Why Uber greets you at airports despite limited location

Ever land and see a welcome-from-the-airport prompt from Uber, even though you’ve limited location access to 'While Using the App'? It feels like tracking—but it isn’t.

What’s really happening: iOS provides developers with a tool called UNLocationNotificationTrigger. Apps can predefine geofenced areas (like airports). When your phone detects you’ve entered one, it fires a local notification that was configured in advance. Crucially, that alert is generated on your device; the app doesn’t receive your location unless you tap the notification and open the app.

This is separate from background app refresh and does not bypass your 'While Using the App' setting. Still, the message wording can feel misleading because it implies the app knows where you are in real time.

Legitimate uses of geofencing include:

• Family safety apps that alert when someone enters or exits a designated zone
• Smart-home reminders, such as nudging you to turn off lights when you leave home

The problem arises when geofenced alerts become ads. Being greeted by service prompts the moment you cross an airport boundary blurs the line between helpful and intrusive—and can undermine user expectations about limited location sharing.

A sensible path forward would be for Apple to tighten rules around location-triggered notifications, reserving them for user-serving functionality rather than promotional nudges.

What you can do now:

• Review an app’s notification settings and turn off alerts you don’t want
• Keep location access set to 'While Using the App' to control when sharing happens
• Consider disabling background app refresh for apps you don’t fully trust

Source: WeLiveSecurity