Does Uber hike ride prices when you're low on battery?
What's the story
Over the years, suspicions have grown about whether or not ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft hike fares if your phone's battery is low. The topic has resurfaced for discussion on Twitter after a self-professed techie tweeted about an extremely expensive ride becoming cheaper after she charged her phone. There isn't concrete evidence yet but here's the whole story.
Motives
Why would Uber, Lyft vary pricing based on battery level?
First off, the possible motivation could be that users would accept whatever price is quoted instead of facing the possibility of a dead phone and no cab options while waiting for the supposedly demand-based pricing to drop. Secondly, Uber and Lyft's apps have access to your phone's battery level and could use the information if they chose to.
Wild fluctuation
If your phone's battery is below 20%, prices increase
The suspicion was first raised by Twitter user Sarah (@NerdyAndNatural). She claims that both Uber and Lyft hike cab fares when your phone's battery is low. She shared an instance where the $25 to $30 ride price jumped a whopping $81 while her phone's battery was at 18%. Once the phone was charged up to 25%, the price dropped back down.
Twitter Post
Sarah's tweet about correlation between battery level and surge pricing
I wanted to backed this up yesterday but I couldn't find the screenshots until this morning. You can see my battery is at 18% and the ride (which is normally $25-$30) is hiked up to $81. I saw it change instantly. The price dipped once I charged my phone to 25%. https://t.co/cy2S5YyTAr pic.twitter.com/ZaKpB7JZi0
— Sarah | Unfriendly Black Techie (@NerdyAndNatural) August 17, 2021
No evidence
No concrete evidence of such hikes is available yet
While Sarah's experience doesn't prove Uber or Lyft were indulging in the "dirty" strategy, she isn't the first to spot the correlation between the battery level and cab pricing. A Forbes report from mid-2016 and an unrelated report from 2019 independently corroborate Sarah's observations. Meanwhile, one could also argue effective surge pricing dropped in the time spent recharging the phone's battery.
Information
Some suggest using Firefox since it can't access battery level
In the replies to Sarah's tweet, some users reportedly claimed that they were unable to recreate the circumstances and verify her observation while another user advised using Uber through Firefox since it allegedly doesn't have access to the battery level API.
Vehement denial
Obviously, Uber denies factoring in the device's battery level
Back in 2016, Uber's then head of economic research, Keith Chen, reportedly commented on the matter in a podcast episode. He said Uber noted clients are more likely to accept surge pricing if their phone is about to die. Chen clarified that Uber doesn't use this information and it's just an interesting observation. Are we to believe Uber doesn't use data it already has?