Category: Uber

A new update to the Uber app for Android and iOS, along with a cloud-side update, has brought a new spotlight feature to the app.  Designed to help your driver locate you in a dark area or a crowded area, the update gives you the ability to hold up your phone and have your screen be a solid color that uniquely identifies you to your driver.

In addition, the car sharing service is now guaranteeing pickup times if you schedule a ride.  For example, if you schedule a ride for the afternoon to take you to the airport, you are given a guarantee time of when your driver will arrive.  If they don’t arrive by that time, you are credited $10 towards your next ride.

Google has made a small but important change to Google Maps, no longer allowing you to book a ride sharing service like Lyft or Uber directly from within the app.  The change appears to be recent and is reflected in the support pages for the feature.  Now, instead of being able to book from within Google Maps, you have a link to go to the ride share apps from the providers.

The feature got a lot of hype when it was launched early last year and a way to prevent users from having to move around from app-to-app to book a car to pick them up.  You could also see ride share options to a destination you picked in Maps, such as a restaurant, from your location.

Android Pay and Uber have teamed up to give you a great deal now through October 15, 2016.  If you use Uber and you pay for your fare with Android Pay, you will get a 50% discount off that fare.  The better news?  You can do this up to 10 times!  That could be a huge savings for you if you use the service extensively.

What do you have to do?  Well, not much really and chances are you already have everything on your phone you need to take advantage of this promotion.  First, and obviously, you need to have both the Android Pay app and the Uber app on your phone.  If you don’t have them, you can get Android Pay here and Uber here from the Play Store.  Sign into Pay and get it all set up then open up the Uber app and we’ll pick things up after the break.

Uber is sending out notifications to customers who use Google Wallet in their app that as of May 9th, it will no longer be available.  Instead, the app has been updated with the ability to for customers to add Android Pay for easy payment of your rides around town.  While we often think of Android Pay as a touch-to-pay solution, it can also be embedded into apps for payments.  OpenTable has the ability to use Android Pay and has for several months.  Uber is following suit as Google Wallet is set to go away as a payment option this summer.