Where Your Uber Passenger Rides Could Be Tracking You

Introduction

If you’ve taken an Uber or Lyft and wondered how they know where to pick you up, it’s because the company uses location services to work. But that doesn’t mean the ride sharing company always knows where you are—and it might even be a little creepy.

You might be surprised.

You might be surprised to learn that Uber and Lyft have a history of tracking their users. In fact, they’ve tracked their drivers as well. The reason for this is simple: it helps them to provide better service.

The most obvious example is when you request an Uber or Lyft, and it shows up on your phone before you even get out of the house! The app knows where you are because it uses GPS technology in your smartphone (or tablet). This allows them to tell whether or not there are any cars nearby that can pick up riders at that moment–and if there aren’t any available cars nearby, then maybe one will become available soon enough without having wasted any time sending out another driver who may not even see anyone waiting around on foot or riding bikes down the street!

The Uber app uses location services to work, including GPS and Wi-Fi signals.

The Uber app uses location services to work, including GPS and Wi-Fi signals. The app uses your location to show you where your ride is, when it’s arriving and how far away the driver is.

The company said it does not track customers without their permission and only collects information from a device if it has been given access by the user through the app or website. When a person opens Uber on their phone for example, they are asked whether they want to give access to their location data (and other personal information) so that Uber can provide services such as showing nearby cars or drivers’ locations in real time.”

When you request a ride and get in the car, your driver also gets access to your location.

When you request a ride and get in the car, your driver also gets access to your location. The Uber app shows the driver where you are on a map and provides his or her name, picture and estimated time of arrival (ETA).

The driver can then see where you are headed if it’s not too far away. If he or she is headed in that direction anyway, he/she might stop by to pick up another passenger along with yours–and then drop off both riders at their destinations before continuing on with his/her own business.

Even if you don’t open the Uber app, it can still track your location because it’s “always on.”

Even if you don’t open the Uber app, it can still track your location because it’s “always on.”

Uber uses two types of location tracking:

• When you’re using their app and have a connection to their servers (WiFi or cellular), they’ll use GPS to pinpoint where you are and transfer that information back to Uber’s system. This happens automatically, even if your phone is off or the battery dies.
• If there’s no connection available–for example when you go into an underground parking garage–Uber will keep track of where you’ve been for up to five minutes before losing contact with them again.

If you use Uber or Lyft, your location is easily tracked by the company.

If you’re an Uber or Lyft driver, rest assured that the company knows where you are at all times. The ride-sharing apps are tracking the location of their drivers and passengers through an app called “God View.”

Uber has been accused of using this data to spy on celebrities, employees and even journalists who have written critical articles about them–and they reportedly still do so today. In addition to being able to see where riders go after getting dropped off (and how long they stay there), Uber also has access to information about passengers’ travel history and habits via their phone’s GPS location history feature.

Conclusion

If you’re worried about your Uber passenger ride being tracked, there are a few things you can do. First, make sure you’re always on the most up-to-date version of the app so that location services are turned off by default. Second, if you use another ride-sharing service like Lyft or Gett (which are both owned by Uber), make sure they have these same settings turned off too – otherwise they could be sharing your data with each other! Lastly, keep in mind that even if none of these options work out for you, there are still ways to protect yourself from unwanted tracking: using public transportation (like buses) instead of private cars is one way; another option would be simply walking wherever it takes too long for an Uber or Lyft driver to reach but not long enough for walking time alone