Hacker News Reader

Comment by gpt5 | Hacker News Reader

I've been struggling with the Uber app and Uber Eats who has been sending me ads which I found no way to disable.

My problem is that I do want notifications for when my driver has arrived.

I deleted the Uber app and stopped using their service specifically because there was no way to turn off only their spammy marketing push notifications, and I didn't want to turn off all push and miss a ride, so there was no way for me to meaningfully use their service. It's ok, I have other options to get a ride.

I found a way to disable marketing notifications but it was buried in their menus. Settings > Privacy > Notifications. Definitely shouldn't be under privacy, that makes no sense.

It does make sense when privacy violating tactics are powering the notifications.

Come on uber your hidden agenda is showing!

Are you in iOS? I see a pretty detailed breakdown of notification categories that I can disable.

I had previously failed to find the Notification settings under Privacy that another commenter pointed me to--I think these solve my problem. If you found even more granular settings, please let me know where you're setting them.

A few months ago, I swear I went through every single setting in the app and failed to find anything like this, so maybe they've since updated their settings page?

That's exactly why I stopped using Uber. It was annoying to not get notification when drivers arrive, but there's no way I'm giving them free access to make my pocket vibrate all day long.

If you turn off notifications they will use text messages to contact you. I’ve never gotten a spam text message from them, which makes some sense as they’re more regulated than push notifications.

Texts are more expensive than push notifications. I don't actually think they're more expensive.

same rule, and also why uber eats got uninstalled

> I do want notifications for when my driver has arrived.

They can ring my doorbell or phone me.

You could stop using Uber and Uber Eats.

You could also be a hermit and live in the woods. Thats not really the point though. For paid services, I think it’s entirely reasonable to say that you don’t want to see ads.

It is reasonable to say you don't want ads. Unfortunately Uber has decided to say "too bad, what are you going to do about it?"

As my friend says about salary, it's only a negotiation if you're prepared to walk away.

Or unionize. In this case it would be to petition apple or the FCC or whatever.

Sure, but a similar dynamic applies - a union can't negotiate if it's not prepared to strike.

I mean I went with "own a car and pick up food myself" instead of the whole hermitage thing, but to each their own

there have always been ads when I go to the movies, and in the magazines I pay good money for. nothing about paying for a product should give you an expectation of ad free, that's a very slim niche of a business model where they pummel you with ads until you subscribe a la spotify and youtube, but its not the norm at all

I would too. But the fees for trying to get my car in checked baggage when I fly for business or vacations are insane.

I mean I went with "renting a car at my destination" instead of trying to check my own car into baggage, but to each their own.

It would be a lot cheaper to buy a burner phone.

The difference here is that you see those ads when you go to the movies, or when you pick up the magazine. You're exposed to them on your own schedule. Phone notification ads, on the other hand, demand your attention with a sound or a vibration on their schedule.

I've never used Uber or Lyft and the last and only time I had pizza delivered was 20 years ago. There are more than enough food places and supermarkets within a 500m radius of my home, public transport here is pretty good or I can bike, rent a car or call a taxi for the few times I really need to go to the airport at 3 AM. YMMV.

Giving up on a product that only provides marginal value is hardly the same thing as becoming a hermit.

Uber eats isn’t integral to operating in modern society by a long stretch.

The hermit argument is trotted out far too often, it’s one thing if we are talking about something like a smart phone, but just because something is new or techy, doesn’t mean you are a Luddite for not using it.

I wonder if you could write a Shortcut that, after an Uber ride is booked, notifications are enabled and once the ride ends, they are disabled again?

I just tried, unless I’m missing an update, Uber Eats doesn’t even show up under the Apps that I can select from to build a shortcut for.

Uber Eat does different channel for notification though. Mine is set exactly as you described.

It's an option on android but not ios.

Go to account -> settings -> privacy -> notifications and you can turn off all the marketing notifications on iOS too for Uber / Uber Eats.

That turns it off for the whole app, not only marketing stuff.

Settings -> notifications -> Uber.

Turn off Lock Screen, Notifications, Banners.

Leave on “Time Sensitive Notifications”

That setting doesn't do what you think it does. As per the tooltip[1], all that does is cause notifications from uber to be delivered regardless of focus settings (eg. if you have work focus on and uber sends you a notification it will show up immediately rather than being hidden/delayed). You'll still get other notifications if you don't have focus on.

[1] random image result: https://static1.makeuseofimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/upl...?

I remember at WWDC that Apple added a method for developers to classify types of notifications

https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline...

I would think that if you disable the three notifications at the bottom and enable “time sensitive notifications”, if Uber is a well behaved app, it should only notify you for things that are time sensitive. I won’t know for sure for awhile.

https://www.plotprojects.com/blog/ios-15-push-notifications-...

> Apple has provided developers with the freedom to categorize the outgoing notifications from their apps, with guidance from a new notification classification scale. Developers can decide on the appropriate interruption level for their app notifications, however Apple has warned that users can completely turn off app notifications if they feel a high level of urgency is being used unnecessarily.

Right, but if you dig deeper into the article it's clear that the difference between the notification types is whether they override various settings. As per the chart[1], the main difference is whether it breaks through various delivery settings (eg. scheduled delivery, Focus, Ring/Silent switch). There isn't some sort of setting that the user can set that tells the os "I only want time sensitive notifications from this app" (I suppose there is, if you want to have focus on 24/7 or something, but that's more of a hack than an actual feature).

[1] https://www.plotprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/inte...

Unblock notifications only when you need them

Too bad it’s so annoying to toggle. It should be in the long press option menu or something.

On android - go to settings > apps > uber > notifications

Disable 'all promotions and recommendations'

I found it helpful to force stop the app whenever I'm not actively using it.

Try switching to lyft maybe?

If Lyft doesn’t do the same thing they eventually will.

Hopefully by then more advanced notification controls will exist.

Maybe being less annoying can be part of their value proposition.

And no way to report to apple.. it’s against policy/guidelines

They make billions off the apps and have yet to implement something like that

That's like the whole point of this article....

Reply on news.ycombinator.com