Why the apps find no cars here
Ask either app for a car while you are on the island and nothing comes up available: Uber and Cabify do not work in Lanzarote. Your phone is not at fault and neither is the version you have installed — this page sets out the reasons.
Neither app works here
Uber and Cabify offer no journeys in Lanzarote: open either one on the island and no vehicles appear. The island has no chauffeur service running under those platforms, and neither company serves locally. In other Spanish cities it plays out differently, which is why the same app may work at home and find nothing the moment you land.
Why the cars are not there
Passenger transport on the island is organised around the taxi licences each municipality grants, along with published fares, ranks and a dispatch. Around that there is no fleet of chauffeur-driven cars authorised to work for platforms, and without vehicles available under that model the app has nothing to offer you in Lanzarote.
What the search turns up instead
Three different things come back from that search: transfer companies with advance booking and a fixed price, which are not a rank taxi; a taxi booking with the dispatch of the municipality, where that operator has its own channel; and adverts promising a car in the style of those apps that lead to a private transfer form. Look at what you are hiring before you pay.
What actually works
For getting about without your own car, the options stay the same three: the rank and the dispatch for a taxi, the Intercity bus on the fixed routes, and car hire if you want to set your own pace around the island. This site's comparison guides weigh the three up without selling you any of them. Should the situation change, this page is revised with the new information.
Frequently asked questions
Could Uber or Cabify arrive here someday? ＋
Nobody can say: it depends on the regulations, the licences granted and each platform's own decision. This site predicts nothing and promises no dates; where something changes, this page is updated with whatever can be verified at the time.
An app offers me a car on the island — what am I buying? ＋
Check what you are hiring. Advance booking at a fixed price makes it a transfer service; a vehicle with a taxi licence and a meter running makes it a taxi. Ask for the amount and the receipt before you set off, exactly as you would in the street.
So what do people here use to order a taxi? ＋
There is no single app for the island: most journeys are ordered by phone through the dispatch of the municipality. Ordering from Ireland? Dial 0034, Spain's international dialling code, before the number. Ranks are still the straightforward option, especially at the airport and in the busier centres.