If there’s one thing that TaskRabbit understands, it’s that time is your most precious resource (and secondarily, that you’re probably not as handy as you think you are). Luckily, the on-demand help service has a solution that will address both those problems in a manner that really epitomizes efficiency. A redesigned iOS app focuses more heavily than ever on real-time service, and promises to match you with a “Tasker” within five minutes. Better yet, the Tasker will get to your task in less than 90 minutes.
Back in 2014, TaskRabbit adopted its current model of on-demand requests for a whole slew of tasks, allowing rabbits (read: helpful humans) to set their price for a number of different errands. On TaskRabbit, you can get help for everything from cleaning to installations to moving to everyday chores, and for the last couple years, users were able to post a task and find a willing individual within the same day. Then, the task would get done within the next three days or so, meaning you still had to plan ahead a bit.
But now, even that schedule is being upended in the firm’s move toward a true on-demand experience. In an announcement on Tuesday (supplemented by an email to users), TaskRabbit is now “bringing you the most on-demand capabilities, making same-day requests easier.” You’ll now be able to “find available Taskers in under 5 minutes, get accurate estimated arrival times,” and perhaps best of all, “pay as little as $35 per hour for everyday chores.”
The iOS has also gotten a bit of a facelift, with iOS users now able to see what tasks they have scheduled for now or later on the newly designed home screen. Because yes, just because you can book a task for 5 minutes from now doesn’t mean you have to — TaskRabbit will still let you plan ahead.
“We’re moving from on-demand to real time,” said John Vars, the company’s chief product officer in an interview with Venturebeat. “The next evolution of the TaskRabbit business makes us the only platform that delivers [on] getting everyday chores done immediately. We’re removing the friction and inefficiency of finding help, scheduling a mutually workable time, and having to wait to get something fixed, cleaned, or delivered.”
