6 ms·

The real question is why Uber has access to battery status information.

by drdaeman 10y ago

AgentME 10y ago
Chrome and Firefox allow web pages to query your battery status.
- mahyarm 10y ago
  And iOS and Android do too. Just download a battery app to see how much.
jasonjei 10y ago
If there isn't a setting to block apps from querying your battery status, I would hope both Google and Apple provide a way to allow the user to optionally disable this soon.
- rhizome 10y ago
  Uber seems like the kind of company that would require that permission for the app to run.
cicero 10y ago
Apps are told when a phone's battery is low so that they can change into a battery conserving state.
- awqrre 10y ago
  I'd rather uninstall battery-hogging apps
  - corin_ 10y ago
    It rather depends on why they are hogging the battery. Example #1, since it's an "app" you can't remove but that many (I'd guess not far away from most?) people use, is Mail. I wish my email servers would send push notifications, but they don't, so Mail is constantly checking for updates. That uses battery, but it's something I want it using battery for. And then in battery saver mode, it stops automatically checking, so you won't notice any new emails until you either turn off the mode, or go into Mail and manually have it sync.
- ape4 10y ago
  That assumes they are nice apps. Not apps that will charge you more when the battery is low.
andrewpi 10y ago
From the article: "The ride-hailing service is alerted when a customer's phone battery is running low because the app switches into power-saving mode."
- Mahn 10y ago
  So apparently it's cool to data-mine data like this as long as it's totally going to be used only for a power saving mode.
  - skeletonjelly 10y ago
    This is Google's MO pretty much. Provide an incentive for the user to hand over user data for something in return. Maps, Google Voice, Gmail
userbinator 10y ago
Because someone thought apps (web or otherwise) having access to battery status information would, in the usual language, "allow us to improve the user experience", and that feature was added. It's the same justification as for GPS location, except in this case those who opposed did not notice that someone could use battery status for exploiting and profiling users too.
biot 10y ago
See this doc for details of how iOS lets apps request to be notified upon entering low power mode: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Performance/Conceptual/EnergyGuide-iOS/LowPowerMode.html https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Perfor...
- denzil_correa 10y ago
  Well, here's the problem. Once, the "low power mode" is entered on iOS - it remains on that mode until your battery is charged more than 80%.
  - corin_ 10y ago
    Easy enough to turn it off if you need to before getting back to 80%, though in my experience that scenario rarely comes up. (I do, on the other hand, often find myself turning it on before my battery is low enough to automatically suggest it to me, when thinking ahead about how long until I'd be able to charge.)
    - denzil_correa 10y ago
      That was the point. There might be some false positives for uber here.
      - corin_ 10y ago
        Sure, but anecdotalmoly I'd guess 95% of my false positives are caused by my being cautious early, not by recharging without hitting 80%
microcolonel 10y ago
You see, this is what we're talking about with free software. When there's something good (using power supply information to avoid draining a critical battery for a user) that we would like to enable, we can enable it. When the software is adversarial, we can't have nice things.
- Animats 10y ago
  When the software is adversarial, we can't have nice things. Sadly, yes. On low battery, Uber's app could change its attract screen (the map with the fake moving cars) to a static, dim screen with just the Uber logo. But no, they have to phone home to Uber Central. At least they don't crank up the GPU to run the battery down further, then announce surge pricing. Yet.
- baobabaobab 10y ago
  GNU's Not Uber, FOSS won't give me a ride to the airport. So, there are nice things you don't get either way.

The real question is why Uber has access to battery status information.

AgentME 10y ago

Chrome and Firefox allow web pages to query your battery status.

mahyarm 10y ago
And iOS and Android do too. Just download a battery app to see how much.

jasonjei 10y ago

If there isn't a setting to block apps from querying your battery status, I would hope both Google and Apple provide a way to allow the user to optionally disable this soon.

rhizome 10y ago
Uber seems like the kind of company that would require that permission for the app to run.

cicero 10y ago

Apps are told when a phone's battery is low so that they can change into a battery conserving state.

awqrre 10y ago
I'd rather uninstall battery-hogging apps
- corin_ 10y ago
  It rather depends on why they are hogging the battery. Example #1, since it's an "app" you can't remove but that many (I'd guess not far away from most?) people use, is Mail. I wish my email servers would send push notifications, but they don't, so Mail is constantly checking for updates. That uses battery, but it's something I want it using battery for. And then in battery saver mode, it stops automatically checking, so you won't notice any new emails until you either turn off the mode, or go into Mail and manually have it sync.
ape4 10y ago
That assumes they are nice apps. Not apps that will charge you more when the battery is low.

andrewpi 10y ago

From the article: "The ride-hailing service is alerted when a customer's phone battery is running low because the app switches into power-saving mode."

Mahn 10y ago
So apparently it's cool to data-mine data like this as long as it's totally going to be used only for a power saving mode.
- skeletonjelly 10y ago
  This is Google's MO pretty much. Provide an incentive for the user to hand over user data for something in return. Maps, Google Voice, Gmail

userbinator 10y ago

Because someone thought apps (web or otherwise) having access to battery status information would, in the usual language, "allow us to improve the user experience", and that feature was added. It's the same justification as for GPS location, except in this case those who opposed did not notice that someone could use battery status for exploiting and profiling users too.

biot 10y ago

See this doc for details of how iOS lets apps request to be notified upon entering low power mode: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Performance/Conceptual/EnergyGuide-iOS/LowPowerMode.html https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/Perfor...

denzil_correa 10y ago
Well, here's the problem. Once, the "low power mode" is entered on iOS - it remains on that mode until your battery is charged more than 80%.
- corin_ 10y ago
  Easy enough to turn it off if you need to before getting back to 80%, though in my experience that scenario rarely comes up. (I do, on the other hand, often find myself turning it on before my battery is low enough to automatically suggest it to me, when thinking ahead about how long until I'd be able to charge.)
  - denzil_correa 10y ago
    That was the point. There might be some false positives for uber here.
    - corin_ 10y ago
      Sure, but anecdotalmoly I'd guess 95% of my false positives are caused by my being cautious early, not by recharging without hitting 80%

microcolonel 10y ago

You see, this is what we're talking about with free software. When there's something good (using power supply information to avoid draining a critical battery for a user) that we would like to enable, we can enable it. When the software is adversarial, we can't have nice things.

Animats 10y ago
When the software is adversarial, we can't have nice things. Sadly, yes. On low battery, Uber's app could change its attract screen (the map with the fake moving cars) to a static, dim screen with just the Uber logo. But no, they have to phone home to Uber Central. At least they don't crank up the GPU to run the battery down further, then announce surge pricing. Yet.
baobabaobab 10y ago
GNU's Not Uber, FOSS won't give me a ride to the airport. So, there are nice things you don't get either way.