# Uber Phone vs. Driver App on Your phone



## Marie Cox (Sep 5, 2015)

Looking through the Tech forum and seeing a lot of discussions about the app on people's personal phones, what carrier works best, glitches, etc etc. Would love to hear people's thoughts on which you think is better: renting the Uber phone or having the app on your own phone? I've read that having it on your phone is very invasive and it detects all your contacts. Truth? Or just a rumor? And if so, is there any way to opt out of that? As for renting the phone from Uber, what are the costs? Thanks!


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## ATX 22 (Jun 17, 2015)

Personally, I think it would be stupid to use an Uber phone. They charge out the wazoo for it, and it's very limited.
I am on Sprint, and I have few issues. Most of my problems are related to the Uber app wanting to be the only thing open, or I sometimes have too many apps open at once. The rest are Uber network issues, and there's not much we can do about that.


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## Driver Rod (Jul 16, 2015)

Cost $10 a week or $40 a month that they take out every check every week. I prefer to use their phone rather than my phone and my data plan. I believe T-Mobile and Sprint have unlimited data plan if you want to use your personal phone and keep the cost down. Give A Call for clear information. Good luck!


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## ATX 22 (Jun 17, 2015)

$10 per week can be 3 or 4 rides worth of pay you're giving away in Austin.


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## Marie Cox (Sep 5, 2015)

Does the Uber phone / plan for $40 a month include as much data as you need? Is that all you pay?


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## Driver Rod (Jul 16, 2015)

Yes they have the iPhone 4. I don't know it's 4S but it's unlimited data plan and you can't do anything else with it that I know of. So the $40 a month is all-inclusive to use the app for driving.


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

$10.00 a week (it's NOT $40 a month) is all inclusive. A lot of money to pay for a crippled phone that only handles uber. I use my android w/partner app and it eats about 1 gig a month which costs me roughly $15 a month. Much cheaper. I have no idea what they are sucking up but if they are invading my privacy it will likely lead to a good law suit down the road.


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## Driver Rod (Jul 16, 2015)

Forgot to mention you can't use the Uber phone to contact the passenger. You have to use your own phone to talk or text them.


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## Marie Cox (Sep 5, 2015)

I read somewhere else in these forums, I forget where, that it's in the Uber terms that if you accept the app you also accept it's use of your contacts. I have not been able to verify this myself yet. I currently have an iPhone 4s. Obviously it's cheaper to DL the app, but is it worth the trade off...hmm. I've also seen some folks here saying they have a separate phone for Ubering.


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## Marie Cox (Sep 5, 2015)

Found it. It's in the terms so when you sign on, if you use the app on your phone, you're agreeing to this. I'm getting the sense from the wording that you have the option to let it access your address book, but of course that's not entirely clear. Anyone know if it's an option or not?

*Contacts Information: * If you permit the Uber app to access the address book on your device through the permission system used by your mobile platform, we may access and store names and contact information from your address book to facilitate social interactions through our Services and for other purposes described in this Statement or at the time of consent or collection.


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## Marie Cox (Sep 5, 2015)

Aha. Just discovered this. So it does seem to be an option. Just need to pay attention when installing it. Some of us whip through installations of things. I'm always super cautious so I'm always checking about permissions.

From the Uber Terms "Privacy" section: The iOS platform will alert you the first time the Uber app wants permission to access certain types of data and will let you consent (or not consent) to that request. Android devices will notify you of the permissions that the Uber app seeks before you first use the app, and your use of the app constitutes your consent.


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## Marie Cox (Sep 5, 2015)

Another note on Privacy...it also says in their terms that they can share info about you with third parties. Which means marketing lists, advertisers and the like. No surprise there, but just thought folks oughta know. Big Brother will henceforth be known as Uber...apparently a well-chosen name for a wide range of reasons. But then, you can't do much with your cell phone these days without it getting shared with the world. The concept of 'privacy' is complete fiction.


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## Sacto Burbs (Dec 28, 2014)

First thing they did was spam my contact list. 

I bought an Android MotiG for $180 and tether it to my iPhone with data now. Then Uber cannot spy on my phone.


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## Marie Cox (Sep 5, 2015)

Sacto Burbs said:


> First thing they did was spam my contact list.
> 
> I bought an Android MotiG for $180 and tether it to my iPhone with data now. Then Uber cannot spy on my phone.


According to their Terms, they can't do that unless you approve it. Such as when the app is initially installed or after the fact in "settings."

As for me, I honestly don't care too much if apps and companies spy on me. All it'll lead to is sales or ads. That's all they care about. Annoying but not a big deal. People are so insane about "privacy." There really is no such thing. Being tracked is pretty unavoidable in today's world, so I'm not going to loose any sleep over it. I just don't want them spamming my friends. It's one thing if they annoy me because I opted into something, but it's an entirely other thing to make my friends and contacts suffer for it. Their biggest liability should be being my friend. Any sort of FB apps or phone apps that ask you to allow them to access your contacts, I usually deny. It's greedy of them and just not right.


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## Avi-ator (Sep 18, 2015)

I use my own for the larger screen (6+) and the performance, so far so good. I couldn't justify the $10/week, even considering the data, my data so far has been insignificant. My only concern, which hasn't happened yet, would be too many incoming phone calls or notifications while a passenger in the car. If it comes down to it, I have an old iPhone 5, maybe I could tether to my 6+ for data, and my understanding is the gps will still work. But I'll research this for performance and gps accuracy if I decide to go that route.


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## Marie Cox (Sep 5, 2015)

Sacto Burbs said:


> First thing they did was spam my contact list.
> 
> I bought an Android MotiG for $180 and tether it to my iPhone with data now. Then Uber cannot spy on my phone.


That's a great idea! Get another cheaper phone dedicated for Uber use and share the data.


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