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Smart watches
(midwest.social)
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Does the Garmin app require location services to be turned to use like fitbit?
it uses true gps from my understanding, not cell service triangulation
Can you adjust the time on it without using an app?
I think time can get out of sync. Privacy wise, it's pretty good for proprietary: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/garmin-forerunner-series/
Not open source of course, so it is something to weigh up.
Location services have to be turned on in Android whenever you're searching for Bluetooth devices.
This isn't because they're necessarily using your location but because scanning Bluetooth/wifi devices could be used to localise you.
As far as I can tell, Garmin does not use location on the phone. Weather updates come through the phone's internet connection but only work based on the watch location.
My phone has CalyxOS so I don't need to
I'm on CalyxOS and I have to enable location services to search for my Xiaomi Smart Band 7 through Gadgetbridge.
That's weird I haven't had to do that before, maybe it's just a smart watch thing
You don't need to what?
I can search for Bluetooth devices without location services
That sounds like a bug.
Software can theoretically recover location by searching.
Like my TV hasn't moved in the last 3 years, if any app searching for Bluetooth sees it they can know where I am.
I'm not complaining
So, I just checked under the app information in Android. The location permission was turned on. I disabled it, and started the app up and it seems to work fine.