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the number that delivers text messages to you from your driver is owned by Uber, not the driver; they proxy messages between driver+rider, nominally to protect

by rrix2 6y ago

the number that delivers text messages to you from your driver is owned by Uber, not the driver; they proxy messages between driver+rider, nominally to protect riders and drivers from each other. I wouldn't be surprised if uber was re-using the phone numbers to send these messages under the assumption that many will think it's a driver that's sending them rather than their automated system.

xmprt 6y ago
Why would Uber: 1. need to send messages through text instead of in the app 2. message only this one user instead of everyone else who also has registered like me (and probably you too)? Your conspiracy theory makes no sense.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- danans 6y ago
  > Why would Uber: 1. need to send messages through text instead of in the app SMS is still the most attention getting messaging medium. When these messages are in an SMS it looks more like it's coming from the driver's personal number. If it were instead sent through the app, people are far more likely to ignore it as a broadcast corporate marketing message. > 2. message only this one user instead of everyone else who also has registered like me (and probably you too)? I got the same sort of message purportedly from an Uber driver, but enough people had reported that number as a source of SPAM by than that my phone automatically marked the message as spam. Therefore, it sure seems like the same numbers are being reused via an SMS proxy service of some kind - or drivers are being provided a list of numbers by Uber to send the same form message. It's really no different in that way from all the political text messages that have flooded our phones of late.
- daveFNbuck 6y ago
  I've never used Uber and don't have the app installed. I've gotten these texts.
DevKoala 6y ago
I thought so too, but they were legitimate iMessage compatible phone numbers.
- interpol_p 6y ago
  Did you receive the messages as an iMessage or as a text message from the same number?
  - DevKoala 6y ago
    I got them as iMessages.

by rrix2 6y ago

xmprt 6y ago

Why would Uber: 1. need to send messages through text instead of in the app 2. message only this one user instead of everyone else who also has registered like me (and probably you too)? Your conspiracy theory makes no sense.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
danans 6y ago
> Why would Uber: 1. need to send messages through text instead of in the app SMS is still the most attention getting messaging medium. When these messages are in an SMS it looks more like it's coming from the driver's personal number. If it were instead sent through the app, people are far more likely to ignore it as a broadcast corporate marketing message. > 2. message only this one user instead of everyone else who also has registered like me (and probably you too)? I got the same sort of message purportedly from an Uber driver, but enough people had reported that number as a source of SPAM by than that my phone automatically marked the message as spam. Therefore, it sure seems like the same numbers are being reused via an SMS proxy service of some kind - or drivers are being provided a list of numbers by Uber to send the same form message. It's really no different in that way from all the political text messages that have flooded our phones of late.
daveFNbuck 6y ago
I've never used Uber and don't have the app installed. I've gotten these texts.

DevKoala 6y ago

I thought so too, but they were legitimate iMessage compatible phone numbers.

interpol_p 6y ago
Did you receive the messages as an iMessage or as a text message from the same number?
- DevKoala 6y ago
  I got them as iMessages.