Uber Is Extra Costly if Your Cellphone Battery Is Low?

When requesting an Uber, your telephone battery degree might supposedly impression the fee — a minimum of that is a principle in accordance with a long-standing web rumor.

For years, a declare has circulated alleging that the ride-hailing app will increase trip costs for patrons with low telephone batteries. 

As an illustration, a popular Reddit post with the declare shows an alleged screenshot of the app with a message to the shopper, “Your telephone’s battery is low, so we elevated costs. You might wish to ebook quick.” In October 2024, the declare surfaced once more on Threads, with a consumer asking, “Do you know that Uber will cost you as much as 3x the value in case your battery is low?”

(Versole on Reddit)

One Reddit consumer responded, “This appears a bit legal. Higher plug my telephone up half-hour earlier than you order an uber.“ One other wrote, “Sure it’s a identified truth they cost pax [sic] extra for a low battery [battery emoji] TRUE ! Been proved greater than as soon as. Do not imagine strive at residence yourselves.“

This declare first turned common in 2016 following an look by Uber’s then-head of financial analysis, Keith Chen, on NPR’s Hidden Brain. Whereas discussing his profession as a behavioral economist and the precise behavioral traits Uber had noticed, Chen instructed NPR:

We do although, you realize, within the Uber knowledge, see a whole lot of actually, actually fascinating patterns. So, for instance, a knowledge scientist named Peter at Uber found considerably by chance this actually, actually sort of fascinating truth. And that is without doubt one of the strongest predictors of whether or not or not you’re going to be delicate to surge — in different phrases, whether or not or not you’re going to sort of say, oh, 2.2, 2.3, I will give it a ten to fifteen minutes to see if surge goes away — is how a lot battery you will have left in your cellphone.

[…]

When your cellphone is like down to love under 5% battery and that little icon on the iPhone turns purple, you realize, then folks begin saying, properly, I higher get residence, like, as a result of I do not fairly understand how I will get residence in any other case. And we completely do not use that to sort of like push you the next surge value, however it’s an fascinating sort of psychological truth of human habits.

In different phrases, within the 2016 interview, Chen stated Uber did certainly have entry to battery cost info however was not utilizing it to extend surge pricing. As an alternative, he instructed customers had been extra more likely to pay the surge costs if their telephone battery was low, somewhat than look ahead to the value to drop and threat their telephone going useless. 

So it is true Uber has entry to clients’ telephone battery info, in accordance with the corporate itself. Nonetheless, Uber has persistently denied the declare that it makes use of that info to extend costs. Till unbiased proof surfaces to confirm the corporate’s place and debunk the rumor — equivalent to a complete research throughout quite a lot of geographic places, occasions, visitors situations and different variables — the declare stays unproven. 

Additionally, the above-displayed screenshot that allegedly depicts the Uber app telling a buyer, “Your telephone’s battery is low, so we elevated costs” seems to be created by an account on X identified for satirical posts earlier than spreading to Reddit.

Uber Denies the Declare 

So as to use Uber, clients comply with let the corporate have entry to sure telephone knowledge, together with battery life. As per the corporate’s terms and conditions: 

We acquire knowledge concerning the gadgets used to entry our providers, together with the {hardware} fashions, gadget IP tackle or different distinctive gadget identifiers, working programs and variations, software program, most well-liked languages, promoting identifiers, gadget movement knowledge and cellular community knowledge.

Moreover, the corporate is clear about utilizing what it calls “surge pricing” — or, altering costs for rides primarily based on real-time demand. Whereas adjusting costs, it says it considers market situations, equivalent to what number of drivers can be found at a specific time, in addition to whether or not any main emergencies are affecting public security. The corporate says of surge pricing:

Surge pricing is a reduction valve for the rideshare market. With out it, when demand for rides exceeds the variety of out there drivers, riders would wait longer (or may not have the ability to get a trip in any respect). Drivers would have much less incentive to simply accept requests in busy areas. Surge pricing helps restore stability to the community. By ready a bit longer, riders can keep away from the surge value.

However the firm has persistently denied the declare that it makes use of telephone battery knowledge to set costs, and there have but to be any complete, unbiased research to verify that place.

Small experiments

Experiments with small pattern teams have examined the declare, nevertheless. In 2023, The Brussels Times, self-described as “Belgium’s largest every day information media in English,” referred to as Uber rides from two completely different telephones at completely different battery ranges and reported that the trip requested by the telephone with the decrease cost was pricier. Uber responded in a assertion: 

Uber doesn’t take note of the telephone’s battery degree to calculate the value of a visit. The dynamic pricing utilized to journeys booked by way of Uber is decided by the present demand for rides and the provision of drivers who can reply to it. Throughout peak hours, when there are lots of trip requests and few out there drivers in a sure geographical space, this will have an effect on the value of the journey.

WKYC, a TV information station in Cleveland, repeated the experiment — once more, with solely two telephones — and bought the identical value for each. In an announcement, Uber reiterated its earlier place: 

Uber doesn’t use customized pricing neither is battery life a consider figuring out fares. Pricing is optimized for the community as a complete, not anybody particular person rider or driver. 

In July 2024, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, issued a statement calling on Uber — in addition to its major competitor, Lyft — for extra transparency in its surge pricing practices and straight talked about the 2016 NPR interview with Chen: 

Traditionally, Uber has denied claims that it makes use of shoppers’ non-public knowledge to set fares; nevertheless, in 2016, the top of financial analysis at Uber, Keith Chen, said that one of many strongest predictors of consumers’ willingness to pay for elevated fares was the quantity of battery left on a tool. More moderen analysis has proven that Uber’s costs improve when a tool has low battery — suggesting that Uber preys upon the perceived desperation of their clients. As an alternative of enabling shoppers to make knowledgeable selections, aggressive corporations — like Uber — exploit expertise and client knowledge to control shoppers, extracting each final cent doable from them. 

Snopes reached out to Uber’s communications workforce in search of any further details about the declare and the corporate’s response to it. We are going to replace this text if we hear again.