With all the talk about high gas prices, I constantly hear ads on the radio for the GetUpside gas app. It seems the name may have recently been shortened to Upside. This seems to have started as a way to get discounts on gasoline but has branched out into groceries and restaurants as well.
What is the catch? It seems too good to be true but several friends have used it and say it is saving them money. Is your data collected and sold to marketing companies to pay for the discount? Are you fed ads? My main concern would be data privacy in the digital era.
How does this work and is there a downside to Upside?
That is why I haven’t been in a hurry to sign up although I drive a lot and the savings could be beneficial. My gut told me there had to be a downside. I figure they are tracking your driving habits, places you visit, etc. You can turn off many app permissions but having these turned on might be required for the app to work and you being able to get a discount. I wonder what would happen if you put the app on an old junk phone you have laying around that has been factory reset and just leaving it at home turned on.
Using Mr. Google I have determined that this Upside app is not dangerous but more trouble than I want to put up with to use . Apparently there is a short time limit to each saving notice . I get cash back on our Discover card and do not need to only use certain places .
That was kinda the impression I got. You have a certain amount of time to get gas after agreeing to the price. Again, not worth the trouble and what happens if something comes up and you can’t make it? Are you refunded?
I have a Discover card as well and that is good enough.
Well yeah and every step you take with your phone is pinging your location. 1984 depending on who gains access. After going somewhere my phone always asks if I’m driving before it permits me to make a call.
Correct. 911 dispatch is not tied into the phone tracking systems. Leo’s can get it to find someone but is a special case. All 911 can do is used land line information. Then a lot of the dispatch centers are consolidated now so that they are out of town. Even if you give them mile marker information or land marks, the person can be puzzled. You just have to argue with them and tell them to relay the information to the patrol who know where the mile markers are. 30 years ago it was no problem but now it is best to know where you are so you can tell them.
I use the Brave Browser and DuckDuckGo for this reason. I am sure it still isn’t perfect but at least it isn’t just completely sucking up all your information. I have also removed or force disabled apps that cannot be removed from my phone that I do not use. Certain apps just exist to mine data and the social media ones are the WORST! I assume that this GetUpside does this. If you always stop at the same Taco Bell around lunch each day, they can tell where you like to eat, etc.
One website I went to pulled up all my saved logins names, some of which were passwords I must have entered in the wrong spot. I can get a year end breakdown of what I spent where on my credit cards, not hard to figure lifestyle from that. Thinking the NSA can review all that if they wished. Yes I changed the affected password sites. That could be a recipe for trouble if someone was so smart.
My Costco Visa gives me a 4% rebate on gas that is purchased anywhere.
On a… sort-of… related note, I saw a sign at the Costco station today informing customers that, as of July 5th, only people with current Costco memberships will be allowed to buy gas there.
Gadzooks. I know it’s out the and being sold to merchants but geez. Still wondering, it took 59 days for my tax refund this year, filed elec and elec deposit. Bil got his in two weeks. I had to make a required minimum withdrawal though that likely was reported by the bank so maybe that’s why they looked at me? Hope they enjoyed the muffin purchases at Walmart. 1984
Well that’s good. Hope most centers have upgraded their software. I was thinking more in terms of the phone pinging to locate the tower that businesses buy and the nsa uses.
Why Discover card? Ev every time I have looked at their offers I have seen restrictions on how much in purchases you can redeem in a certain period of time. I use a Citi Doublecash card and get 2% back on everything I spend and I charge everything I buy that does not have a charge for using credit…
This was in the newspapers a few years ago. The NSA can only see cell phone traffic and has no interest in calls unless they are between someon in the US and known hot spots in the world or known bad actors in other areas. I believe they then have to get a warrant from a federal court to dig more deeply into a US person’s phone calls.