Remove requirement to allow Background Location Permission

[mata]

With the upgrade the app will no longer work unless Background Location Permission is allowed all the time, whether the app is in use or not. What possible justification do you have for that? Now Fitbit feels like spyware. Is this so Google can create location based advertising or what?

Moderator edit: Clarified subject

[RunKatana]

Why about the recent location feedback ?

[mata]

Background Location running all the time decreases the phone battery and probably the Fitbit battery. Not to mention the privacy issues. I REALLY want to hear Fitbit's justification for this. 

[Victamon]

When first opening the data-deleted (or fresh-installed) app and logging-in (via Fitbit or Google account), the app wants me to set it to "All the time" for some feature purportedly to work correctly or better performance.. But I have turned it down to "while using the app" without yet problem. Honestly the ecen lower "ask every time" ought to be sufficient.

What is hindered in your app when not opted Location privacy setting to "allow.all the time"?  or Are you referring to a different setting?

[dhimes]

On the iPhone I set the "allow location" to "never" in the phone settings area and the Fitbit app is working.

[blankusername]

+1 on this.

Nice Fitbit. Softlocking datasyncing behind a completely unnecessary permission. It's possible to sync data with Bluetooth alone yet before you still required GPS. Now you want it 24/7 365 days a year just so people can sync data once a day? This is criminal.

This is a manipulation tactic to strong arm "customers" into giving up their personal data. There's absolutely no way it's impossible to sync data without 24/7 GPS access. Imagine your child uses a Fitbit... Not Fitbit want to know where that kid is ALL THE TIME! Why are you being so creepy, Fitbit?

If the decision to require background access for GPS is not reversed the I'm ditching Fitbit. No way in hell I'm giving 24/7 GPS access to sync data once a day. 

[Rich_Laue]

Heads Up. Your App is loaded when the phone starts up and is running in the background. If the app wasn't running, it would not affect the battery life. 

To name a few reasons

• Syncing every 20 minutes
• Sending notifications to the watch 
• Weather on the watch
• For Google or Alexa assistant 

When you say that you closed the app, you are only closing the User Interface 

Currently I have gone 34 hours on the phone between charging. 

[blankusername]

Hi Rich_Laue, you've completely missed the point.

The original point to this thread is requesting justification for Fitbit now requiring 24/7 access to GPS just to sync a device to an account.

Syncing a watch to a phone does not REQUIRE GPS access to begin with, let alone 24/7 access.

If location data was required to sync data between two devices then all wireless devices would have GPS. Eg wireless headphones. But they don't because Bluetooth is more than sufficient to send and receive data. 

There's no valid reason any user must give such permissions just to sync their data. And saying "oh it's so you can have weather and <some feature> active on the watch" is a deception. Sending a notification to the watch requires 24/7 GPS permission? Having a digital assistant requires 24/7 GPS access? The only reasonable explanation for wanting 24/7 location data is for Weather functionality. 

And even if these features did require 24/7 location access, what do you say for those who don't care to subscribe to every (or any specific) feature the watch provides above it's base functionality? If a customer wants only to sync their data, but doesn't want notifications, an assistant, or weather, why must they provide permanent location access just to restore the ability to sync their watch data to their account?

If its not possible to sync data from a device to an an account, it voids the purpose of the device. And, Fitbit know this.

The 24/7 GPS access is not big enough for people to care THAT much about it, so they just enable it because it's less hassle. Then later Fitbit adds one more required permission that forces customers to give up more of their data if they want to continue using their device. Then another and another until customers are giving up everything just to have the base functionality. 

[mata]

Thank you blankusername for understanding this. Other people clearly don't.

To others responding, I don't know if this is just an Android app issue, but I definitely get a "Can't sync without location permission" message at the top of the app. The permissions are set to Location Services: Enabled, Location Permission: Allowed, and Background Location Permission: Allow only while using the app. The app is demanding I set it to Allow all the time in order to sync. This sucks for all the reasons blankusername mentioned.

[Rich_Laue]

@blankusername the original post never mentioned that GPS will be turned on

No I did not miss the point when the title clearly says, "When the app isn't running"

My response was about the misunderstanding that when the UI is closed, the app is not running. 

Having location services enabled is like you leaving your front door unlocked, an unlocked door does no require that a person has to walk through it. An unlock door allows a person, if needs or wants, to walk through 

Years ago it was discovered that while doing a search for a BTLE device (like your fitbit) an exploit was opened allowing beacons to have access to the phone . Android added an update to close this, and this fix now requires location services to be enabled during a BTLE scan. 

It was about 3 years later when iOS fixed this vulnerability and now iOS also requires location services. 

Having location services enabled doves not mean GPS be turned on. Having location services enabled, opens the possibility for an app if it needs to, to get your position. 

The android phone can use high or low precision GPS, cell phone towers and also WiFi hotspots. 

That Google car records the location of SSIDs as it drives by. 

Fitbit does not ask for your location during a sync, but Android, since version 8 requires that the app has location service access 

This is the same for my

• BT scale
• My Tile
• When etting up my WiFi lights and switches
• Tge Amazon Alexa speaker 
• Garmin WiFi camera, which when the app is opened, also uses Bluetooth 
• Galaxy watch
• Samsung watch 
• Even my sisters dishwasher needed location services when setting up 
• You know that camera doorbell, yup, same thing 

[JR4344]

I totally agree with mata.  There is no possible justification for Fitbit to insist on location services being switched on when the App is not in use.  In answer to everyone commenting this is a marshmallow change and not Fitbit, I respectfully disagree and say that is just a convenient excuse... I am happy for the App to only be able to sync when I am using it - so why is that not good enough??  Why does it need to be enabled all the time? 
I agree this feels like spyware now.  Very unhappy as my fitbit is now useless.

[FitFrank]

Rich_lue, you must be naive, to give location permission to so many services / devices.

I do not give my Alexa speaker real time location. I put in a zip code, for weather, that's it.  There is no need for it to have real time location.

I do not give any BT scales location. It's just not needed to provide weight / body fat %.  

It's insane to give so many services / devices unnecessary location information.  We have enough privacy concerns already. To have someone like you who is willing to naively give up your real time location for no reason is just tragic.

[Rich_Laue]

I didn't say I gave them all full time location permission, said because of BTLE location permission is needed to set them up. Think back, you where required to enable location services to Alexa during the setup process. (Android OS required this). Once setup, Bluetooth is only used for streaming audio, and location services is not needed. 

The last 2 versions of the UI needed access to location services. 

@JR4344 can you tell us when the app is not in use? The Fitbit app gets loaded at start-up, and closing the User Interface will not stop the app on android phones. The user will have to go into the phone settings/apps/Fitbit/Stop app. 

Normally the fitbit app is running in the background whenever the phone is turned on. 

Of course you can revoke location services when the UI is not in front. Some things may not work. Now, because of the Android OS, the App needs permission to location services to sync your tracker. Or roll your phone back to android 6(it might be 5) but then you will have opened your phone to be compromised through BT 

[NoMoreFitbut]

I removed my Fitbit app October 1st. Now October 29th my watch is about one minute slow. Today it stopped showing me my hourly steps and will no longer take a charge. I was expecting to have to reinstall the app after the time change (DST) and then remove it again. Now I will just throw it in the trash after leaving a 1 star review on Amazon.

[Rich_Laue]

If you are not interested in what fitbit has to offer, you could go to 5 Below and by a tracker. 

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi @mata, and thanks for taking the time to share this product feedback about removing the requirement to allow Background Location Permission on the Fitbit app with us. We rely on feedback like yours to help us develop products and features that we know our community wants to see. If this product feedback receives votes from other customers and gains popularity, it will be shared internally with various teams at Fitbit. To learn more about how Fitbit decides what product feedback is developed, visit our FAQs.

Watch this space for status updates. In the meantime, try visiting Health & Wellness to talk with other members about all things health and fitness.

[RunKatana]

How about a REAL answer ?

• The app will no longer work unless Background Location Permission is allowed all the time, whether the app is in use or not. What possible justification do you have for that?
• Now Fitbit feels like spyware.
• Is this so Google can create location based advertising or what?

[timeshifter]

I can't even update my Charge 5's firmware without location access. Tell me, what POSSIBLE reasoning is there for this? This is spyware, and is about to be removed from my phone entirely. Use some common bleeping sense when making decisions like this. If it isn't strictly necessary, DON'T DO IT.

[NoMoreFitbut]

I bought a used cell phone on eBay for $30. I put the fitbit app on that and I just leave that phone at home. My old tablet wouldn't work because it had a version of Android that was too old.

[Rich_Laue]

@timeshifter as mentioned above, this is a result of a security patch that was installed by the Android developers about 5-6 years ago. A few years later Apple closed the exploit. 

This exploit involved BTLE searches. When setting up my scale, tile, and every smart light, smart switch, the app now needs location access. The app does not request the location, I don't know if the OS needs it. 

[ms960]

This needs to be fixed.  I only use my fitbit to count steps.  No way does google need to know where I am just to sync the step count from my Alta.

Workaround:  On Android, you can download an install an older version of the app (using an app mirror) that doesn't require location to be always on.  I just installed version 2.87, and it only requires location when the app is in use. 

Without my permission (and in the middle of the night), my phone decided to update all my apps to the latest version, including the fitbit app.  This required location to be always on just to sync step count.  I found an old version of the app from 2019 and installed it instead.  Now it only needs location while the app is being used (still, why?), but better than always on.

Google:  If the fitbit device has no GPS capabilities, like mine, don't force us to turn location on all the time just to sync something simple like step count.  How does that in any way need my location?

[Rich_Laue]

Please be aware, that by using an older version you are opening a door to having your phone compromised. 

This decision was not made by Fitbit, but a requirement of Android 

[ms960]

@Rich_Laue Yes, but using the current version I am consenting to give my location data to google all the time, and free of charge.  

[Rich_Laue]

You are also slowing the Android system to protect your phone from attack while using low Energy Bluetooth.

The older version will open your phone up to an attack. 

BTW: Google, Fitbit, even the Operating System doesn't request the phones location. It simply needs location Services unlocked. Why? I don't care, but a quick search will get you a ton of data on why 

[ms960]

Great -- you do you, but I do care.  If they're not using my location, then why does it need to be on all the time?  That's why this needs to be addressed by Google.

[Rich_Laue]

Fitbit doesn't need location services on all the time. Fitbit really doesnt need location services. Android, and now ios require it for your tracker to sync. Which happens once every 20 minutes. You need to talk to the developers of the bluetooth Low Energy, or the securoty group. 

Basically, excluding speakers, every BTLE device in the world, trackers, key fobs, door bells, scales, light bulbs, switches, tile, glucous meter, car diagnostic meters, Apple air tag, etc, require location services to be enabled