[reg barclay]

Anyone remember the Uber iPhones back in the day? You have to be a super 20 percenter to remember them. IIRC in the early days of Uber it was only available on iOS, and Uber had iPhones that drivers rented for a certain amount per week. I can't remember if you could use your own iPhone or if you had to rent them.

Anyway does the thing still exist, or has it been done away with, since Uber's long been available on Android and everyone seems to use their own phone today anyway?

 

[ftimmy]

I'm almost ashamed to say I've been doing this long enough to remember that. I assume it's no longer an option.

It was a requirement, you could not use your own phone. It cost $10 a week. It sucked when you took a week off from driving to see that you were starting the next week $10 in the hole. It was also completely locked down to the point that it would do nothing but run the driver app. The texts and calls between driver and passenger didn't even come through it, you still had to use your own phone for that. If you wanted to use Google Maps or Waze, then you had to use your own phone for that.

I will say that I would be happy to pay $10 a week if the non shore rates were still the $2.35 per mile that they were at that time.

 

[bobby747]

ya $10 bucks week...

 

[reg barclay]

I'm almost ashamed to say I've been doing this long enough to remember that. I assume it's no longer an option.

It was a requirement, you could not use your own phone. It cost $10 a week. It sucked when you took a week off from driving to see that you were starting the next week $10 in the hole. It was also completely locked down to the point that it would do nothing but run the driver app. The texts and calls between driver and passenger didn't even come through it, you still had to use your own phone for that. If you wanted to use Google Maps or Waze, then you had to use your own phone for that.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I just missed out on all that then. When I first started they sent me one in the mail, but by that time they'd just started allowing other phones, so I used my own and returned it.

 

[PorkRollUberAndCheese]

I was an Uber iPhone user back in the day. I got used to it, which is why I prefer my 2-phone system now.

 

[Lepke]

It was $10 a week and then they raised it to $15 a week but because I was a slogged mentor and was acquainted with an operations manager mine was free. The guy who slogged me still has a bag of them.