Permissions and Sync

[SunsetRunner]

Location to sync.. It's connected via Bluetooth. That should be enough. My fossil watch would sync just over Bluetooth. Worst of all, you have to have location on all the time or it won't sync. Setting it to only allow location when I use the app breaks the sync too.

Please update the app to be more user friendly. Like if I want to have location off most the time, let it sync and maybe display a warning to the user that constant real time tracking may be limited or whatever reason you need this for.

[Rich_Laue]

You don't mention what phone @SunsetRunner 

Back in android 6, a security flaw was descovered, and fixed. Android now requires location services to be enabled during a BT low energy search. Fitbit doesn't request location. 

Now from what I recently read, Apple finally closed this flaw and also requires location services. 

The flaw, allowed a third party to remote into (undetected) to your phone durring the BTLE search process. 

Setting to use location only when the Fitbit UI is open, will not allow the background processes, which run all the time, to operate correctly. 

[Wibby]

Hello @SunsetRunner ,

Just to add to what @Rich_Laue said.  

If you happen to be using iOS and repeatedly getting an irritating pop-up about locations, it’s worth trying to update the Fitbit App to 3.54, where, touching wood, it seems to be fixed (at least for a few users).

[SunsetRunner]

I'm currently using an Android device. My understanding is that the location is only required for pairing and device discovery according to the android API documentation:

https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/bluetooth#Permissions 

"Because discoverable devices might reveal information about the user's location, the device discovery process requires location access. If your app is being used on a device that runs Android 8.0 (API level 26) or higher, consider using the Companion Device Manager API instead. This API performs device discovery on your app's behalf, so your app doesn't need to request location permissions."

My concern is that the app wants location to sync after the device has been paired. This should not be required because the data can be sent over Bluetooth. Setting location to only when using the app should allow you to sync when you open the app. Furthermore with android 12 you can control more permissions per app, and disabling precise location also causes the app to stop working.