There is this famous case of a woman who was high and trying to request a Uber ride. She thought it was weird that the app was asking her so many information and so eventually gave up. Next morning, she realized she was almost there to become a driver herself.

I heard a story from an Uber driver about a drunk woman he gave a ride to who intended to Uber like 3 blocks, but who ended up Ubering over an hour to the wrong city before she realised her mistake.

I routinely use the Uber app while entirely sober and have the exact same reaction. It's utterly terrible and I can't imagine what it's like for my parents to use it.

Have them try GoGoGrandparent.com! A way to use Uber and Lyft with a phone call. Call and press 1 to get picked up from home, call and press 2 to get picked up at your last location. We screen their drivers, make sure the cars aren’t too big or too small and monitor GPS and trip pickups so that if it looks like a driver is getting lost we can get them back on track. Our mission is to help people age independently in their home for as possible, regardless of their age - or sobriety!

Thanks for sharing this. What a delightful idea! My grandma is forever complaining about all the things she can't do anymore, but won't touch the internet, much less a smartphone!

This may help restore some of her independence, and I look forward to sharing it with her!

Haha awesome, if you ever have any feedback please feel free to send me an email: [email protected]. I'd love to hear how we could improve the service and/or what we could do to make it easier to adopt.

What sort of things she can’t do anymore?

She drives, but not safely. She goes to the grocery store, but it takes a long time and tires her out.

I'd tried to get her a smartphone just so she could use things like Instacart and Lyft, but she doesn't have internet at he and doesn't want to learn.

If she could just make a call and get a ride, she'd be all for it!

Heads up, I get a page titled "Divya's Page Landing Tests ..." When I reach your website through Google ads.

Very cool though. I would have loved this for my grandfather when he was still going places a few years ago.

Thanks for the heads up! Had it not been for your comment this would likely have continued for a long time.

I have my phone set to a foreign language to help me learn, and Uber was unusable without translation

I'm still traumatized by the several years of using Windows in my native language. I was yet young and eager, but nonetheless had to spend plenty of cumulative hours wandering helplessly through the control panel, trying to decipher what they meant by all those attempts at translation.

I've been using only English interfaces for more than a decade, but recently-ish relived the phenomenon with MS Office, and it doesn't get easier with experience.

Same here. I always set everything to en_US, because that's the native language of computing. Any time I've had to use something in my native language (Polish), the translation was terrible - and the only reason I was not confused was because I could mentally untranslate the Polish text to the most likely English original.

Speaking of computing and translations: the most annoying case I've had was not with UIs, but with books. Back in the day, I bought two C++ books by Scott Meyers (Effective C++ and More Effective C++), both published in Polish, and each by a different publisher. In the first one, they translated "template" -> "szablon" and "pattern" -> "wzorzec", and in the other, they translated "template" -> "wzorzec" and "pattern" -> "szablon". Took my teenage mind quite a while to make sense of the confusion.

Same experience here. In college ( portuguese speaking country ), the teachers forbade us to buy translated books. We had to work with the english editions only, and I'm lucky this was the case having seen some of these translated books later.

I think excel used to have a translated macro language, so if you used the Dutch Excel you’d have to use Dutch words for ‘if’, ‘then’ ‘else’ etcetera. Truly insane.

It still is that way. And whats even more maddening: you have to replace the commas in the formulas with semicolons. Probably because the comma is used in numbers in Dutch. It has driven me nuts more than once though!

I think there would be a compromise in making if US gave up imperial units and Europe would give up the decimal comma. Or at least I would like that kind of compromise. The next hurdle would be to all agree to use ISO date format...

You have my vote. Then again, I am the kind of person who sets up their phone in English because I dislike translations.

Indeed, that's one problem I had with it recently—with formulas. I search the web on how to do some thing, and then have to stare at the list of functions to find the same ones in my language. Doesn't help that functions are named like it's the 80s, with arbitrary abbreviations.

That's still the case today.

I presume this is the ‘legacy’ macro language and there is also the Visual Basic thing which is plain English, right?

I am talking about the formula language you're using in spreadsheets for calculations etc, I don't think that is legacy. I don't think I know anyone using the Visual Basic thing, I actually thought that's not part of Excel anymore except for compatibility support, but yes I guess Visual Basic stays in English.

I’m learning a foreign language right now, trying to break through to fluent conversation, and I have just changed my phone’s language thanks to your comment :)

I have set it to my first language which is non-English (Kannada, a South Indian language). And I can use Uber just because of my muscle memory. The UX is supremely fragile and confusing!

It seems a bit unfair to expect an app to work without being able to read the language. Was the translation bad or are you just saying that the buttons weren't obvious without a description you could read?

I disagree that it's unfair to expect apps to work without reading. Some apps, sure, but I think a taxi application ought to be usable without being able to read. Consider

1. The user is drunk, and can't understand meaning of the text.

2. The user is preoccupied with other tasks, and skips over the words.

3. The user is illiterate. Functional illiteracy is prevalent in the United States, and being unable to recognize the characters of one's own language continues in many countries, too

My company invests in ensuring many of their products are usable for the illiterate. I doubt it's the only company that does so.

Designing for the illiterate (or inebriated) is a nice goal, but designing for people to change their app into a language they cannot read, and then expecting it to all be easily usable, is not really a particularly great design goal. In that instance, a button could have a single word that 99.9% of people can read, but if you've changed it to Spanish it may render the button incomprehensible. I personally can't think of a single app I use that is completely usable without basic reading comprehension. I'd be curious about examples though (assuming reasonable complexity) because it'd be some potentially useful design that I'd be interested in seeing (and potentially using).

Adding to this, I'm curious how someone who cannot recognise the characters of their languages would use input fields, too? I don't think I know of many input fields which are particularly accessible if one doesn't recognise language characters without using speech recognition (which kind of sidesteps the issue).

As a (hypothetical) example, I'd imagine a pizza app to be pretty usable if I didn't speak the language (illiterate may be a bit much as I'd need to know my address):

Put in my postcode & choose my address; choose a pizza size & toppings from icons/photos.

Add credit card info into a standard looking form & that's it (or even, touch the fingerprint sensor when the fingerprint icon comes up)

I think the trouble isn't that you wouldn't know the Spanish for "OK" (or "pepperoni") but if the app lacks proper information hierarchy so you don't know what to do next.

If you're a foreigner you would probably be tripped by the post code/address. I certainly was when the petrol station asked for my post code in the US! (My card postcode does not fit the US format.)

> is a nice goal

It is the goal, if you’re designing any kind of graphical app.

I know this sounds awful, but perhaps Uber drivers don't want drunk people who might vomit in their cars?

Services like Uber protects the road from drunk drivers. We want it to be easy to use while drunk.

Source: used to work for a direct Uber competitor (not in the US)

Drivers and platforms definitely don't want too intoxicated passengers. Reasonably drunk? Sure. Completely high/passed out/etc? Nope. It's just too much of a mess to handle. There is indeed a vomiting fee, but it's more used as a deterrent for the users: it does not cover the actual cleaning + lost rides on a busy Saturday night...

Bit of anecdata: sexual intercourse in the car is also not ok, and gets you banned. Yes, it happens. Drivers don't like it.

Exactly. The response to my comment misses the point that what is best for the rest of us is not necessarily what is best for the poor driver...

Ironically, part of the reason traditional taxi networks enjoyed their local monopolies in many cities was to compensate them for being considered part of public transport infrastructure, and forced to do the things that's not in their best interest (but is in the best interest of citizens).

Is it unfair? I've done this with ATMs before and never had much problem. There are a lot of ways to signal information besides raw text.

How do you understand something like 'withdraw, with conversion' or 'withdraw, let your bank handle the conversion', without language? Is there an obvious image or button shape that'd signify this without prior knowledge? Curious, not sure I've seen an instance where this is obvious from any other cue.

To expand on this: the mapping between images and other cues to a precise meaning is often actually pretty poor. To correctly navigate using images you often have to have prior knowledge, with the exception of the most downright obvious images or visual cues possible. On the other hand, text can have essentially arbitrary precision (although past a certain point it becomes difficult to parse) - and is thus actually often superior for first-use (or infrequent use) scenarios. The ideal is to have the best communication possible, and while I'm not sure as to the extent that Uber reaches that goal, text being unreadable and the app being unnavigable because you changed the language is, in my view, more on you than on the app developers.

> How do you understand something like 'withdraw, with conversion' or 'withdraw, let your bank handle the conversion', without language? Is there an obvious image or button shape that'd signify this without prior knowledge?

Let's say you're in Europe and and have a card in dollars:

[] 1000€

[] 1000€ (1€/1.2$ -> 1200$)

And then it starts asking about card type, and which account, and... Just gimme the money!

But they’re usually designed in such a way that it’s impossible to hit a wall, and worst case you pay a $5 fee.

Right. Because you have numbers written in a common language, you can work out what your buttons did. Without that you wouldn't realise until you actually were hit with the conversion fee on one side or the other. If you changed the language and the numbers were written in Chinese, and then you blamed the ATM for being difficult to use without a translation app, how on earth is that not a problem with what you decided to do?

Anyway, I digress...

For that example, I'd say the text wouldn't help most people regardless of language. One would have to know a fair bit about the mechanics of currency conversion. I happen to know that, and I still would have to pick randomly, because this would come down to exchange rates that the interface isn't exposing.

The correct user-focused interface solution for that particular problem is to show the actual costs next to each button. And then I'd think one would make the cheaper option the obvious default (e.g., bigger, greener), with the more expensive option less favored.

I do this all the time. I understand from context. I’m relying on the position, some annotation and previous experiences to know what’s going on.

This is good design and an illiterate person could be walked through this a few times and could then do it anywhere.

Bad design is relying on your users continually having to teach themselves how to use your app.

Typically you don't change your phone's language before being able to read at least a little bit of the target language.

For those curious, this is one screenshot I took of the UI that night: https://ibb.co/wzV8fQQ

I fully expect sober and patient people to defend this UI, but it was utterly confusing at the time (and as a consequence sadly hilarious).

I agree, that's a lot. High/drunk people are legitimate users, especially for something like Uber!

Another heuristic I user is, "can a person with an upset toddler work this?" Spending time around parents with small children made it clear that even the smartest person can end up with what is effectively a cognitive impairment if they are trying to keep a small child alive. Attention? What's that?

Arguably drunk people are the core user group of Uber. Aside from consultants and high powered executives, most people (pre-pandemic) went to bars far more often than they go to airports or other places where taking a personal car is inconvenient or otherwise illegal.

Got to include investment bankers in that list too

> Another heuristic I user is, "can a person with an upset toddler work this?

Incidentally, another UI that fails this is those automated answering services that “cleverly” let you answer with your voice instead of “press 1 for whatever”. The screaming toddler (or pet) will repeatedly short-circuit the process and get interpreted as an incomprehensible answer.

Oh, my gosh. I got noise canceling headphones SPECIFICALLY for my kids - only to learn they block low sounds, but not high pitched screaming.

I got 3M safety earmuffs specifically for my kid. They reduce the noise to a more manageable level, which is useful if either of us have a headache. But we sort of got used to the noise, so we don't use them much.

Seconded! I love my 3M earmuffs, low-end Peltors. I can add earbuds underneath them if I want a little music or generated noise to completely remove audio distractions.

That’s a good thing. You can listen to what you want to without that nagging feeling you might be neglecting your kids!

If it happens often enough, you might train your kids to use the high pitch screaming sound though, as that will get them the attention. Scary thought what might develop from there!

This is indeed a good test. I realized how bad Youtube UX is when I was using it to find children's song with my baby in my strong (right) arm. That's when I realized how much swiping, scrolling and tapping you need to do when you use Youtube. Also the recommendations were really a pain in the ass. We watch Youtube in 3 different languages and that is beyond the ability of the recommendation engine.

No, the question is -- can an uber driver work this one-handed while eating and driving?

I think your complaint is justified. I am currently tired, going to sleep momentarily, but not otherwise impaired, and it took me almost a full minute of staring at the screen, trying to figure out what you were trying to demonstrate.. Because it wasn't immediately clear to me if it was asking you to do something or if it was just a random screenshot to show the uniform grayness of the interface.

Our country had multiple car ride company launch a few years back and you could choose between Uber, Grab, Gojek, etc to get someone to drive you. The UI for Uber was the cleanest and most easy to use. I remember having to just do 2 steps to get a ride, as opposed to about 6 steps on the other offering the same service (e.g. Grab: choose "Ride", input Pin, input current location, input where to go, tap book, tap confirm)

Uber got out of the market way back, and the other ones are now getting up to speed to how advanced its user flow was. Grab now ask you to input where you want to go to first for example (like Uber back in the days).

Wow. That looks like you photoshopped 2 screens together and put an Ad on it.

I've never used Uber but I've used other apps (Lyft). And I have to say it looks pretty clear to me (of course I'm not drunk right now so...).

I don't expect you to understand the app if you use it for the first time when drunk, but I feel like if you've used it sober before and they didn't just completely change the UI you should be able to grok it. Maybe not if you are completely dead drunk, but I'd say you'd have the same problem with other apps you don't have already internalized completely.

What apps do you think would not have confused you in your state at the time?

Yea way too much going on here.

One of the most prominent features is the request to give live location... not a totally dark ui pattern, but certainly one with consequences.

I used to routinely have dreams about trying to use the Uber app but not being able to comprehend it's interface.

A common dream theme for me is inability to operate a smartphone. The apps will lag or disappear. I'll tap on the wrong items and mistype words. It is a very 2021 interpretation on the "running late" dream trope.

That's a common reality for many. It's the reason I always buy the expensive flagship phone for my wife and myself. Lagging and disappearing apps (and hanging and/or rebooting during phone calls) is a constant occurrence on underpowered smartphones. Had such a phone once, and it did a "death through thousand papercuts" number on my psyche. Never again.

I tried once a while ago on LSD and couldn't figure out when it was asking for the pick up location vs drop off location.

I have always found Google Maps incredibly confusing and difficult to use. Its never clear what mode you are in, how to go back or where back will take you? The confusion is compounded why I use CarPlay. Its so frustrating and dangerous. WTF!

It’s terrible I agree. At the same time I wonder: does the UI then really matter for success? Uber seems to be fairly successfully with a terrible UI.

It matters. Problem is, UI designed for company success does not look like UI designed for usability and customer satisfaction. Company success has little to do with customer satisfaction these days.

But if you do the latter, company success should follow ideally as corollary, shouldn’t it?

That’s a good thing to simulate. Sometimes I’ll try half closing my eyes or shaking the phone while I try to use it.

Uber to home is literally three taps, though!

Haven't used it in a good while, but I remember being confused by the selection available. Please. I just need to get home.

What Uber is doing is likely by design, for the most part. They do highlight the user journeys in the app that generate more revenue, over others that might be cheaper or more close to what you need. That usually means the lower-revenue paths get more convoluted and longer.

On the other hand if you’re price insensitive, you should be able to be on your way fairly easily. What they have is not necessarily bad UI, it just doesn’t have your optimum as the highest priority.

What does this even mean? Uber extracts money from you when you take rides. So how is a UI that makes it overly complicated to do that “designed to extract as much money from you as possible”?

You can make the happy easy path the most profitable choice, and make the less profitable choices harder to use.

Imagine a "tap here to go home" button that automatically calls an UberX Black Elite(tm) car and takes you to your already-designated home location. But if you want to use a regular uber, or uber pool or whatever, you have to tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, don't forget to set your destination, maybe key in where you are right now since location services can be unreliable in some environments? Wouldn't want the car dispatched to the wrong location now would we?

Taking an Uber ride is easy as long as you don’t want to optimise for prices. I meant extracting as much money from you as possible in the context of other options in the app that might be more economical for you (if you don’t mind waiting, for example), not in the sense that Uber providing a service for you is somehow an involuntary extraction.

It wasn’t clear before so I edited the comment, my apologies.

Do they still have surge pricing? I once paid $289 for a 14 minute ride at 3am Jan 1.

They do, they just stopped calling it surge pricing (or anything else). They just show you the higher price with a microscopic grey text underneath that says 'there's a lot of demand, prices are higher now'. If you don't take that route often and know the average price, like when you're travelling or in a city that you're unfamiliar with, you'd be excused to think that's the normal price and just go for it instead of waiting a few more minutes or checking Lyft instead.

Sneaky sneaky

In some regions Uber offers multiple results for your journey, including both Uber cars but also local public transport eg bus.

It’s possible they don’t support that in your city so you may just see the cars.

They also offer helicopters and boats in some cities.

Next you'll tell me they put the sweets (candy) at the counter in the shops (stores) for the customers ... seriously.

I read your comment 3 times. I still can't understand what you're saying.