GasBuddy Has a New Privacy Policy (Spoiler: Not As Customer Friendly)

An anonymous reader writes: GasBuddy has been a popular iOS and Android app for the last 5 years used to find the cheapest place to get gas. According to the Google Play store, there are over 10 million installs (in additions to the installs from Apple and Amazon's appstores). Now that they have a large enough number of users, GasBuddy has updated their privacy policy to allow them to collect more information. Some highlights of the privacy policy changes include: only 10 days for new terms to take effect (previously users were given 30 days to review the changes); collection of "signal strength related to Wifi or Bluetooth functionality, temperature, battery level, and similar technical data"; and [a warning that the company] will not honor a web browser's "do not track" setting.

Comments

Is that even worthwhile?

[hawguy]

Is it even worthwhile to use an app like that to save a few cents on gas?

If I have to spend even 5 minutes looking up gas prices and driving out of my way to go to a cheaper gas station, it's not worth saving 30 cents a gallon on gas. My local Costco regularly has 20 minute lines of drivers waiting to buy cheaper gas (though it's possible that one family member is shopping and the other is waiting for gas). If I see a line at my preferred gas station, I'll use the one down the street that I know is 15 cents more expensive.

Maybe my 11 gallon gas tank just isn't big enough for significant savings, but I really wonder whether these gas price apps are worth it.

Re:Is that even worthwhile?

[Anonymous Coward]

false economy. My truck gets 15 mpg and costs about $500/yr in maintenance. Payments on a nice, efficient, much less useful car are about $8K/yr, collision on a new car will add about another $1K to my insurance, and add about $800/yr in taxes on a new car v.s. an 20 year old truck. We spend about $2400/yr between the two of us for gas. Assume that $2K of that is my truck (it's not). For $9K a year in new car costs, I can save, maybe, $1K in gas. And, I'll end up with something that is less useful in every way except squeezing into parking spots. It'll be a lot less convenient to go kayaking; loading the truck is merely throwing kayaking stuff in the back, vice deliberately packing the car. Towing a trailer a few times a year will be out. In no way is it better for me to "save money on gas" except for a marginally smaller CO2 footprint.

If I were driving 40 miles each way like I did in norcal amd gas were $5/gal, then it would be worth considering. However, right now, it's not even close.

It's not just about apps

[gweilo8888]

What part of "will not honor a web browser's 'do not track' setting" did you find so difficult to understand?

Re:Is that even worthwhile? Serious Question...

[gstoddart]

Everything about you they can get, all day long, as long as the app is running.

They'll figure out what they can make money off later. Like, do people buy more gas in the winter or summer.

This is just greedy assholes maximizing both greedy and asshole. And this why I look at apps as basically ads and analytics in disguise, and why I don't feel compelled to have a smart phone with a data plan.

You can always not play the damned game.

Me, I want Android to return the ability to selectively turn off stuff that apps can do. If your app keels over because I won't let it access my contacts, I don't want your fucking app.

I view most apps as about the same as if a retail store demanded the ability to rifle through my wallet before I came in the store, only in the case of apps it's pretty much all the time.

No thanks.