My copy of Uber just updated and it doesn't seem to be requesting any of these permissions. I'm on Marshmallow, and on the permissions page these permissions are not there. Version 3.98.2 of Uber.
It's possible that these permissions are used in some obscure place in the app. With the new permissions system, you can progressively request permissions when you need them, so it's possible it will request these at some point in the future, but the app seems to run OK without them.
I also disabled access to contacts, which the app does request for some reason.
When I go to that page I see the "retrieve running apps" permission under a category "Other." It would appear that I cannot disable the "Other" category in the app permission configuration.
EDIT: There's another comment in the thread that indicates that this retrieve running apps permission actually doesn't do anything on Lollipop+: it just returns the app's own windows. Which would explain why it was moved to the "Other" category.
> Not 100% sure, but I think the access to contacts is so that you can split ride fares with other people.
There's a standard intent to select a contact for purposes like that, and then the app only gets access to the information of that contact. Apps requesting access to contacts get all contacts.
It's actually probably so you can autocomplete a contact as a destination address for your Uber. The same is true in Maps for navigation. Unfortunately UX wins over privacy so launching an intent to pick a contact probably wasn't as elegant as using a unified autocomplete field.
It's possible that these permissions are used in some obscure place in the app. With the new permissions system, you can progressively request permissions when you need them, so it's possible it will request these at some point in the future, but the app seems to run OK without them.
I also disabled access to contacts, which the app does request for some reason.