions, place a call, share a coordinate, or test a provider. A visible control does not prove that the destination is approved, available, accurate, or complete.

## Reconnect and cleanup boundaries

Order and driver updates can depend on update rooms, listeners, reconnect callbacks, timers, and the current account or project context. A reconnect does not prove that:

- every required room is current and every old room was left;
- each listener exists exactly once;
- missed status or location updates were recovered;
- a late update belongs to the current order, account, project, or driver; or
- a marker and the current order status are synchronized.

Leaving the screen, logging out, changing account or project, changing order, or replacing an update connection must stop old tracking work before it can update the new context.

## Interpret visible states safely

| What you see                       | Safe interpretation                                                                                       |
| ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| No Home progress card              | No qualifying card is currently rendered; it does not prove that no order exists.                         |
| A progress card remains visible    | The summary can retain earlier order data while a refresh or update is pending.                           |
| Order Details has no map           | Status can still be available; driver, location, state, or provider requirements can be unmet.            |
| A marker appears or moves          | The app rendered an accepted point or animation; the driver's exact current position is not certified.    |
| A marker jumps                     | The visual can snap after a large or first usable change; it is not proof of the driver's traveled route. |
| Status and marker disagree         | One layer can be stale, delayed, or incomplete; do not infer arrival or completion.                       |
| A map or image is unavailable      | Provider rendering failed or was not eligible; order status remains a separate surface.                   |
| Driver details change or disappear | Stop using earlier contact or location assumptions until the current order is reconciled.                 |

## Troubleshoot safely

### Home progress looks stale

Open the order only through trusted in-app navigation. Do not repeatedly reload or reuse a private order link to force an update.

### Order status changes but the map does not

Treat location as unavailable or stale. Status and location settle separately; do not infer that either one corrected the other.

### A marker moves unexpectedly

Do not record or share the coordinate. Report only the value-free state, and keep order, driver, customer, business, location, and time data out of screenshots and support notes.

### Tracking disconnects and reconnects

Do not assume missed updates were replayed. Wait for the owning order surface to present a supported current status.

### A map, directions, or phone control is unavailable

Treat the external handoff as unavailable and keep tracking state unknown.

### Tracking changes after logout, an account switch, or a project change

Stop. Treat the update as stale until the current account, project, order, and driver context is re-established.

## Accessibility and privacy

Progress, status, estimated time, driver, map-unavailable, stale, and unknown states need text and semantic status rather than color, motion, or map position alone. Controls need clear names and roles, predictable focus, and a safe return path. Large text must not hide status or recovery information, and reduced motion must have an equivalent nonanimated state.

Tracking alternatives must not require a customer to reveal or copy precise coordinates, driver or contact data, order identifiers, or provider details.

**Related guides:** [View active and past orders](https://docs.ordering.co/docs/products/customer-app/orders-support/) · [Understand order details and status](https://docs.ordering.co/docs/products/customer-app/orders-support/order-details/) · [Use the app offline and reconnect](https://docs.ordering.co/docs/products/customer-app/app-behavior/offline-reconnect/) · [Find Customer App help](https://docs.ordering.co/docs/products/customer-app/orders-support/order-help/) · [Native integration boundaries](https://docs.ordering.co/docs/developers/customer-app/native-integrations/)