What Kind Of Smartphone Do You Need To Be Able To Drive For Amazon Flex?

By Adnan Ahmed
Amazon Flex on the Google Play Store PJ McDonnell/Shutterstock

Amazon has become synonymous with online shopping, and with a market cap of $2.3 trillion, there are but a few tech giants larger than it. This isn't just built on the online marketplace that has become the default option for many, but also several brands that you may not know are owned by Amazon — names like Blink, Twitch, and IMDb, to name a few. Amazon itself offers several other services, like Prime Video, to its customers.

Amazon Flex is another of the company's offerings. It's designed for people interested in delivering with Amazon, but don't want to commit to a full-time job or work traditional delivery hours. It's pretty much like Uber or DoorDash, except you deliver Amazon packages.

To get started with the gig, you will need to download a separate Amazon Flex app that's available on the Google Play Store for Android devices and through the App Store for iPhones. Although most new smartphones should be able to run this app without any issues, Amazon does have minimum requirements to ensure the service works as advertised and is secure.

Amazon Flex's device requirements

Signing up for the Amazon Flex service on a phone T. Schneider/Shutterstock

The app on the Play Store is compatible with most devices running Android 11 or newer. Given that we're currently on Android 16, this should not be a very high bar to clear — most phones released in the previous three to four years have updates available. However, there are certain kinds of Android phones you should avoid buying if you want to drive for Flex. These include those that are rooted or don't have Google Play Store services enabled, either of which will disqualify a phone from running Amazon Flex. 

Other requirements include at least 3GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera or better, an active SIM plan, GPS navigation support, and a 4,500mAh battery — though you would greatly benefit from picking up one of the many power bank options for your phone anyway. Amazon also lists a handful of smartphones that aren't compatible with the app and thus cannot be used for deliveries:

  • Cat S42
  • Crosscall Core-M5
  • Moto G Pure
  • Motorola Edge 50 Fusion
  • Realme 6 Pro
  • Realme Narzo 20
  • Redmi Note 8
  • Redmi Note 8T
  • Redmi Note 8 Pro
  • Redmi 9
  • Redmi Note 9

Requirements for iPhones are much simpler, given the comparatively smaller variety of Apple phones. You will need an iPhone with iOS 17 or higher, but that's it. This should not be a concern, given that the oldest model that can still be updated to iOS 17 is the iPhone XR which launched in 2018.

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