Keep getting location prompts on app

[Kimberz73749]

I am so beyond frustrated with this pop up asking to enable location services. I finally caved and put it on Always only to get notifications that the location service had been running constantly for an extended period of time. I never had this issue until recently. I’ve been a huge fan of FitBits and have had multiple ones over the years but these updates are making me consider spending extra money and getting an Apple Watch just so I don’t have to deal with the annoying and incessant pop ups. If I click “No thank you” they should be the end of it. I shouldn’t have the same pop up every single time I open the app.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone. It's good to see you participating in the Community Forums.

Thanks for getting back with the requested information, as well for your efforts while working on this situation. I've gone ahead and forwarded your details to our team so they can investigate what may be occurring. Your patience is truly appreciated and I'll update this thread once I have more details from them.

See you around.

[littlepenguin]

I am fed up with getting a prompt to allow location services every single time I open the app on my iPhone. Once I have said “no thanks” there is no need to keep prompting me. If I want it enabled for a specific exercise, I’ll enable it. 
I have read a recent post from someone else with the same issue. The reply was to read an article that ‘explained why’. Well that’s only relevant for Android. The other guy & I both have iPhone, 

Sync occurs successfully without the location enabled so please stop this! 
Am wondering which other brands to investigate because I am utterly sick of this. 

[TinaHolmes]

Why do I have to say no thanks every time I open the app to always share location access &Bluetooth this is annoying, I don’t want to always share. I have an iPhone 

[SunsetRunner]

On the iPhone:

Settings >> Fitbit >> Location

Mine is set to Never. Because after all the Charge 4 has GPS, right? (This last is black humor; it only has GPS for marketing purposes. MGPS.)

[Dani0045]

This is terrible and infuriating. Fitbit needs to fix this ASAP 

[Jazoreo]

It looks like everyone is saying the problem is fixed or it’s being investigated.  I’ve tried everything recommended but I still get asked to turn on gps literally every single time I go back into the app.  I can go at and in one second later and have to click on the “no thanks” option.  It’s become irritating enough that I’ll probably just throw the watch away if no one is willing to fix it.  I know a single Fitbit user isn’t that impactful by I can’t be the only one.

[LGriff]

I have my settings set the way I want them. How do I get this one to stop?

 

[andrewinhouston]

Hey, you're right about the conflicting information.  What I finally did was to completely disable GPS.  My original plan was to leave it enabled for certain activities and off for all others.  I tried to find out exactly where I did that.  I thought it was in the Charge 3 itself, going into each activity type to disable GPS, but today couldn't find it.  But in the website app, under settings for the device, there is an option to completely turn off GPS.  It's possible that is what I did.

Regardless, the bottom line is that if I really need GPS for some activity, it will be done via my phone through another app.  The Fitbit use the phone's GPS anyway so it is no big deal.

With it completely disabled, I no longer see the prompt at all.

[piratadelcaribe]

I did not have the same luck with disabling GPS. Can you tell me your process for disabling GPS? Maybe I’m doing something wrong.

Sent from my iPhone

[andrewinhouston]

I found it.

On the Charge 3:

From the home page swipe right to left to see the page with Exercise and Agenda.
Touch Exercise and Walk will display.

Swipe up, from bottom to top and you should see the prompt to disable GPS - touch the option to toggle to off.

Push the left button on the device to return to the previous page showing Walk.

Swipe right to left to get to the next exercise.  Repeat the above steps for each exercise mode turning off GPS for all.

At the fitbit.com site, click the settings icon.  Choose the device and then scroll down to GPS.

Expand the GPS section and turn off the option.

I hope that helps.

[piratadelcaribe]

Thank you for your reply. I have a Versa 2, which doesn’t seem to work the same way. Can anyone guide me through the steps for completely disabling GPS?

Sent from my iPhone

[Charge4wearer]

I keep being told to allow location services to Always to track your exercise with GPS. I have the location setting set at While Using the App, which seems to work fine for GPS tracking. I want to keep that setting. Why should I change to Always when the While Using the App setting seems to work just fine? I get the notification every single time I open the app even though I say No Thanks every single time. It’s very annoying. I mean VERY.

[digitjones]

I've gone through these steps 12 times and it doesn't work. I've only started getting these prompts in the last few days.

[LizzyFitbit]

Hi everyone. Thanks for your continued reports and feedback about this situation.

Let me share that this issue with the constant location prompts on the Fitbit app has been escalated to our team so they can work on this situation and identify a solution. I'm sorry you're going through this experience. Your feedback hasn't gone unnoticed and I'll make sure to keep them informed of the impact to you and other users. I appreciate your patience and I'll update this thread once I have more information about this situation.

Have a good day.

[julieroHB]

This has been a known issue since 2019!  I've gone back and read some of the other threads.  I've just started getting this message and it is beyond frustrating.  I've done everything that has been suggested, force quit, restart, blah blah blah and nothing is working!  I have iPhone 11 and charge 3. Apps are updated. There is a problem on fitbitcend and they need to elevate this to highest level. This is a privacy issue. I decide if I want tracking and when I want it off. 

[julieroHB]

That worked!!!!  Thank you!  Have to log into computer and access device and turn off GPS. Simple enough so I don't know why this took so long to figure out!!

[zaraaimaq]

It’s June 9, 2021 and this issue still persists since first reported March 2019 (possibly earlier?). I’m shocked that FitBit’s development team has not fixed such an intrusive bug in their software. This issue is so persistent and irritating, it’s completely affected my experience with FitBit. Seeing how many people are impacted, how stressful everyone else finds this issue too, and how nonchalant and unresponsive FitBit team has been, I have no confidence that FitBit will ever prioritize their customers user experience and take this issue seriously. So at this point I am  going to cancel my Premium account and contact FitBit team to allow me a full refund on my Versa 2 watch and my Premium account membership, so I can take my money over to Apple and get their watch instead.

[julieroHB]

Why isn't this fixed yet!!!!!  I have done everything!  I disabled GPS location in settings and that actually worked for a few days and now today,  I started getting prompt again.  I've done everything you have stated and read through every response you have given Lily and it is NOT A SOLUTION!!!  At least be up front and say this is a known issue and can't be fixed at this time or give eta when it will be fixed. Privacy laws mandate that there be an option to not be tracked or there has to be disclosure that you will be tracked with no choice if you use app.  

[Lilredk8monster]

Over the last month with my Charge 4, there has been a prompt asking me to enable location services I always say no thanks. 1. Because I like my battery life and the gps drains it 2. Because I mostly walk indoors and have no actual need for it. 

However. No matter what I do, Fitbit will not take no for an answer. The pop up might not be so bad if it was just once an experience with the app. But toggling between screens within the app is a 50/50 chance it will pop up. I have tried deleting the app and redownloading it. I have even tried to set it to “when using the app” which drained my battery AND didn’t stop the forsaken pop up.

I understand FitBit wants to make monkey off of the data they collect from our location tracking, but no means no. I have been a Fitbit user since 2011. This is my first ever complaint. It is bothersome enough that if it doesn’t end soon, I will be switching brands. This is absolutely absurd. Fix whatever code you have that keeps making this happen. Scrolling through past posts, it’s clearly been going on off and on for years. So it’s a Fitbit problem, not a user error. Fix your code, or you’re losing at least one more customer. 

[RandomAZ]

Same issue with VersaLite.  Seriously, no thank you means no thank you.  No Google gps stalking please.

Moderator edit: format