Flex2 sync, bluetooth vs location, and high battery drain

[sagetone]

Hi, new to the forum and new to Fitbit. My daughter gifted me with a Flex2 for Father'd Day, and I really want to use it. But... I am not happy about the battery drain on my Android due to the sync requirements.

My phone is a Samsung Edge S7, running Nougat (7.0). I just started the Fitbit app in my phone this morning, and get the warning, "...isn't syncing... Bluetooth is off...". OK. So I turn on Bluetooth. Now I get *ANOTHER* warning. "Enable Location to Sync".

I've read several forum posts about this, including @ErickFitbit's "Syncing on Android 6.0 Marshmallow official release" post, where it states "As of the Marshmallow release, Google has changed the permissions required for Bluetooth syncing. Location must be turned on as of the Android 6.0 update in order to sync."

This makes no sense to me at all. I have other Bluetooth devices that do not require Location to be enabled. Fitbit, I think you are trying to punt to Google, saying it's their problem. I disagree, and it appears others who have written in the forums disagree also.

My biggest issue with this is of course battery drain, with Bluetooth, Location, and WiFi (or LTE) all on at the same time throughout the day.

I really want to use my Flex2, for two reasons. I'm interested in how it can help me improve my health and energy. And, my daughter gave this to me as a gift. But right now, with the battery drain due to permissioning that doesn't make sense, I can't.

Fitbit, please help this user, and the many other users who live in the Android universe!

Thank you,

sagetone/Todd

[sagetone · Accepted solution]

Answering my own post... 

I didn't know that the Flex2 does not have to constantly sync. It always tracks. And when I want to sync to my app on my Android phone, I turn on BT and Location, and then turn back off when done syncing. Pretty easy, back to really good battery life on my Edge S7.

My wish, and request, is that Fitbit makes this very clear to new users.