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

[Grumpsie]

Thanks for info, could you post in a couple weeks and let us know if that remains true?

[Wiza]

Hi Marre,

I just found this answer while searching the community forum for people having the same issue. I understand that changing the setting to 'always give access to location' will get rid of the pop up, but that essentially means that Fitbit users don't have a real choice in allowing access to location (you either give full access, and if you don't the app will just continue to annoy you until you give up). Really????

I could understand it if I would have limited functionality by keeping this setting off (which I'd be willing to accept as a consequence), but this policy of annoying users into allowing location access just seems bizarre. Am I understanding this correctly? If so, please let this be vote for 'please change this policy and at least give users a choice to not have location access enabled and if so possibly have reduced functionality'.

Thanks.

[Hp99]

Totally agree…users should have a choice in whether they want to opt for full location disclosure without the annoyance of a pop up message. The response from Fitbit is fustrating and doesn’t address or solve the core issue.

[SAgirl]

Has he done any exercise where he’s actually chosen and started and ended an activity that requires tracking (like running, walking or biking) or does he use the self-detect option? 

[Mingarh]

He does the self-detect. Same as me. 👍🏻 

[bobbi24]

I'm having the same issues. It's incredibly annoying and frustrating! 

[Helen1]

I have a new Fitbit and I get that message 29 times a day easily. Nothing deters it. A friend gave in and let’s it use gps. 

[Grumpsie]

Where is Fitbit customer support on this thread? ……. Not a single useful response to date !!!

[Grumpsie]

 

[Grumpsie]

 

[Grumpsie]

At face value,  my understanding,  after chatting with Fitbit customer support online is that when the “always” selection is enabled, the app communicates with the watch but that data isn’t transmitted to Fitbit server.  If that is true then my concerns over privacy were unfounded and this “glitch” in app function is not that important. I’ll double check by making another independent  query and post outcome. I certainly don’t want to behave like a conspiracy theorist, maybe I’m missing something but the documentation over app function lacks important information to reassure users on this issue. 

[Prizebiz]

This problem lives on. for me it started bout the time of the IOS 15 upgrade. I am now on IOS 15.2 and Fitbit version 3.52.1. It has been almost 4 months for me and this thread is over 2 years old. have you any new solutions? 

[SAgirl]

Hmfff!  Well, I suppose it would make sense if what they said was true, HOWEVER, why on earth give you options to not enable or only enable while using and then totally ignore your setting every single bloody time? It’s either a glitch (but if it is why haven’t they fixed it after seeing many dissatisfied Fitbit users on this and other threads) or something that Google required them to write into the code when they were acquired and they aren’t allowed to fix it. 

[Doofee]

It's a purposefully annoying tactic to force you to select always on. 

[Prizebiz]

Concur


Sent from my iPhone

[dgtlittle]

It is incredible that Fitbit doesnt fix this.  It is a simple error message so it is so you have to assume this is a deliberate policy

The last repsonse I saw from Fitbit said, "Our team is aware of this situation.....there isn't a time frame for the fix, we'll continue to monitor the situation and keep our team informed of the impact to you and other members.  I'm going to close this thread from further comments."

Why would they close the thread when it's not resolved??  This issue has been getting reported since April - at least!

I suspect this is an attempt by Fitbit to get access to valuable location data from users by effectively making this compulsory.  I wonder if any laws are being broken because it is effectively impossible to opt out.  I might report this to the Information Commissioners Office and see what they say.

I also think the management team at Fitbit must be stupid because they will lose goodwill very quickly (they are rapidly losing mine) and they are starting to look like a tin-pot company and will force users to look for better devices and platforms.

[dgtlittle]

So funny that you caved in and changed your settings - see my other post below.  This is why I think this might be illegal;  I think Fitbit want to get into your personal data because they know how valuable it is.

All affected users should increase the pressure to get an immediate fix.  I work in software and I know this is a simple fix that should take no more than 1 day to fix, so this is why I assume that Fitbit don't want to fix it.

[piratadelcaribe]

I haven’t changed my settings. I’m not allowing location access. If more people complain, they may cave in and fix this issue. I will not be buying another Fitbit with this ongoing issue and just told my husband not to buy a Fitbit. I’m telling everyone that asks that this is a dealbreaker for me.

Sent from my iPhone

[Almost_done]

I haven't changed my settings based on 1) principle because this is wrong and fixable 2) I don't continually share my location with any app and 3) they know location data is valuable and I don't know who they share or sell that to and 4) it wears my battery down quicker.  My premium app 1 year subscription just ended and now searching for a new app that I can use with or without my FitBit.