Turn location services on to sync.

[WiseyD]

I'm not impressed with the new requirement for location services to be turned on and permissions granted to the fitbit app in order to sync my Charge HR with my android 6.0 phone. This is a major privacy issue. I keep location services off and I shouldn't have to turn it on just to use this device that I paid for. My location information is mine and its not for sale. Some may not care, some may think it isn't an issue, that's fine, thats their choice and it should also be my choice to have it turned off. This is a major privacy issue. Even if the Fitibit isn't doing anything with that information, other apps will. Fitbit "forcing" users to have location services turned on is wrong. Regardless of what their reasons my be its still a privacy issue and a possible infraction with privacy legislation in some countries.

Moderator Edit: Updated Subject For Clarity.

[WavyDavey]

Hi @WiseyD,

I hear you about privacy. Have you this sticky post on permissions/locatoin? A relevant section is:

"Location

The Location permission is required in Android v6.0+ in order to perform BLE scans.  Google added this requirement due to concerns that BLE beacons could be used to infer user location via Bluetooth alone."

So I read this as a decision Google made to try and lock Bluetooth down better. I'm sure a lot of apps got caught in this change, including the Fitbit one.

[JohnnyRow]

I have older version of Android so really don't know, but I have seen some comments that, even though it is stated as a requirement by Android, it is really just a suggestion and you actually can bypass it. I don't know specifics and could be all wrong but just though I would pass along what I have seen some say.

[RobertoME]

Hello @WiseyD, good to see you here and thank you for your input @WavyDavey and @JohnnyRow.

I appreciate the feedback and the comments shared in this thread and as @WavyDavey mentioned before, this requirement is from google services and not from Fitbit. For more details please check the following post: Android syncing - Permissions/Location.

Hope you find more details there. Take care!

[WiseyD]

Because it is a requirment from Google doesn't change anything. It's still a privacy issue that needs to be addressed. 

[WavyDavey]

Well if Google did away with the requirement, then security would be lessened. But the point is, Google would have to make that change at the Android OS level. There's nothing that the developers at Fitbit or anywhere else could do to change that.