# New "Feature": Accept your next ride while still on a trip.



## S_hicago (Aug 13, 2015)

UBER'S EMAIL WILL BE BELOW MY COMMENTS.

What do you guys think about this? My kneejerk reaction is that it is something that only works in theory. It sounds good, but...

"Please confirm your rider's destination is final" my ass. How many times does the rider think their destination is final, but the group decides to go somewhere else?

Even if you are able to make sure the destination is final... how the hell does the app know that you have 3 other stops to make dropping people off first?

What happens then? Does your acceptance go down if you ignore "second pings"? Does the tech have the ability to cancel if the rider changes their destination?

Are pax going to get upset when it takes a min for your current carload to get out? Is this going to affect your ratings or acceptance?

Does Uber realize how long it takes to get places in Chicago? Any "second ping" giving the pax less than a 10 min time estimate is just a plain lie. It will take 5 min to drop off the pax, even if there is only 2 min left on the trip. Then 5 min to get around the block to the next pax... because we all know Chicago traffic.

I imagine that (at least in Chicago), the flood of divers will prevent this from happening often. This will probably be good, for all the reasons above.

UBER'S EMAIL:

LESS DOWNTIME

An exciting update to trip requests is coming, designed to help you complete more trips and increase earnings. Starting today, you can accept your next trip request even when you're already on a trip.

*How It Works*

Now you'll get requests for trips that start nearby your current rider's dropoff location before the trip is over. Skip the wait and accept upcoming trips so you can go straight to your next ride.

*How It Looks*
While on a trip, you'll get a notification to accept your next request. After accepting, the screen will go back to the current trip to help avoid confusion. See below:










*FAQs*

Why the change?
This update to trip requests is expected to drastically lower ETAs for riders and partners alike. Riders will enjoy quicker pickups, increasing ratings, and partners won't have to drive as long to their pick-ups.
How do I start getting requests before my trip is over?
As long as you or the rider has entered the destination into the Uber app, we will automatically look for requests near your rider's dropoff location.
What if my current rider wants to make multiple stops?
If the rider has already entered their destination upon request, kindly confirm with them if it is their final destination. If not, you may change the destination in the Uber app to the final destination so you are less likely to receive your next request too early.
Is this uberPOOL?
No. The two riders will never be in your vehicle at the same time.
Will the next rider know that I'm on my way to them?
Yes. The next rider will see a popup in the rider app stating that the closest vehicle for them is completing another trip nearby, and we will also show the first drop-off point on the map for clarification.
Can I opt-out of receiving requests like this?
At this time we are unable to opt-out partners individually from this change.
Why can't I see the next rider's information before accepting my next trip?
You will be able to see this information after the next Uber Partner app update in the coming weeks.

As always, please let us know if you have any more questions!

Thank you for your partnership,
Uber Operations


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## DocT (Jul 16, 2015)

That new feature totally sucks!

I would think non-acceptance of the 2nd ride would affect your acceptance rate. Better go invest in a pee bottle soon!


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Poetic how they use a fictional location in Alaska where they were legislated out of existence. And they're running Uber with an near-empty batter? How untechnological. BTW, is this only in Chi? Any word on other cities to pick this up?


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## sk MM (Jul 27, 2015)

I didn't receive any email. Is it sent to only specific drivers?


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## S_hicago (Aug 13, 2015)

I hope not. I've went to great lengths to not be identified on here. I'm almost regretting posting it 

Seriously considering removing the links and picture. I'd hate to be thought of as wearing a tin-foil hat... but...


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## Edddelos (Sep 29, 2015)

DocT said:


> That new feature totally sucks!
> 
> I would think non-acceptance of the 2nd ride would affect your acceptance rate. *Better go invest in a pee bottle soon!*


Sniff...Sniff...Sniff, hey man why your car smell like pee?


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Apparently, this has been going on in San Diego for over two months. Anyone know how wells it's been working there?


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## Edddelos (Sep 29, 2015)

S_hicago said:


> UBER'S EMAIL:
> 
> LESS DOWNTIME
> 
> ...


That's actually smart, and I'll tell you why.
Feel free to disagree.

I can't tell you how many times I recieved an offer 10 city blocks away just because I was the nearest driver (no pax), when there was most likely other drivers that were dropping a passenger 2 blocks away or perhaps down the street. This can also reduce your empty miles, but of course it all depends on your own market.


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## S_hicago (Aug 13, 2015)

Oh, if it works well to lessen dead miles I'll be singing its praises.

It also has problems. There are areas where I try not to pick up. They are very popular areas, but either far too much traffic, or far too dangerous to pull over, or usually both. It's safe enough to drop off, since that takes only seconds, but not to pick up. There's no shoulder, there's no parking, it's illegal to stop (though you'd never get a ticket since it would disrupt too much traffic). There's just no way to wait 5 minutes without having your left quarter-panel removed by an angry driver, or being towed away while you are sitting in the drivers seat. Pings come every 30 seconds, but for me it's a race to the "go offline" button, since I do not feel safe picking up there.

How many pings will I have to ignore before I get the last two block to the pax's destination? One out of every 5 pax are getting dropped off there. I could be deactivated the first day next weekend.

Then again, in most of the city it would be great if I had a ping waiting for me.

Even though I'm a pessimist, and these posts have been quite pessimistic, I'll still adopt a "wait and see" attitude I guess. Like you said, there's also lots of situations where it would be great.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

DocT said:


> That new feature totally sucks!
> 
> I would think non-acceptance of the 2nd ride would affect your acceptance rate. Better go invest in a pee bottle soon!


Did you know that you can log-out of the app (or turn you phone off) while on a trip... (Android)
and then log back in (or turn your phone back on) when you arrive at the destination?

(If you have to turn your phone off, you will be logged out and you can turn your phone back on immediately so you can still navigate...
but you will not automatically go online again until you open the Uber Partner App)


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

Edddelos said:


> That's actually smart, and I'll tell you why.


This is the digital/satellite/computer/GPS method of doing *en route* bidding. Back in the days of real dispatch (commonly called "voice dispatch") cab drivers en route to a section that the dispatcher was calling could bid on the jobs. There were several ways of doing this, but the idea was that you could snag your next job while on your way with the one that you had. Companies generally restricted it to within five minutes of discharge, but at some companies, the dispatcher did have an option to call in the driver.

The other thing for which this was useful on real dispatching was if you wanted to stack locals on a driver, or, give a driver a local then another trip. Every satellite/digital/computer/GPS call assignment system that I have ever seen lacked this feature, or anything similar, *SAVE ONE. *This small company in Falls Gulch, Virginia figured out how to allow a dispatcher to stack calls on drivers. It also allowed a dispatcher to assign a driver his next call while he was en route. To be sure, the computer did not do it automatically, the dispatcher had to do it, and, let the driver know that there was another one waiting for him. This meant that the users of this system had to retain their real dispatchers. If they wanted to make use of this feature, and do so properly, they could not do it while a telephone operator was on the microphone.

This is actually a good idea. Uber should tell its programmers to put in a "decline" option, for the benefit of those of us who are on our last job and want to go home when we drop.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Another Uber Driver said:


> Uber should tell its programmers to put in a "decline" option, for the benefit of those of us who are on our last job and want to go home when we drop.


A 'decline' butoon would be nice, 
but isn't 'ignoring' the request (letting it expire) the same thing as declining it?


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> Isn't 'ignoring' the request (letting it expire) the same thing as declining it?


In fact, it is the same. Perhaps I did not explain myself well. The point that I was trying to make is that there should be an option to decline an en route request so that it does not affect your acceptance rate. Something that might allow you to block en-route requests, perhaps. Further, there is the possibility that Uber could program it so that if the driver lets an en route request expire, it does not go on his acceptance rate.

What I, and, I suspect several other driver here are trying to avoid is the Uber Acceptance Rate Nastygram.


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## Horsebm (Jul 21, 2015)

DocT said:


> That new feature totally sucks!
> 
> I would think non-acceptance of the 2nd ride would affect your acceptance rate. Better go invest in a pee bottle soon!


I already use a pee bottle and have for awhile.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Another Uber Driver said:


> What I, and, I suspect several other driver here are trying to avoid is the Uber Acceptance Rate Nastygram.


Ah, yes... I understand.
Acceptance rate is just not something I worry about... as I've discovered that as long as I am rated reasonably well overall, use the decline/ignore option judiciously and continue to generate decent revenue for Uber, their bluster (as well as my 'acceptance rate') are just bluster.


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

Know it's an old thread... but...

I emailed Uber about this, and they told me explicitly that pings en route do not affect Acceptance Rate. You are free to ignore them without losing an incentive period.

I followed up with an email asking to confirm that pings en route count as separate trips... because I won't take them if they don't impact my Trips Per Hour rating.


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

Ugh, I hate it when Uber changes information on me. I had an email from 6+ months ago where they assured me en route pings did not affect Acceptance Rate.

Literally 10 minutes after I post, they email me to my TPH question, and say that now, yes en route pings affect your Acceptance Rate.

Customer service may credit you if it was unsafe to take an en route ping while driving (for an incentive period). They just coughed up $45 for one day, but I am still bracing for $300 next week that I'll have to fight to get.

Bottom line (_as of today_), en route pings *will* hurt your acceptance rate if ignored, but *will* increase your TPH.


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

HoldenDriver said:


> Literally 10 minutes after I post, they email me to my TPH question, and say that now, yes en route pings affect your Acceptance Rate.
> 
> Customer service may credit you if it was unsafe to take an en route ping while driving (for an incentive period). They just coughed up $45 for one day, but I am still bracing for $300 next week that I'll have to fight to get.
> 
> Bottom line (_as of today_), en route pings *will* hurt your acceptance rate if ignored, but *will* increase your TPH.


The only pings enroute that I will accept are surge or Lux ... only gotten 1 of each ever


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Ziggy said:


> The only pings enroute that I will accept are surge or Lux ... only gotten 1 of each ever


I accept them all just to get them out of my was as fast as possible. They are usually very, very close, so even if they are not 'surge' or SELECT, they are almost (if not more than) as profitable because there are NO DEAD MILES. Every mile you drive w/o a paying rider in the car, cuts your paid mile profit in half!

When I end the first trip, if the second one is too far, or not someplace I want to pick up, then I cancel it. No loss on my part.


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## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> I accept them all just to get them out of my was as fast as possible. They are usually very, very close, so even if they are not 'surge' or SELECT, they are almost (if not more than) as profitable because there are NO DEAD MILES. Every mile you drive w/o a paying rider in the car, cuts your paid mile profit in half! When I end the first trip, if the second one is too far, or not someplace I want to pick up, then I cancel it. No loss on my part.


Accept yes ... take no. I should have said take ... I accept them all to get them off of my screen. But I don't always take the 2nd pax trip ... generally, they pop on my screen for an area that I'm not going to p/u during daytime, let alone at night. And while I'd rather not have dead miles, I'll take dead miles to get to a lux clientele rather than p/u on greek row or other undesirable area.


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## BDubwest (Mar 13, 2016)

Problem I'm having is as soon as I end the current trip, the app seems to think I have the next passenger instantly.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

BDubwest said:


> Problem I'm having is as soon as I end the current trip, the app seems to think I have the next passenger instantly.


I get that sometimes, too.


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

BDubwest said:


> Problem I'm having is as soon as I end the current trip, the app seems to think I have the next passenger instantly.


iOS or Android?


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## Uber 1 (Oct 6, 2015)

I've done about 4 trips like this....

To me it seems OK so far to have something lined up ready to go once I drop off the first pax...

I can see that there could be potential issues if the first rider wants to add stops etc...but so far this has not happened. 

Andy


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## BDubwest (Mar 13, 2016)

HoldenDriver said:


> iOS or Android?


Android.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

BDubwest said:


> Problem I'm having is as soon as I end the current trip, the app seems to think I have the next passenger instantly.


I've had that, too, and wondered if it were just a slip of my finger while finishing up the first job.


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## UberVolt (Feb 25, 2016)

Our city has had this for a few months now and it does affect your overall acceptance rating. To the point where Sherriff will send you threatening text messages that you are at risk of being deactivated if you don't accept 80% of trip requests. I have asked (in person and by email support) to have this feature turned off and that's a big negative. In Ontario, it's a $480 fine and 3 demerit points if you are caught touching your cell phone while driving. I'm surprised Uber would be pushing such a feature. I know a lot of you do like this feature, but I find it interrupts the current conversation that I'm having with my pax, takes my eyes off the road and does not give me enough information to decide if I want to share my car with this second person. It doesn't show you estimated time/distance away (even though they usually aren't far)... and in confirmation to previous posts, I've had rider's put in their first friend pick-up location in to the app and Uber think that we're done with this trip, only for the rider to enter in their second or last destination. :-/
Anyone else see a problem with this?


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

BDubwest said:


> Android.


Pretty sure it's an Android app bug. I've never had that happen on iOS.

I'm a huge fan of Android, but when I drive for Uber, I use an iPhone. It's just more stable all-around. I don't think it's an Android-vs-Apple thing, I think Uber's iOS engineers just have more resources, probably because more Uber drivers have iPhones to begin with.

So, hate to say it, but I'd go for a used iPhone 5 or iPhone 5c and switch to that. I use an iPhone 5S myself, and it's perfect for the purpose. You can get free service with RingPlus and the Sprint version of an iPhone 5c.


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## Stygge (Jan 9, 2016)

HoldenDriver said:


> Pretty sure it's an Android app bug. I've never had that happen on iOS.
> 
> I'm a huge fan of Android, but when I drive for Uber, I use an iPhone. It's just more stable all-around. I don't think it's an Android-vs-Apple thing, I think Uber's iOS engineers just have more resources, probably because more Uber drivers have iPhones to begin with.
> 
> So, hate to say it, but I'd go for a used iPhone 5 or iPhone 5c and switch to that. I use an iPhone 5S myself, and it's perfect for the purpose. You can get free service with RingPlus and the Sprint version of an iPhone 5c.


It's actually the opposite. I'm surprised how much uber lags in getting features from the android app ported to iOS.

Stacked pings is the greatest invention since rechargeable shavers. It reduces my dead miles and downtime tremendously.


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

So I've been at this stacked pings thing for a while now. Turns out that if you change your destination after accepting a stacker, Uber gives the ride to someone else without telling you.

Go figure.


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## RichR (Feb 12, 2016)

sk MM said:


> I didn't receive any email. Is it sent to only specific drivers?


Only in certain markets, I'm sure. It's been in some markets for a few months. Thankfully, we don't have it out here in the heartland, yet.

This will make it more difficult to be a *surge-only* driver. (Currently, I Go Offline after every trip, in order to check the surge map.)


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

RichR said:


> Only in certain markets, I'm sure. It's been in some markets for a few months. Thankfully, we don't have it out here in the heartland, yet.
> 
> This will make it more difficult to be a *surge-only* driver. (Currently, I Go Offline after every trip, in order to check the surge map.)


I totally understand the desire to run surge only, but having a ping immediately upon the completion of a ride means fewer dead miles. You may not make a killing, but more than you would waiting out the next surge.

Quite frankly, I can't understand how anyone can be a surge only driver. At least in my market, there aren't enough pings to go around. Riders are pretty savvy and will sit out a surge. And chasing a surge defeats the purpose of reducing dead miles.


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## RichR (Feb 12, 2016)

JimS said:


> Quite frankly, I can't understand how anyone can be a surge only driver.


Around here, it's not as easy as it used to be. Anymore, I'll be doing things at home watching the map. When it surges at least 2.0, I'll Go Online. When it's over or nearly so, I'll Go Offline.

But, I'm just about done Ubering. Then, I'll watch and see what they do when they run out of noobs.


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## Stygge (Jan 9, 2016)

RichR said:


> Only in certain markets, I'm sure. It's been in some markets for a few months. Thankfully, we don't have it out here in the heartland, yet.
> 
> This will make it more difficult to be a *surge-only* driver. (Currently, I Go Offline after every trip, in order to check the surge map.)


Just accept your stacked ping while driving. After you drop off the current rider you can review your next ride and see if you want to keep it or cancel. Chances are surge is not the same for that ride and the current for new pings. Just chose whatever is better. Normally a stacked ping would take you back from the hoods to the hotspots and it may be worth doing them a 1x.


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## Stygge (Jan 9, 2016)

JimS said:


> So I've been at this stacked pings thing for a while now. Turns out that if you change your destination after accepting a stacker, Uber gives the ride to someone else without telling you.
> 
> Go figure.


I didn't know that. I see that extra feature will be useful at times.


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

Stygge said:


> It's actually the opposite. I'm surprised how much uber lags in getting features from the android app ported to iOS.
> 
> Stacked pings is the greatest invention since rechargeable shavers. It reduces my dead miles and downtime tremendously.


Uber develops Android-first, no doubt. It makes sense because they don't have to do as much testing and due diligence. That's why you have the Material Design cards on the iOS version.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't more engineers working on iOS overall, and an emphasis on cross-platform development. The iOS version has more polish and battle testing, because of the aforementioned use rates that I mentioned.

Also, worth noting, Uber only leases out iPhones from what I've seen. I haven't seen them leasing out Android phones, even though that would be a safer bet and cheaper to do for Uber. I suspect this is because they're well aware that iOS is the slow/stable development ring for Uber Partner, and has more users.


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

Stygge said:


> I didn't know that. I see that extra feature will be useful at times.


Yep, I had to change the destination last night when a pax got stuck at a locked gate. Stuck there for 20 minutes, but had already accepted a ping. Couldn't drop pax as it was literally middle of nowhere (farm/ranch half hour outside town).

Just changed destination to up the street, and second ping went away.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

JimS said:


> So I've been at this stacked pings thing for a while now. Turns out that if you change your destination after accepting a stacker, Uber gives the ride to someone else without telling you.
> 
> Go figure.


So if I accept the stacked ping then drop off my pax, if I change the destination quickly BEFORE ending the trip I will have the stacked ping taken away?

I don't like stacked pings because mostly they are NOT surging and I can do much better waiting for surges. Plus, once taken I can only do check for surges using the pax app, which is a pain. I use it to track when surges go down, but for a quick "is it surging or not close to me" the driver app works better.

I actually prefer my pax not enter the destination. I don't use the phone to navigate, so it doesn't matter to me unless I think they'll try to pull a fast one as far as mileage etc. I may start changing it once I have it before moving if that will.avoid stacked oings.


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## reg barclay (Nov 3, 2015)

Yesterday I had my next ride pop up in the middle of a trip seemingly without being given the choice to accept or not, has anyone had this happen before?

Until now they came in like regular pings, although in this case the second pax was starting at the exact drop off location of pax 1, so I don't know if that's the reason.


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

Fuzzyelvis said:


> So if I accept the stacked ping then drop off my pax, if I change the destination quickly BEFORE ending the trip I will have the stacked ping taken away?
> 
> I don't like stacked pings because mostly they are NOT surging and I can do much better waiting for surges. Plus, once taken I can only do check for surges using the pax app, which is a pain. I use it to track when surges go down, but for a quick "is it surging or not close to me" the driver app works better.
> 
> I actually prefer my pax not enter the destination. I don't use the phone to navigate, so it doesn't matter to me unless I think they'll try to pull a fast one as far as mileage etc. I may start changing it once I have it before moving if that will.avoid stacked oings.


Correct, if you change the destination of the first pax, before completing the ride, then the stacked/second ping will be dropped instantly. The stacked/second ride request will then be re-sent to the next nearest driver.

This makes sure the second rider is not delayed for a long period (like the 45 minute delay I noted in my horror story, in my last post).

I have come to accept en route pings as a good thing for me. I personally drive incentive periods only, so getting as many trips as possible to hit minimum Trips Per Hour is a good thing. Once I hit the minimum TPH, I then bolt to a desolate area of the region, and catch up on my day job from my car.


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

reg barclay said:


> Yesterday I had my next ride pop up in the middle of a trip seemingly without being given the choice to accept or not, has anyone had this happen before?
> 
> Until now they came in like regular pings, although in this case the second pax was starting at the exact drop off location of pax 1, so I don't know if that's the reason.


That seems to be a known issue with the Android app. I have literally not heard one person report en route ping issues with the iOS app.

My advice - if you are having this problem with Android, switch to iOS. I say that as a die-hard Android fan... Uber Partner is simply more stable on iPhone.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

If you change the address on your current ride, it counts as a driver cancel


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Do you have any email or evidence of this? Not very fair if I didn't initiate a cancellation and the customer decided after the 2nd ping to have a 2nd dropoff...


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

Do it and then immediately look at your log. Mine always says driver canceled. It happened about 10 times one day so I know it wasn't a fluke


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

Well, thanks for the heads up. I'd protest it, but I'm not in any fear of coming close to their 25% completion or 80% acceptance thresholds. Many here, though, are.

I'll look and see, next time that happens and get some screen shots.


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## ginseng41 (Nov 30, 2014)

I got a cancellation warning recently and I'm well as over 25% completuon. Probably around 90%


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## HoldenDriver (Jan 18, 2016)

I can clarify this, because I have proof. It *does* count as a driver cancellation, however it *does not* impact your acceptance rate.

I got a text too notifying me of higher than normal cancellations, and Uber support assured me in writing that it is a known issue and that your acceptance rate will not be impacted. They also assured me that I am not in danger of being dropped as a driver due to this issue.

For further proof, my incentives (which required 90% acceptance rate) were all paid without incident last week.


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## Stimpy (Apr 6, 2017)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> Did you know that you can log-out of the app (or turn you phone off) while on a trip... (Android)
> and then log back in (or turn your phone back on) when you arrive at the destination?
> 
> (If you have to turn your phone off, you will be logged out and you can turn your phone back on immediately so you can still navigate...
> but you will not automatically go online again until you open the Uber Partner App)


Is this true only with an Android, or would an iphone work too? I'm wondering if going offline in the middle of a trip will still calculate your fare?


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Stimpy said:


> Is this true only with an Android, or would an iphone work too? I'm wondering if going offline in the middle of a trip will still calculate your fare?


There is no option to 'go offline' while you are on a trip. If you turn your phone off (or the battery dies) as soon as you turn your phone back on and open the app, you will see the trip in progress. Your phone has nothing to do with calculating the fare - the Uber system does. And remember, the rider's phone is (presumably) still on, so the Uber log of the trip will still know the actual route taken for the trip.


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## autofill (Apr 1, 2016)

What's wrong with you guys? This thread was in 2015.


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