You may not have realized it, but ride-sharing app Uber had the ability to record your phone's location data for up to five minutes after the completion of an Uber ride. The rationale for the post-ride tracking was customer safety, but many users viewed it more as a breach of privacy. Now that capability will be suspended as part of a data collection options update the company is rolling out this week. Instead, the app will only track customers' movements during active use (i.e. when summoning or taking a ride).
Changing the tracking ability is a relatively recent modification to the Uber app. Originally, users could limit the app to data collection while in active use, but this past November, an update forced customers to choose between Uber collecting no data or collecting data both inside and outside active use, including those extra five minutes. If you selected the no data option, you had to manually set your pickup location.
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