How to Offboard, Reactivate, or Replace a Driver's Phone

When a driver leaves, loses a phone, or swaps to a new handset, the last thing you want is a messy tangle of unused seats, surprise charges, or a driver locked out of their runs. This article shows you exactly how to offboard, reactivate, or replace a phone on the StopSorted fleet — so your delivery fleet seats match the drivers actually on the road, and your bill stays clean.

You'll learn the steps for each action, what the driver sees versus what the office sees, and how per-phone billing works so you never pay for a phone that isn't running. We'll also cover the one setting that trips up fleet controllers when a new driver inherits a handset.

How it works (in plain terms)

Think of each approved phone as a seat on your fleet. When a phone is approved, it can pull the day's sorted runs. When it's offboarded, it can't. You control which phones are active from the fleet login on any browser.

There's no separate "replace" button — because replacing a phone is just removing the old one and approving the new one. The system treats them as two separate handsets. That keeps your seat count honest and your billing accurate.

Billing is tied to activity, not just approval. A phone is billed the month it first runs a route. If you approve a phone but it never sorts a run that month, it doesn't add to your bill. If you remove a phone that already ran a route this month, it stays on this month's bill — because the work was already done.

Step-by-step: offboard a phone

Use this when a driver leaves the company or a phone is lost or stolen.

1. Open your Fleet Login and go to Devices.
2. Find the phone in the list. You can search by the name you gave it (e.g., "Truck 12 – Sam").
3. Tap Offboard.
4. Confirm. The phone can no longer pull fleet runs.

That's it. The seat is freed for a new phone. But note: if that phone already ran a route this billing period, it stays on this month's bill. Extra $20 items already charged are not refunded. If it never ran this month, removing it does not add a seat charge.

Step-by-step: reactivate a phone

Sometimes you offboard a phone temporarily — a driver takes leave, or you're not sure if they're returning. When they come back, you don't need to re-approve from scratch.

1. Go to Devices.
2. Find the blocked or offboarded phone.
3. Tap Reactivate.

The same handset is back on the fleet. The driver can pull runs again. No new approval needed.

Step-by-step: replace a phone (new handset)

When a driver gets a new phone — upgrade, replacement, or they simply switched devices — follow these steps.

1. Offboard or Delete the old phone from the Devices list.
2. On the new phone, the driver opens the StopSorted app and taps Request access.
3. In the fleet login, you'll see the new request. Approve it and give it a clear name (e.g., "Van 7 – Alex").

The new phone is not billed until it starts a route this month. If it's the third or later phone that runs this month, the $20 per-phone charge starts on that first route. If it's the first or second, it's covered by your base plan.

What the driver sees vs what the office sees

Driver's view: Once approved, the driver opens the app and sees their sorted stop list for the day. If their phone is offboarded, they'll see a message that they don't have access — and a button to request it again.

Office view: In the fleet login, you see all approved phones, their status (active, offboarded, blocked), and key stats. You also see pending access requests. When a driver requests access on a new phone, it appears in your list until you approve or deny.

Customer view: Nothing changes. Customers still get their delivery windows and proof of delivery as usual. The phone swap is invisible to them.

A real-world scenario

Mia runs a small courier fleet with five drivers. One driver, Ben, resigns on a Friday. His phone was approved and ran routes earlier that month.

Before: If Mia did nothing, Ben's phone would stay approved, and she'd keep paying for a seat that's not being used next month. Worse, if Ben's phone was still logged in, he could technically pull runs.

After: Mia logs into the fleet login, finds Ben's phone under Devices, and taps Offboard. The phone can no longer pull runs. Because it already ran routes this month, it stays on this month's bill — that's fair. Next month, it won't be charged. Mia then hires a new driver, who requests access on their own phone. Mia approves it and names it "Van 3 – New Driver". That new phone won't be billed until it runs its first route next month. Mia's seat count is accurate, and she's not paying for a ghost.

Device statistics: don't forget the learned stop time

When a new driver takes over a phone, one setting can cause confusion: the learned stop time. StopSorted learns how long a driver typically takes at each stop to improve arrival clocks and re-sorting. If a new driver is slower or faster, the old average can throw off times.

1. Open Devices.
2. Tap Statistics on the phone.
3. Check Learned stop time, samples, last GPS, app version, and run count.
4. If the average looks wrong (new driver, different work), tap Reset learned stop time. Auto then uses the fleet default until a new average is built.

You can also override capacity and breaks per phone — useful if one van has different limits. See the guide on capacity and breaks per phone.

FAQ

What happens if I offboard a phone that already ran a route this month? It stays on this month's bill. The $20 charge for that phone is not refunded because the work was already done. Next month, it won't be charged.

Can I reactivate a phone that was deleted? If you deleted the phone, you'll need to approve it again as a new device. Reactivate works for blocked or offboarded phones, not deleted ones.

How do I know if a phone is billed? A phone is billed the month it first runs a route. If it never runs a route in a month, it doesn't add to your bill. You can see which phones have run by checking run count in Device Statistics.

What if a driver loses their phone? Offboard the lost phone immediately so it can't pull runs. Then have the driver request access on a new phone and approve it. The lost phone stays on this month's bill if it already ran, but won't be charged next month.

Ready to manage your fleet phones?

Offboarding, reactivating, and replacing phones is straightforward once you know the steps. Keep your seat count accurate, avoid surprise charges, and make sure every driver has access to their sorted runs.

For full details, see our guide: Manage phones in StopSorted.

To check pricing and how seats are billed, visit Pricing.

If you're new to StopSorted, start with How it works to see how sorted stop order, live maps, and proof of delivery come together for your fleet.