ratg13

With location data being sold and used by more and more actors, I am curious to know how mobile apps are able to bypass intended preferences to know a user's location.

To illustrate this I'll use an example that I saved some screenshots from.

https://imgur.com/a/how-does-uber-know-where-i-am-AGYdoyt

Here is a message I got seconds after wheels touched down in Toronto with Uber welcoming me to Toronto.

I had not even taken my phone out of flight mode yet, but somehow the app knew where I was, despite not having mobile service, wifi or bluetooth enabled.

I also have settings for the application set to only allow location while the app is in use.

I generally do not use uber. For transportation I generally rely on public transportation, have transportation arranged, or rent a car.

I use uber maybe 1-2 times a year maximum, and at this point it would have been at least 6-8 months since my last uber.

I have never ordered uber eats, and never used uber in Toronto.

I even went through the accordion view of open applications to see if uber was opened recently, and it wasn't even in the list.

How is it that an app that I essentially never use, and had not used recently is able to determine my exact location despite me setting appropriate preferences that I would think should avoid this?

Do I need to be more paranoid and start disabling location services entirely?

Is there some setting I am missing?