Can someone explain why the app needs access?

[SunsetRunner]

Can someone explain to me why the Android Fitbit app needs access to my Location, SMS, Device ID & call information and access to my Contacts/Calendar information?

[Rich_Laue]

That is correct, the Android OS needs Location Services on before it will allow the Fitbit App to search for your tracker. This change was made by Android with version 6.part of the changes when Android closed a Bluetooth security hole.

 Let's go straight to Android

https://developer.android.com/about/versions/marshmallow/android-6.0-changes.html#behavior-hardware-...

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Android-App/location-services/m-p/1454914/highlight/true#M30500

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Android-App/Syncing-on-Android-6-0-Marshmallow-official-release/td-p...

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Android-App/Syncing-on-Android-6-0-Marshmallow-official-release/m-p/...

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Android-App/Why-is-needed-location-Services/m-p/1387991

[MB27]

No they want to see my texts and be able to run my whole phone. Done

[SunsetRunner]

@MB27 ahahhaahhahahah

[Rich_Laue]

Why bring up a dead thread @MB27 What part are you saying no about?

Yes to send text messages to you tracker the app needs access to your text messages

Yes to send notification of e-mails the app needs access to your e-mails

You can have other apps like Facebook, you tube, Google groups, even Fitbit have their notifications sent to the phone.

Location services are required by Android and iOS. This was added to close a loop hole that allowed an unknown party to take over control during a sync.

As for taking over complete control of the phone, I'm not sure about this, the app hasnt tried to do this with my phone

[MB27]

This is what I'm talking about:

Fitbit Notification Service will be able to read all notifications, including personal information such as contact names and the text of messages you receive. It will also be able to dismiss notifications or trigger action buttons they contain.

This will also give the app the ability to turn Do Not Disturb on or off and change related settings.

[Rich_Laue]

And lets look at the Sense when a notification is received

The Fitbit notification service needs to be able to read the notification so it can be sent to the tracker, Now when the message arrives on the wrist, the user has the option to respond or mark the message as read. so yes the notification service needs access to notifications. When a phone call or text message comes in, Fitbit tries to connect the notification to one of your contacts. This also goes for e-mails, calendar and any other app that the user wants notification from this service also connects your tracker to the phones GPS.