Uber can secretly record everything on your iPhone's screen - even when you're not using the app
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In case Uber wasn't embroiled in enough scandal, it has now emerged that the taxi-hailing app is able to secretly record activity on iPhone users' screens - even if it's only running in the background.
Sudo Security Group researcher Will Strafach claims that Uber is able to monitor everything iPhone users do on their mobile devices - including entering passwords and viewing private pictures.
This entitlement is rarely granted to app developers, and Uber would have had to gain permission directly from Apple in order to implement it, according to Strafach.
Strafach described the situation as "totally unprecedented”, claiming it was "very unusual" for Apple to grant such a permission.
(Image: REUTERS/Jason Reed)
"It looks like no other third-party developer has been able to get Apple to grant them a private sensitive entitlement of this nature," he told Gizmodo .
"Considering Uber's past privacy issues I am very curious how they convinced Apple to allow this."
Uber claims the feature - which could theoretically have allowed the company to spy on customers' sensitive personal data - is not in use and will be removed.
"This API was only used for a short period of time on an old version of our Apple Watch app," a spokesperson for the company told Mirror Online.
"It enabled the app to run the memory-intensive rendering of maps on the iPhone and then send the image to the Watch app. It was never used for any other purpose and has been nonfunctional in our code for quite some time.
"The memory limitation of Apple Watch was fixed by subsequent updates in the OS and we've issued an update to our app to remove the API completely."
The news comes in the middle of Uber's negotiations with Transport for London over its future in the British capital.
Last month, TfL stripped Uber of its licence to operate in London, claiming the company was "not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence".
(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
In a public statement , TfL listed several reasons for its decision, including Uber's approach to reporting serious criminal offences, and how medical certificates are obtained.
It also cited Uber's approach to explaining the use of Greyball - a piece of software used to identify individuals and preventing them from accessing all the features of the app.
Uber is challenging TfL's decision in the courts , and will continue to operate in London until any appeal processes have been exhausted.