How did you get this through App Store review? My understanding is Apple tends to be pretty strict about apps that rely on reverse-engineered private APIs.
App Review didn't object to that. There are various apps on the App Store today that rely on reverse engineering, such as unified messaging apps, alternative rideshare price comparison apps, and driver-side rideshare aggregators.
App Store review is really just luck of the draw in my experience. There is usually no rhyme or reason to a decision, changing some minor thing and re-applying works a lot of the time.
That's a valid concern but I think it's unlikely. No one's account has been locked for using this app. Rideshare companies take a large cut of the ride fare, so locking user accounts for using third-party apps is against their incentives. It's more likely that they would try to prevent this app from working, rather than targeting users of the app.
Not a ban, perhaps... but if I have two users - Alice who uses the app according to normal patterns, and Bob who consistently predicts and declines when my dynamic pricing algorithm tries to push above market pricing, and has a remarkably high look-to-book ratio - I'll want Alice to have better drivers, better service, faster pickups etc., because I'll have larger lifetime margins from choose-the-app-on-vibes-Alice than from race-to-the-bottom-Bob.
If my known-good supply is limited at any given time, I have every incentive to focus it on Alice, and I'd be inclined to try out e.g. new drivers on accounts like Bob's.
Rideshare data teams are incredibly talented, capable, and motivated. One does not simply front-run a market where the biggest players have a massive data advantage, control your latency, and are effectively unregulated.
An alternative possibility is that a rideshare company sees that Alice always takes the price that's offered so Alice receives the standard price, whereas Bob is price-sensitive so he receives personalized discounts on rides until the prices reach the amount that he's willing to pay.
I've been using this for a few months at least on both android and ios and have not been banned or locked out of any of my linked accounts but obviously that can change at any moment
That can work for two apps but it's tedious once there are three or more. You'd also need to swipe back and forth between apps to find the corresponding prices for each ride type (Wait & Save, Standard, Comfort, etc.), whereas this app groups together the prices for each ride type across providers.
You mentioned that Uber specifically forbids using their API for price comparison. Aren't you worried that they may implement something so you can't use internal APIs? I'm pretty sure none of the companies would like this app. Even though I think this is great and promotes fair pricing
Misuse of the word “Hackney”. Hackney has a fairly specific meaning for traditional cabs in London whose human drivers require huge amounts of training in order to be licensed to pick up passengers - the antithesis of everything Uber etc stand for. Pretty sure you can’t use “Hackney Carriage LLC” as a company name either.
A simple google reveals: “A hackney carriage is the formal legal term for a public vehicle for hire, such as a traditional black cab or taxi. Unlike private hire vehicles (minicabs), hackney carriages can be hailed directly off the street or hired from designated ranks.”
The term has a long, disputed history though, and exported English can morph and grow according to local usage. I was going to post what you posted, but more than a simple Google search led me elsewhere!
Regardless of specifics or otherwise, the app name is territorialising a domain and naming convention it shouldn’t be, and seeing as the app is available on the UK App Store then it’s certainly a case of “passing off” - a “hackney carriage” certainly is “in the UK, the name hackney carriage today refers to a taxicab licensed by Transport for London, local authority (non-metropolitan district councils, unitary authorities) or the Department of the Environment depending on region of the country“ (Wikipedia).
This app has nothing to do with that licensing of taxi cabs or their history, or comply with the legal foundations of that naming convention. Just because there’s a long history and some dispute, adding to the confusion isn’t going to help, and will be grounds for a huge amount of legal problems if this app gets off the ground, and so is better nipped in the bud sooner rather than later.
It’s been around for years now. The great thing about it is it works worldwide - so if you come to a country and have no clue which company operates there, you just open Obi.
oleg_kabanov | 17 hours ago
[OP] griffinli | 17 hours ago
msylla | 17 hours ago
[OP] griffinli | 17 hours ago
fragmede | 9 hours ago
[OP] griffinli | 9 hours ago
f3408fh | 9 hours ago
[OP] griffinli | 9 hours ago
f3408fh | 8 hours ago
[OP] griffinli | 8 hours ago
cco | 7 hours ago
yellow_lead | 4 hours ago
> Examples of common Device and Network Abuse violations:
> Apps that access or use a service or API in a manner that violates its terms of service.
flexagoon | an hour ago
yellow_lead | 56 minutes ago
xnx | 9 hours ago
Great example of something that on-device general agents should be able to do: Operate the apps to get prices and summarize prices.
[OP] griffinli | 9 hours ago
btown | 5 hours ago
If my known-good supply is limited at any given time, I have every incentive to focus it on Alice, and I'd be inclined to try out e.g. new drivers on accounts like Bob's.
Rideshare data teams are incredibly talented, capable, and motivated. One does not simply front-run a market where the biggest players have a massive data advantage, control your latency, and are effectively unregulated.
[OP] griffinli | 5 hours ago
jzebedee | 5 hours ago
aianus | an hour ago
bloppe | an hour ago
dantemoon | 7 hours ago
DANmode | 5 hours ago
dgerken | 8 hours ago
cammikebrown | 8 hours ago
[OP] griffinli | 8 hours ago
dymk | 7 hours ago
Thaxll | 6 hours ago
- it's against ToS
- it can get you banned
Reversing API is trivial, this is not the reason.
dawnerd | an hour ago
https://fareestimate.com/ https://ride.guru/ https://uphail.com/ https://payfair.cash/
Also cool lil project in this quick google https://toddwschneider.com/dashboards/nyc-taxi-uber-lyft-far...
gonzalohm | 6 hours ago
[OP] griffinli | 6 hours ago
lowbloodsugar | 5 hours ago
readme | 6 hours ago
You are a good person. Keep going at it.
[OP] griffinli | 5 hours ago
testfrequency | 5 hours ago
- Stolen Uber UI
- Slopped Uber illustrations
- Lloyds Bank logo
- Abused Uber API
Godspeed
CorbenDallas | an hour ago
gizajob | 2 hours ago
A simple google reveals: “A hackney carriage is the formal legal term for a public vehicle for hire, such as a traditional black cab or taxi. Unlike private hire vehicles (minicabs), hackney carriages can be hailed directly off the street or hired from designated ranks.”
6LLvveMx2koXfwn | an hour ago
gizajob | an hour ago
This app has nothing to do with that licensing of taxi cabs or their history, or comply with the legal foundations of that naming convention. Just because there’s a long history and some dispute, adding to the confusion isn’t going to help, and will be grounds for a huge amount of legal problems if this app gets off the ground, and so is better nipped in the bud sooner rather than later.
monk_grilla | 2 hours ago
sunnybeetroot | 2 hours ago
josefrichter | an hour ago
https://rideobi.com/
It’s been around for years now. The great thing about it is it works worldwide - so if you come to a country and have no clue which company operates there, you just open Obi.
IamDaedalus | an hour ago
https://sailrides.co/