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I seriously don't understand why the updated Uber app asks to access my location all the time -- as opposed to only when I'm using the app. Not only is it not r
by sidchilling 10y ago
I seriously don't understand why the updated Uber app asks to access my location all the time -- as opposed to only when I'm using the app. Not only is it not required but it's a huge drain on the phone's battery, potentially decreasing the battery's life.
Now I'm from a third-world country and can't afford to buy a $1000 phone every year, so I have to be careful with the life of my phone.
The turnaround this, I found, is to disallow location to the Uber app when not using the app and allowing access only when I use the app. This, however, is a pain and the Uber app behaves weird if I do so (the previous trip does not end after hours of it actually ending).
Very poor UX from Uber, potentially dangerous, definitely unethical. This is definitely a trend -- startups start with being caring of its customers, but once they grow big, they become callous and even malicious when it comes to users (I don't ask of them to give every customer personal support, but not mis-using customers is the least I can expect).
- jc4p 10y agoI'm with you on this. I don't get why Apple can't mandate a "Only when in app" option. The description for why they require it says they use the location while in app or for a few minutes after the trip is over. When I was getting ready to leave for work today, I got out of the shower and grabbed my phone and saw a alert saying Uber has been using my location in the background. I hadn't opened the app since last week, last time I needed a ride. I'm sure it could've just been an errant push notification coming in late and waking the app up in the background, but I'm spooked.
- giovannibajo1 10y agoThat popup is standard for any app that is approved to potentially use location in background and you don't use often. I think it's meant to discourage apps to ask location in background altogether
- madeofpalk 10y agoWhen they migrated to this style of permission it seemed like a bit of a missed opportunity to give the user the option of choosing "no, only when the app is open"
- willstrafach 10y agoUber removed the "only when open" ability unfortunately, so that would not be relevant here.
- madeofpalk 10y agoNo, I mean Apple shouldnt have given app developers the option to not allow "only when open". So app developers request the highest amount of permission, and either that (or less) would be granted: Uber would like to access your location at all times [Yes, allow in the background] [Yes, only when open] [No, deny all together]
- jc4p 10y agoThe pop-up that says "Uber has been using your location in the background recently"? I don't think this is true. I think the pop-up is telling me it was using my GPS, especially since the GPS icon on the Settings page where you can retract the permissions was lit up to indicate "Recently used". I don't want to jump to conspiracy theories but the experience scared me a bit because it was around the exact same time of day I had grabbed an Uber to go to work the last time I had used it. Perhaps it was an errant random notification meant to scare me, perhaps it was a late delivered push notification opening Uber in the background, perhaps it was Uber seeing if I was home and wanted to commute to work again.
- JesseAldridge 10y agoOn iOS you can go to Settings -> Battery and see what share of your battery each of your apps consume. Uber comes in at 3% for me.
- ToasterOven 10y agoBackground location tracking has been at a point where we can get pretty accurate without draining your battery for about a year now.