# Ditched the Uber Phone!!



## HD Radio Network (Aug 25, 2014)

I installed the driver app on an old deactivated iPhone 4S I had and used the hotspot on my android 4G LTE tab for data. Worked better then Uber's 3G iPhone. Loads maps and waybills way faster! I worked 7 hours and did 16 trips and only used .07 GB of data for both the Uber app and Waze on the tablet. I will update in tne future when I have more days to test data usage to confirm the totals. I would highly recomend using a second device for this app as it does seem to hijack the device. Not sure if it would work on an iPod but would be worth a shot!


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## Woody Mornings (Aug 15, 2014)

"Hijack the device" 

Would you mind elaborating?……I haven't had any issues running it on a 3g iPhone 4. I'll admit I haven't tried using waze in the foreground while uber is running but I have had success running uber and sidecar simultaneously.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

Woody Mornings said:


> "Hijack the device"
> 
> Would you mind elaborating?&#8230;&#8230;I haven't had any issues running it on a 3g iPhone 4. I'll admit I haven't tried using waze in the foreground while uber is running but I have had success running uber and sidecar simultaneously.


Uber wants to stay in the front and take over your audio routing. If you use other apps in the front regularly, or expect audio through bluetooth, you will have problems.


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## HD Radio Network (Aug 25, 2014)

Correct, I stream music with my phone so the app takes over the audio. Also I did not allow the app access to the mic... Uber has no need to hear whats going on in my vehicle! lol


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

HD radio, kind of my plan., thinking iPad mini if it will run Uber driver app.

$520/yr pays for device and big data plan easy.


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## Woody Mornings (Aug 15, 2014)

Interesting……how does one know that "uber is listening"???


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

LAuberX said:


> HD radio, kind of my plan., thinking iPad mini if it will run Uber driver app.
> 
> $520/yr pays for device and big data plan easy.


Probably need the cellular/gps version though not just wifi.


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## HD Radio Network (Aug 25, 2014)

When you install the app it asks for permission to access the mic. Listening, not sure but why allow it.


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## Woody Mornings (Aug 15, 2014)

Wow! I didn't install it myself. Uber did. Is there a way to reverse this?


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## Woody Mornings (Aug 15, 2014)

Never mind……just found what apps have access to the mic. Sure enough, Uber was switched on………Unbelievable!!!!!!


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## HD Radio Network (Aug 25, 2014)

grams777 said:


> Probably need the cellular/gps version though not just wifi.


Not sure why you need cellular. Does the mini have GPS?


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

grams777 said:


> Probably need the cellular/gps version though not just wifi.


Why if it is using wi fi thru my LTE android phone to get online?

Edit: only cellular mini has GPS per my research so far....


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## HD Radio Network (Aug 25, 2014)

I am using a deactivated iPhone that doesnt have a celluar connection and it works just fine. All you need is a data connection and GPS.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

HD Radio Network said:


> I am using a deactivated iPhone that doesnt have a celluar connection and it works just fine. All you need is a data connection and GPS.


You don't need to use the built in cellular of the device, but you have to have one that is capable of it. Those are the only ones I know of that also have gps.


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## grams777 (Jun 13, 2014)

LAuberX said:


> Why if it is using wi fi thru my LTE android phone to get online?
> 
> Edit: only cellular mini has GPS per my research so far....


Right. You can use wifi through another phone for the data. But the gps only comes with cellular capable models. It might be worth waiting to see if an android version comes out in a few months.


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## HD Radio Network (Aug 25, 2014)

LAuberX said:


> Why if it is using wi fi thru my LTE android phone to get online?
> 
> Edit: only cellular mini has GPS per my research so far....


Good to know!


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## privatekms (Jul 4, 2014)

I noticed when I switch the mic off for the uber app that the icon of my car does not move on the map. Anyone else have this issue? Not sure if the app is working properly when I saw this, so i turned mic back on. But with mic on, my cars bluetooth does not work properly. Frustrated!!!


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## nicholsj100 (Aug 19, 2014)

If you read the disclaimer it says Uber will never listen and it needs microphone for audio access such as the chirps and gps.


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## Ara (Sep 5, 2014)

how can turn off mic??my i phone is 4


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## Tim In Cleveland (Jul 28, 2014)

So, when's someone going to post a link to the driver app so we can lust over it in other parts of the country?


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## HD Radio Network (Aug 25, 2014)

nicholsj100 said:


> If you read the disclaimer it says Uber will never listen and it needs microphone for audio access such as the chirps and gps.


My chirps and GPS work fine without mic access...


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## ubrad (Jul 28, 2014)

Uber asks for permission to use the microphone as a way to ensure their app stays running in the background. They need it to stay running, for example, to track your location while on a ride if you happen to switch to a different maps app.

On iOS, Apple greatly restricts what apps can do. In most cases, this is beneficial for the user. Apple, in order to make sure users have the best possible battery life, aggressively kills apps once the user switches to the home screen or another app. But Apple has left a few loopholes. If your app is designed to record audio, Apple allows this activity to continue even if you switch to another app. So some apps exploit this as a way to keep their app running. By claiming to need access to the microphone and starting an endless dummy 'recording session', the Uber app won't be killed if the user switches to the home screen or another app.

So while there's no part of the app that actually requires the microphone, allowing microphone access will ensure that the Uber app stays running even if you switch to the home screen or another app.


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## The Geek (May 29, 2014)

It's never 'open mic time' in my car!


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## HD Radio Network (Aug 25, 2014)

Makes sense. I didn't like sharing the app with other things like making and receiving calls so I use an unactivated iPhone and wifi connect it to my other device for internet access. This frees up my phone for call, streaming tunes and other things and allows the Uber app to always be running in the foreground and NOT allowing access to the mic.


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## Uzcaliber (Aug 22, 2014)

HD Radio Network said:


> I installed the driver app on an old deactivated iPhone 4S I had and used the hotspot on my android 4G LTE tab for data. Worked better then Uber's 3G iPhone. Loads maps and waybills way faster! I worked 7 hours and did 16 trips and only used .07 GB of data for both the Uber app and Waze on the tablet. I will update in tne future when I have more days to test data usage to confirm the totals. I would highly recomend using a second device for this app as it does seem to hijack the device. Not sure if it would work on an iPod but would be worth a shot!


I doesn't work on Ipod, I tried it. At first it seems to work but then the location doesn't change as you drive. One way to make it work by hooking up the Ipod to a GPS car kit such as Magellan GPS car kit for location. Then you can use a HotSpot for the Ipod data to connect to Uber's server.


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## Duj (Aug 21, 2015)

ubrad said:


> Uber asks for permission to use the microphone as a way to ensure their app stays running in the background. They need it to stay running, for example, to track your location while on a ride if you happen to switch to a different maps app.
> 
> On iOS, Apple greatly restricts what apps can do. In most cases, this is beneficial for the user. Apple, in order to make sure users have the best possible battery life, aggressively kills apps once the user switches to the home screen or another app. But Apple has left a few loopholes. If your app is designed to record audio, Apple allows this activity to continue even if you switch to another app. So some apps exploit this as a way to keep their app running. By claiming to need access to the microphone and starting an endless dummy 'recording session', the Uber app won't be killed if the user switches to the home screen or another app.
> 
> So while there's no part of the app that actually requires the microphone, allowing microphone access will ensure that the Uber app stays running even if you switch to the home screen or another app.


As a programmer, this sounds like a fairly reasonable explanation to me.


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