Fitbit app keeps asking for Location access & Bluetooth sharing

[Mingarh]

I have the charge 3 and it has been asking me for as long as I can remember. My husband got the charge 5 for Christmas and it hasn’t asked him once. 🤷🏻‍:female_sign:

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[SunsetRunner]

I hadn’t thought of that, but yes, I will put in a complaint to Apple. I think there absolutely is a privacy issue, particularly with Snoot who has mentioned that  Fitbit is still tracking her even with LA switched off!!

[SunsetRunner]

@SunsetRunner This makes me think you are suggesting it is more an iOS issue or where our settings are at (beyond the basics) rather than a Fitbit app issue? If it was iOS I would expect other apps to behave in the same way. They don’t. I don’t believe anyone has ever been able to solve this and only Fitbit can. Sadly they aren’t the remotest bit interested. We shouldn’t have to delve into the bowels of our iOS or desktop settings  to have an app behave how we want it to. No other app behaves in this way. 

[JasonW-1990]

A few pages back, someone tried to convince me that this was all caused by iOS.  I don’t buy that for a second…. As mentioned, Fitbit is the only app I’ve encountered that behaves this way.  And frankly, it’s pretty slimy, for Google, to just blame apple.

This is an issue within the Fitbit app, pure and simple.

Allow the users to select ‘never’ in the pop up, then NEVER show the pop up again.

Fitbit has the ability to fix it, but doesn’t seem to want to… 

I still don’t understand why, but I am not seeing this pop up anymore.  Literally, I have not changed anything.  I used to see it multiple times a day, now, seems like once a week…

[SunsetRunner]

Hey, sorry @Grumpsie, they're screenshots from my device (I used photos as generic term - I corrected the post). 

[SunsetRunner]

Hello, just to clarifying a few things:

• First, there are two GPS devices one inside the smartphone and the other inside the fitbit that need to be addressed.
• The fitbit device it self has 3 settings for GPS in the settings menu (of the fitbit device)
  • Dynamic - uses GPS units in both within fitbit and smartphone. Current default setting on the fitbit device itself
  • Built-in - the outdoor activity will use (if defined) the GPS data on the from only the Fitbit's internal GPS chip
  • Phone - the outdoor activity will use the GPS data from only the internal GPS chip of the smartphone.
• The pop-up alerts are iOS telling that a third-party app wants to (or has ability to) to leverage hardware and/or data. In this case location information.

So one example of a problem that may occur and in-turn be annoying: is when the user has disabled GPS tracking yet when they go to start an outdoor activity (that by default uses GPS data) it may trigger the iOS privacy alert pop-up. So, one way to minimize the pop-up would be to disable redundantly all avenues of GPS access.  However, for example, on the charge 5 (but not specifically the charge 5) prior to starting an outdoor activity (prior to tapping the activity start button) you can scroll to some settings specific to this activity and enable/disable GPS. But, if you left this setting enabled and in other areas designated (within the fitbit app or iOS) that you did not want GPS tracking it may cause the pop-up in iOS (depending on configurations) that the fitbit app wants to use the gps for location information because the the particular activity you are starting has GPS enabled.

Additionally, I'm not siding with Google, Apple or any other entity.  Just providing an explanation of what you may be experiencing. This why I stated before that I agree it is frustrating and navigating privacy options needs more refinement by Google/Fitbit and Apple.  I have also experienced similar things with a Garmin watch, and my Apple Watch s7 using a third party watchOS app.

I hope this adds some light to the situation - again I am not representative of either company, I am a user just like you.

[Ali0311]

No. You are attempting to simplify the problem to what *you* have seen without reading the plethora of posts starting 3 years ago that describe a completely different issue.

First, not all Fitbits have GPS. Some are merely GPS connected, which means they access the phone GPS via Bluetooth.
For those complaining of the issue,
We have turned off all GPS data. We have turned off exercise options, which means it doesn’t automatically recognize what we are doing in order to begin tracking.

We just want our steps counted. We have the settings the way we want them. The Fitbit (NOT iOS) notification wants us to change from “when using app” to “always” regardless of the way the device is being used.

I even get one from Fitbit via my Notification Center. The only way to stop that garbage was to disable notifications from the app, which removes my text and phone notifications.

So if you have to be that guy that knows, go be tech support to people that don’t know how to change their tracking setting in an app.

It’s just a pile of garbage and I’m done with it. Going back to Costco today after work.

Sent from my iPhone

[Grumpsie]

Thanks , that is at face value a useful explanation of what may be behind the behaviour of the phone and fitbit device interaction which is causing concern. 

It begs the question of why a company with such huge resources as Google hasn’t fixed what I assume to be a straightforward coding glitch. 

I hope this is simply oversight which is currently being fixed,  Stories like this can quickly escalate to conspiracy theories about the nature of our privacy …… if there had been coding oversight it would be responsible for Fitbit/Google to explain this to its clients so that the truth is not simply a function of our collective imagination and frustration. 

[SunsetRunner]

@Ali0311 I'm sorry - I believe there is a miscommunication, unfortunately I am unable to share my perspective better. Hopefully you get resolution to the issue soon.  

Have a good day.

[SunsetRunner]

@Grumpsie I agree.  Coding is truly a challenge and everyday I learn something new from it. Sometimes the easiest solutions are often obscured even to the brightest of minds. Whenever there is an OS change to any device/computer it can break so many things within a program and unfortunately it takes time to discover and determine course of action. Sometimes you have to just rebuild a whole module or an app from scratch (not implying anything here) to weed out conflicting code. In this case, issue arises because: 1) two GPS chipsets are being leveraged, 2) the fitbit app and Fitbit device is trying to provide flexibility where some activities can use GPS and not other activities (based on user preference). This is where I feel things become convoluted. I agree with everyone's frustration here while I may understand it - I am not justifying it. But this is something that sometimes is fixed inadvertently, by keeping the smartphone's OS and apps up-to-date (iOS was updated yesterday BTW and separately the fitbit app was updated as well).

From what I believe others may be experiencing and what I have personally experienced seem to have parallels. If you seen my screenshots in the previous post my settings are "while using" and not "always".  Fortunately, iOS has the ability to audit behavior by looking at those screens (as I demonstrated).

Take care

[Grumpsie]

Thanks splatmat for providing us with some perspective.

I can’t figure out where the screenshots you mentioned are located they don’t appear in the posts I am receiving.


Sent from my iPhone

[BAMcc]

I agree 100% with @Ali0311! I just want to use the app to see my steps/sleep etc. I've tried all suggestions for turning off GPS and nothing has prevented this annoying pop-up. It has nothing to do with starting an activity, I never do that. This is example of what happens when I use the app:

1. Open the Fitbit app on my iPhone to sync my steps. I get a pop-up asking me to turn on Location Services. I'm not able to sync until I've clicked on "No Thanks". Complete the sync, minimize the app.

2. Immediately after minimizing the app, I realize that I want to look at my sleep details. Re-open the Fitbit app. I get a pop-up asking me to turn on Location Services. I'm not able to look at my sleep details until I've clicked on "No Thanks". Check my sleep, minimize the app.

3. Immediately realize that there was something else that I wanted to look at in the app. Open the Fitbit app. I get a pop-up asking me to turn on Location Services. I'm not able to look at anything until I've clicked on "No Thanks". Now I've had the pop-up and been forced to click "No Thanks" three separate times in less than one minute. How is this acceptable??

4. Repeat the above every single time the Fitbit app is opened. I've also tried force-closing the app after using it and I still get the pop-up the next time the app is opened.

It does not matter what my other GPS settings are on my phone, the app, on the device etc. I've tried every combination and there is no setting that will allow me to use the app without having to first say "No Thanks". This behaviour started several weeks ago and was not triggered by any changes from my side. I don't want to set Location Services to "Always" because it will impact the battery on my phone and device.

I just want an honest answer to the question of whether or not this will be fixed. If Fitbit has no interest in fixing it, let us know so that I can buy a new device from a different vendor. If it is going to be fixed, I'm willing to wait a bit longer. I really do love my Fitbit, but the app is now un-usable as far as I'm concerned.

[Jglo2]

Yes - this is exactly what I am experiencing, except on top of this I am now getting Fitbit alerts encouraging me to turn on my location services. As if I didn’t set it intentionally.

it is irritating but also unsafe. Every time I try to refresh I have to then take that moment to say no to the location services. This is a huge nuisance especially if I am running on the treadmill. I have so many apps with GPS functionality but this is the only one that is essentially harassing me. There is nothing I do with my charge 3 Fitbit that needs gps. Nothing. I thought I had done everything under the sun in the app so was excited when someone posted a specific gps setting. They must have a different Fitbit app than I do because mine is updated at it’s definitely not there.

[SunsetRunner]

Here is an article that may better explain what I’m trying to convey:

https://www.howtogeek.com/563557/why-your-iphone-keeps-asking-you-about-background-location-use/amp/

Have a good weekend everyone!

[Grumpsie]

Thanks Matt that is good info. The article states 

“Starting with iOS 13, released in September 2019, this location-sharing is less silent. Older version of iOS let you grant an app the ability to “Always” view your location and forget about it. iOS 13 won’t let you forget. It’ll regularly show you popups with the message “[App] has used your location [number of] times in the background over the past [number of] days. Do you want to continue to allow background location use?””

i’m going to set my Fitbit app to always on and turn on gps on my device and the monitor the amount of access the app makes  over next week and see how it behaves. Hopefully there won’t be any activity other than when I activate the device for a  run which from a privacy perspective will make the issue I perceive moot! 

[BAMcc]

According to that article, a pop-up only occurs if the Location is set to “Always”.  “iOS 13 will keep asking you about the apps using your location in the background unless you tap “Change to Only While Using.” iOS won’t warn you about apps that can only access your location while you’re using them.”

This thread is discussing the fact that a pop-up occurs everytime the app is accessed, even if the setting is “Never” or “While Using the App”.   The Fitbit app behaviour is the opposite of what is described in that article.

[JoggerBlogger]

I agree with you100%, "None of my other iOS app require "Always" location tracking.  This is really disturbing, and makes me now question the ethics of the Fitbit company.  An explanation would really be appreciated."

FitBit, please explain!

[SunsetRunner]

My config and how I use:

iOS 15.3.1

Fitbit ver 3.54 - Fitbit Charge 5

iOS settings:

Background App Refresh: Fitbit is ON

Location Services: Fitbit “While Using”

I am not experiencing ceaseless privacy location alerts. But have experienced it with other apps and then I perform a clean install or determine what is triggering the action (I enjoy puzzles).  

When I don’t want an outdoor activity tracked on my charge 5: I select the exercise activity profile then before I hit “start”, scroll to the quick settings to disable GPS specifically for that exercise profile. 

If you are getting repetitive alerts maybe the Fitbit app needs a clean install

• sync fitbit to app
• delete app from iOS
• factory reset Fitbit
• delete Bluetooth pair from iOS Bluetooth settings
• reboot iPhone
• install Fitbit app from app store
• sign in to Fitbit
• pair Fitbit and define your privacy to your liking with pop-ups that may come out
• reboot iPhone

So in my experience, sometimes an app that has had several updates may need a clean install to work properly. Additionally, I always reboot my iPhone after a new app install essentially because it can prevent some add behaviors due to software configuration and registration to iOS. 

If this useful or not let me know.

[Grumpsie]

BAMcc.   You are correct and the app clearly doesn't function as it should.

From a privacy perspective what is important is whether or not the app is collecting and using location data OTHER THAN when we want it to ie WHEN we trigger location data collection by intentionally starting GPS with exercise menu on devise OR if we have set devise to autodetect functions for various exercise categories.

If an app is accessing your location data but isn’t active—in other words, if it’s accessing your location in the background when you’re not using it—iOS will display a blue notification along the top of the screen to alert you.

Here's screenshot illustrating that

From   How to See Which Apps Are Tracking Your Location on iPhone (howtogeek.com)

My belief is that IF the Fitbit App is not collecting my location data EXCEPT when I have told it to THEN there is no privacy concern. 

It seems that Apple has rightfully improved the transparency of location collection to its devise users (I wasn't away of that until Matt point this out in last post) and perhaps as Matt suggested. Fitbit has struggled to get its app to accommodate that change properly. 

First step is to find out if that is true, I'll post what my experience is after a week or so. 

In the mean time were is FitBit support in clarifying this? ........... we shouldn't  have to be going through this process of our own volition!

[Wibby]

Hello @BAMcc 

There’s a new update, 3.54, and the pop-up seems to have disappeared for now on my phone.  I hope it works for you too.  It was driving me crazy!

[Jglo2]

I just updated the app and it is fixed for me too!!!