After making an unfortunate change to its privacy settings last year, we are glad to see that Uber has reverted back to settings that empower its users to make choices about sharing their location information.
Last December, an Uber update restricted users' location-sharing choices to "Always" or "Never," removing the more fine-grained "While Using" setting. This meant that, if someone wanted to use Uber, they had to agree to share their location information with the app at all times or surrender usability. In particular, this meant that riders would be tracked for five minutes after being dropped off.
Now, the "While Using" setting is back—and Uber says the post-ride tracking will end even for users who choose the "Always" setting. We are glad to see Uber reverting back to giving users more control over their location privacy, and hope it will stick this time. EFF recommends that all users manually check that their Uber location privacy setting is on "While Using"after they receive the update.
1. Open the Uber app, and press the three horizontal lines on the top left to open the sidebar.
2. Once the sidebar is open, press Settings.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the settings page to select Privacy Settings.
4. In your privacy settings, select Location.
5. In Location, check to see if it says “Always.” If it does, click to change it.
6. Here, change your location setting to "While Using" or "Never". Note that "Never" will require you to manually enter your pickup address every time you call a ride.
