{"id":1244744,"date":"2023-04-17T10:07:02","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T04:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?p=1244744"},"modified":"2023-04-17T10:07:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T04:37:49","slug":"your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure has accused Uber, the ride hailing app, of increasing the prices for users if they have low phone battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1-1024x576.jpeg\" alt=\"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations!\" class=\"wp-image-1244752\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The app has been charging different fares for different users based on how high or low their phone batteries are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Investigation in Belgium<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Upon investigation, the paper found discrepancies for similar trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Derni\u00e8re Heure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brusselstimes.com\/449143\/uber-fares-allegedly-linked-to-phone-battery-levels\">conducted <\/a>a test using two smartphones, one with 84% battery and the other with 12%, to request a ride from their office in Brussels to Tour &amp; Taxis in the centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result showed a significant price difference, with the phone at 12% battery being charged \u20ac17.56 and the phone at 84% battery being charged \u20ac16.6 for the same service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Uber\u2019s statement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Uber has rejected such findings and a spokesperson said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Uber does not take into account the phone&#8217;s battery level to calculate the price of a trip.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dynamic pricing applied to trips booked via Uber is determined by the existing demand for rides and the supply of drivers who can respond to it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During peak hours, when there are many ride requests and few available drivers in a certain geographical area, this may impact the price of the trip.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Issue of price discrepancy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Brussels Times fired back, saying &#8220;Uber&#8217;s explanation does not clarify why two users requesting the same ride at the same time would pay different fares.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In any case, the price discrepancy may encourage users to compare offers on their respective phones when booking rides together.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Not the first time for Uber<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/technology\/uber-accused-price-surging-customers-if-phone-battery-low\">isn&#8217;t <\/a>the first time Uber has been accused of charging different fares based on the user&#8217;s phone battery life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On May 25, 2016 Forbes put out an <a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/2023-04-13_11-50-47.png?itok=Bdi6SRzV\">article <\/a>titled &#8216;Uber: Users are more likely to pay surge pricing if their phone battery is low&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same year Uber\u2019s former head of economic research, Keith Chen, said in an interview with NPR that the company had found that people with lower battery levels were more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/m7beq8\/uber-surge-pricing-phone-battery\">willing <\/a>to pay for surge pricing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He denied the company was specifically raising prices on these users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there is still skepticism as to why the company was monitoring battery life in the first place.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure has accused Uber, the ride hailing app, of increasing the prices for users if they have low phone battery. The app has been charging different fares for different users based on how high or low their phone batteries are. Investigation in Belgium Upon investigation, the paper found discrepancies for similar trips. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1244752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[111,1390],"class_list":["post-1244744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-uber","tag-uber-fare"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations! - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations! - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure has accused Uber, the ride hailing app, of increasing the prices for users if they have low phone battery. The app has been charging different fares for different users based on how high or low their phone batteries are. Investigation in Belgium Upon investigation, the paper found discrepancies for similar trips. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-17T04:37:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-17T04:37:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shreya Bose\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shreya Bose\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/\",\"name\":\"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations! - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-17T04:37:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-17T04:37:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/9817221c96a9aadc34f34cc7b8767dc6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/\",\"name\":\"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\",\"description\":\"Trak.in is a popular Indian Business, Technology, Mobile &amp; Startup blog featuring trending News, views and analytical take on Technology, Business, Finance, Telecom, Mobile, startups &amp; Social Media Space\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/9817221c96a9aadc34f34cc7b8767dc6\",\"name\":\"Shreya Bose\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1404d637610526a87c014a8eac9883a6c61491f1e6553d1946b0dd0b135713be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1404d637610526a87c014a8eac9883a6c61491f1e6553d1946b0dd0b135713be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shreya Bose\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/author\/shreya-bose\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations! - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations! - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups","og_description":"Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure has accused Uber, the ride hailing app, of increasing the prices for users if they have low phone battery. The app has been charging different fares for different users based on how high or low their phone batteries are. Investigation in Belgium Upon investigation, the paper found discrepancies for similar trips. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/","og_site_name":"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups","article_published_time":"2023-04-17T04:37:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-17T04:37:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Shreya Bose","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shreya Bose","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/","url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/","name":"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations! - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-04-17T04:37:02+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-17T04:37:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/9817221c96a9aadc34f34cc7b8767dc6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/your-phone-battery-status-is-determining-uber-fare-this-is-what-uber-said-on-these-allegations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Your Phone Battery Status Is Determining Uber Fare? This Is What Uber Said On These Allegations!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#website","url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/","name":"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups","description":"Trak.in is a popular Indian Business, Technology, Mobile &amp; Startup blog featuring trending News, views and analytical take on Technology, Business, Finance, Telecom, Mobile, startups &amp; Social Media Space","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/9817221c96a9aadc34f34cc7b8767dc6","name":"Shreya Bose","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1404d637610526a87c014a8eac9883a6c61491f1e6553d1946b0dd0b135713be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1404d637610526a87c014a8eac9883a6c61491f1e6553d1946b0dd0b135713be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shreya Bose"},"url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/author\/shreya-bose\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Uber-Mobile-App-1-1-1-1280x720-1.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1244755,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244744\/revisions\/1244755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1244752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}