Tim Cook Threatened to Remove Uber From the App Store Over iPhone Tagging Tactics

No point going the distance as the company will keep finding new ways to track you. They infact already do as Uber tracks your location for 5 minutes after your ride has ended and for some people found they were being tracked for even weeks on end.

Had Tim Cook removed the app they wouldnt have dared trying again.

And yet they removed the option to track my location while I use the app and only set it to "Never" or "Always" and Apple didnt do a thing

If he had removed the app from the store, Uber wouldnt have dared to risk it again but now they will and for all we know have

Uber is already tracking you if your app is on the phone. More or less on each OS doesnt make a difference. You are being tracked along with your device. The only reason I use it is because I just find their app and service better then the competition.

They were also using private APIs to pull this stunt. We dont know if that was possible on Android

 

If Uber are paying their drivers so low then I don't see it too often in their drivers. In fact more Uber drivers have told me how much they like Uber and the flexibility it gives them. I suspect I have talked to more to who it to complement a full time job elsewhere mind you.

I'm impressed beyond belief by London black cab driver's knowledge test they need to take. I am. And I feel for them that their job is being endangered to an extent.

However as a Londoner, I can't afford black cabs. Their cost is absolutely outrageous. Easily double that of the same journey in an Uber. Sitting in traffic, watching that meter still run up even though you're not moving is absolutely the reason people use Uber and this is completely OK and understandable.

I've had some tricky times with getting Uber drivers to the exact place but by God is it not worth the double cost and unknown end cost in a black cab to just get the exact place 100% of the time.

Have an issue with Uber's practices that are unlawful? I'll be there with you.
Have an issue with Uber's moral practices? I'll debate it with you.

Have an issue with Uber *just because* black cab drivers are losing work? Absolutely not. They have no "right" to exist in a monopoly in the same way no other industry does.

 

If that bothers you dont use the app. You agreed to the t and c when you installed used the app. And now the app meets the app guidelines so if you do t like the apps behavior that you agreed to use the android version. Cook handles the matter appropriately.

This is not an Apple thing, don't make Apple responsible for apps that meet the guidelines. Don't like the behavior, vote with your dollars.

Jobs wouldn't have removed the app either.

So don't use the app, I only care that it (the apps)meets developer guidelines; what it does beyond that is in your court to decide. As far as what android does, you can bet uber went as far as being g underhanded as possible in the android version..and it will never be pulled.

So let's get this straight you're criticizing Apple for not acting in a strong manner while letting android off the hook. That's some great hyperbole.

 

Not that I should care because I plan to continue using an iPhone for the foreseeable future but in any event does Google care about these kind of practices? Apple appears to be fairly diligent about reviewing apps for policy violations, I just wonder if Google is more or less stringent.

 

How do you know your uber driver won't be the most awful driver in the world or an insect-disguised serial killer? There is no bar of entry to becoming an uber driver, when I use a taxi service at least I know the driver went through a more thorough background check and had to be semi-competent with a passable resume/ in-person interview and driving test to get the job.

 

I feel the same way. The amount of time I have wasted waiting on the phone to get a taxi in my area. Horrible. Yup, I won't be taking a Taxi any time soon. I actually use both Lyft and Uber. Which ever has the closest ETA is who I go with. But I tend to lean towards Uber as a whole. I just wish this company would get their **** together, as it seems we are continuously hearing about them in the news for other things besides being a ride sharing company.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the company's you are referring to, receive a notice or two before the rug is pulled out. Now granted, something like what is mentioned in this article should have been dealt with pretty severely and quickly. But then again, if you are bringing a lot of money, of course they are going to be treated differently. Lets look at this like a real world situation.

I agree with another poster, if Uber would have went to Apple in an attempt to do find a way to stop the "scamming" that was going on, this whole issue would be mute.

 

Uber app forces users to choose between the app knowing their location "Always" or "Never". In the latter case, the app doesn't work. Apple should require all apps (including Uber) that want to know a user's location to implement the "Only when using the app" option.

 

You kind of covered this in your own post.... Uber is convenient, so the shady issues surrounding the company are forgiven in part or in whole. People want cheap whenever it's available, so that's why they'll go Android or a competitor instead of getting an iPhone every bit as why they'd rather hail an Uber than get a taxi.

--- Post Merged, Apr 25, 2017 ---

Not to veer too far into Politics, but dems got arrogant. Unfortunately, I see this arrogance in Apple, being actually, genuinely surprised how when they released the MacBook Pro 2016, scores of Apple fans instead went to purchase 2015 and older models instead. I'd say they're also becoming more and more like the Big Brother in their 1984 super bowl ad, but Mac, Iphone, and Ipad users alike have corrected me saying they were ALWAYS like that. They just did a good job of hiding it is all.

In my ways, I find Samsung to be the underdog... Apple was on top of the world with their iPhone, but the Galaxy and Note series managed to snatch very large shares of users. Many folks who both used or never used iPhones will admit they upped the game. Which indirectly made iPhones better by forcing Apple to up their game.

I can't say Uber isn't an underdog either, but going around saying "we respectfully disagree" how we need to follow regulations in registering autonomous vehicles, how their drivers get to call the shots, but then impose prices and hours on them (so they restrict them like employees, but pay them like contractors) takes the cake. Even Samsung nor Apple are on that level.

 

Kicking google maps out as the default map was genius! It was AWESOME for IOS users!


Before Apple kicked google out; google REFUSED to allow NAVIGATION on the IOS platform; yes the built in google based maps didn't have navigation because google wouldn't allow it. The only available navigation apps for the Iphone cost good money (I believe in the $15-$30 if I remember correctly).


After Apple kicked them out now we have Both the built in apple maps (decent) and a free version of Google maps with NAVIGATION (great)


how is this a loose for the customer? went from NO free navigation to 2 (and others now) and we now have access to the best one: google.

 

That's why it's called civil disobedience. The purpose IS to break the law, but in a civil way. I'm not condoning it, I'm just throwing it out there.

 

When I signed up for Uber years ago there was no such tracking going on so I agreed to nothing of the sort. And when you register for Uber I dont recall ticking any "I accept all terms and conditions" box.

Just saying Apple is not the messiah of privacy considering they still have Google as default search engine and allow apps to track users in the background for weeks without reporting the same

You dont know if it meets developer guidelines nor does Apple. The company clearly managed to hide their treachery from Apple and considering how they implemented background tracking its not far fetched to think they did it again

For all you know Google could have done the same thing and it may have gone unreported.

Android users havent been shown to be fingerprinted.iOS users were. The onus is on Apple

Anyone who doesnt want to drive into a ditch or go to places which dont exist will install Google Maps on their device. Apple continues to force their maps application as default down our throat.

Google's refusal was justified because Apple was using their app and not giving them due consideration for it. And they were proved right because its obvious to any user that internationally Apple Maps is no match for Google Maps AND it was a laughing stock when it first launched. I bet even Google's engineers were laughing looking at it when it launched

 

Not recalling is not the same not doing. However to again repeat you have an android, use the android version of the app, I'm sure it's totally legit.

This is one of the most egregious deflections, what does google have anything to do with "Apple being the messiah of privacy". At least Apple doesn't sweep crap under the rug like android.

this treachery is almost in the android app and while it's true "we" dont know if the app current meets guidelines, there are two things.
1. Use the android app, obviously it's totally legit.
2. Delete the iPhone app.

Yep, I'm betting on it.

Okay, you can believe what you want.

Nice hyperbole, but nothing else.

Domestically Apple maps is better tha gooogle maps. Apple has the last laugh here.

 

And they take on the expenses of keeping the autonomous cars repaired, housing then when not in use, licensing them, and at least for now hiring someone to sit at the wheel ready to take over when one of their cars blows through a red light again.

 

I've never had geofencing work properly.

 

"Travis to the principal's office... Travis to the principal's office"

 

There is simple mathematics. People inside a car are protected by lots of metal, seatbelts and so on. They are safer than pedestrians or cyclists. By prioritising people outside the car, the total number of people killed, or badly or not so badly injured will be minimised. And since you cannot predict which side you (or your children) will be in case of an accident, the best is to minimise the total damage.

And now imagine you were given a choice, you choose to prioritize your safety, and a kid is killed as a result. Things go to court. The judge decides that the kid died because of your decision, and you are done for manslaughter, or you have to pay huge damages.

 

While apple maps are not as good as google's, the idea that it's totally useless is hyperbole; its a decent map app; In-fact the application itself is quite nice; it simply doesn't have the volume of data that google does.

When google was the built in app (IOS1-5); google was getting compensated by apple, they weren't doing it for free. But what google wanted wasn't more money to allow access to their navigation; no, they wanted to collect IOS users' data and apple refused.

Form an IOS 5 users perspective there were NO free navigation apps for IOS. And the maker of arguably the best navigation app wasn't budging on delivering that app to IOS.

Apple made a move; released their own app and forced google's hand... SO from IOS 6 and onward an IOS user has at least 2 free navigation apps; from ZERO to TWO, one of which is arguably the best navigation app available.

I'm not sure how that's not a win for the end user?

How? how were google proved right that they shouldn't have released a navigation app on IOS? By releasing their navigation app on IOS? How does that work?

 

Just went into the register screen.Nothing there

Not deflecting. You were implying Android is worse than iOS as regards privacy

And what crap is Android sweeping under the rug

As long as you admit that Android is not the only platform where Uber is being shady we are good. There is just as much underhandedness going on in the iOS version. No point shifting as both platforms have Uber tracking you.

Domestically average. Internationally waaaaay below average

 

https://www.uber.com/legal/terms/us/

I wasn't implying, I'm stating. And you can be sure the android app does "far worse" for whatever apple found in the IOS version of the app.

See above.

The IOS version is no longer fingerprinting, so yeah, I'd say the android version is shadier.

Iceland, apple maps was better than google maps. So there that goes.

 

Which would still be considerably cheaper than their current driver costs (once they don't have to pay for someone to sit at the wheel).

 

You can go to settings and disallow the app to get your location. And when you book a ride, you go to settings again and allow it.

 

That fan myth about preventing data collection makes no sense. Which is typical for fan myths.

Google already had all that... with Apple's blessing. Heck, for the past decade Apple has made more than a billion dollars a year, sharing in Google Search ad revenue, in return for letting Google be the default search engine and thus gathering lots of iOS user info. (Sometimes access to Apple customers is indeed a product to be sold.) And just looking up stuff on Google Maps alone gives plenty of info.

According to insiders, Google wanted a couple of things in return for adding navigation:

1. Branding on their maps (they used to say "Google" in the corner but Apple apparently wanted that gone).



2. The ability to offer their Google Latitude service. That's the one which let users opt into sharing their location (general or specific) with friends and family. However, as is well known, Apple dislikes any competition with their own core services, and Family Sharing and Location came out in iOS 8.

 

Don't threaten to do it but instead do ban them and make an example of them. That is not just a corrupt practice but immoral at its core.

 

From what I have been told, he has it in his contract that he cannot be removed. So, at least until they go public, he is free to continue acting like a jerk.

--- Post Merged, Apr 27, 2017 ---

I live in San Francisco, where Uber started, and is headquartered. I have never, and will never, use Uber. If I need transportation, and transit isn't a viable choice, I use taxis. Sorry, but I have seen far too many Uber drivers acting like jerks. They ignore traffic laws, act in an illegal manner (for example, blocking bus stops to pick up a passenger, or let them off), and generally are some of the worst drivers around. No way would I use them. My original issue was Kalanick's infamous statement that he wanted to give his customers the experience of being a pimp.

--- Post Merged, Apr 27, 2017 ---

Yes, I can understand Cook's reasons to not remove Uber, but I do wish he had. It would have quickly put them out of business as they are close to collapsing as it is. They are not making money, and are under pressure to do an IPO. But Uber is desperately trying to avoid that, because the moment it goes public, the VC will dump their stock, and the stock will drop. Kalanick and others cannot sell their stock for anywhere from six months to a year, and by then, it will be worthless. Right now, they can hide a lot of information, though it is well known that they are losing money at a ridiculous rate.

--- Post Merged, Apr 27, 2017 ---

The is no legitimate reason for Uber to not offer an option to only use location services when using the app. I have seen a very few apps that don't have the option to only allow it when the app is being used. Most would not be worthwhile with it off, and the rest I simply turn it off entirely, or remove the app. Having it on all the time is murder on battery life.

--- Post Merged, Apr 27, 2017 ---

I can only speak to how it is here in San Francisco... Taxi drivers are required to pass a very rigid background check, including fingerprints, have a clean driving record, attend a training course, and pass an exam. Uber's standards are much lower. Perhaps that is why Uber has had several incidents locally of drivers assaulting passengers, both sexual and with physical violence. The Uber apologists can only resort to bringing up a case from about 20 years ago where a taxi driver committed a murder.

 

What makes Uber more secure? I haven't noticed this.