MoviePass Disables Location Tracking After Subscriber Outrage

Moviepass announced that they have disabled location tracking through their app after it drew outrage from subscribers.

“Today, MoviePass released a new app update, including the removal of some unused app location capabilities. While part of our vision includes using location-based marketing to enhance the moviegoing experience for our members, we aren’t using some of that functionality today,” the company said in a statement, as reported by Variety.

“Our members will always have the option to choose the location-based services that are right for them today and in the future,” Moviepass added.

The outrage over the location tracking came after Moviepass CEO Mitch Lowe made comments about how the company can track subscribers.

“We get an enormous amount of information,” he said at an industry conference last week, according to Media Play News. The MoviePass app tracks users “in your GPS by the phone… so we watch how you drive from home to the movies,” Lowe said

“We watch where you go afterwards, and so we know the movies you watch. We know all about you. We don’t sell that data. What we do is we use that data to market film,” he continued.

Following publication of Lowe’s statements, Moviepass subscribers, and potential subscribers, took to social media to express their anger about being involuntarily tracked.

“This is a terrible business model! I’d rather pay full price for a movie,” one person tweeted. “Creepy. I won’t be using that service,” another said.

Moviepass is a “subscription-based movie ticketing service.” It was founded in 2011 and its headquarters resides in New York City, New York.

The service works by allowing the subscriber to see one free movie a day at a theater buy using their exclusive Mastercard provided at the time of purchase.

Upon receiving their Moviepass card, users then download the Moviepass app from the respective App store provided by their smart phone carrier, and use that to manage their account.

When heading to the cinema to catch a flick, users pull up the app, find the theater in the list provided, and sign in to their movie. This enables the card to be used when it is provided to the ticket clerk who processes the purchase.

Last year the company made headlines when they dropped the price of the service to less than $10 a month for “unlimited films.”

Speaking about that major change, Lowe previously told reporters that “after years of studying and analysis we found that people want to go to the movies more often, but the pricing keeps going up, and that prevents them from going more. We’re making it more affordable for people.”