The reason why Uber is cracking down because modified Android operating system phones were making the rounds on the black market.

Normally the Uber app will not function unless developer mode is turned off and the phone rebooted. However these modified Android phones had their operating system altered to avoid that which allowed third party "GPS spoofing" apps to operate as it requires enabling developer mode.

So drivers could use the spoofing apps to always maintain a presence, like inside a fancy hotel while not actually being there, like sitting at Starbucks sipping a latte down the road.

They get the ping they want, accept it and then travel to the hotel for the pickup. Combined with Mystro they can cherry pick the absolute best trips they want provided they meet all the other requirements (like a high rating which all new drivers have).

So by using this method on new fake accounts they have a perfect 5.0 rating and will likely beat other drivers and be the closest one to get the ping.

So if this detection Uber is trying to use to detect violations just uses funky GPS which is never always accurate then there is a problem.

But they say they use other data as well, so if they at the Starbucks that local Wi-Fi is a known location to Google and it's obvious the driver is not where is GPS says he is.

So not only does the driver have to fake the GPS, but the hotels wifi signal as well. And Bluetooth and of course cell tower location which isn't all that accurate anyway.

The game has been upped drivers!

 

Normally the Uber app will not function unless developer mode is turned off and the phone rebooted.

Not true. I've always had Developer Mode turned on.

 

is this fake news, or, u have some actual evidence Uber deactivated someone? U might also explain to us techincal mortals what faking your gps location has to do with a 5 star rating, stealing trips, or even exactly how that would be done, or, why one would bother to go through the trouble.

 

I’ve been telling people for years you don’t actually need to be using GPS spoofing software. The minute they detect your phone has been jail broken (and they will) they assume you’re using spoofing software and you’re gone.

 

Who sits and waits for a ping? Ride OR delivery? Rhetorical question, I know that there are people who sit and wait but in my market I honestly cannot remember the last time I didn’t have one in the queue, accepted, as I was finishing up the one I was on. Eats or rides. (Mostly Eats these days.)

 

GPS spoofing when you are doing high end rides like Black or Premier would be a strategy that could make you a lot more by putting you right in the thick of a high demand area. I could sit home doing whatever and have myself in the parking lot of the 5 star hotel a couple of miles away. I could live near the airport and put myself in the queue, position myself closer to a hot area than others on the map, ... Oh, and the biggest thing for any driver, put yourself into a high sticky surge and then back to where you are.

 

Can someone please explain this to me in layman's terms since I was dropped on my head at 9 months old. The last time I caught an Uber I was able to see the driver's vehicle moving on the app. So if driver is home pretending to be at airport what is the passenger going to see on the map. What happens when Uber sees the driver already at location but gps shows the vehicle moving for 3 miles while in transit to location? Make this make sense. 🤔

 

Essentially what you are doing when you GPS spoof is to override the location that the satellites say you are in. So the gps says I'm at First street but I tell the GPS spoofing app to tell my phone that it's at 10th street. The Uber app assumes that data is correct and shows me on the map at 10th street. If I don't change any setting then the Uber app will think I'm stationary even as I drive from 1st to 10th street. So basically I might not appear to be moving as I drive the distance to the location. At some point in time I have to turn off the GPS spoofing otherwise the driver app will never see me moving.

Not much of a consideration though, I think they've gotten pretty good at catching this. Make sense now?

 

I've always felt like the primary use of GPS spoofing would be to pick up surge somewhere where you are not.

 

ding ding.... probably. I dont even bother screen recording anymore. If you chase a surge.. .it will disappear as soon as you get within a few blocks. Uber no longer lists the surges everywhere... they just put up a few labels... but what is between those labels in the solid red can be %25 or less... so it is carrot on a stick bullshit. To add: Often the surge disappears when you go online... Sometimes I immediately go off line and they come back. Furthermore... when you are in a ride, you cannot see the surges... so if you get a ride, while in a ride... in a highly congested area due to sports games and concert letting out... there can be $18 (rare) no.. say $10 surges in the entire area... but you will not get the surge... because they can do that. Which is why I often tell uber to go offline after the ride... so I can see the surges, take a snapshot... and complain if I do not get it. This in not a hypothesis... or a guess.. .I have had proof. It is so common... it is not worth trying to prove it anymore.