You can easily sync Fitbits to your smartphones to share your daily activities and health data via Wi-Fi. But does that mean you need to keep the Bluetooth on for Fitbit all the time? And does your Fitbit also require the location to be on?
Android users must keep their location and Bluetooth to sync their Fitbits to the Fitbit app. You can sync your Fitbit to the app via Bluetooth by turning on the location and using features like notifications and GPS. But if you have an iOS device, you only need to keep the Bluetooth on.
For Android 12.0 and later users, it is a requirement by Google to keep both the Bluetooth and the location on when syncing your Fitbit with the Fitbit app. However, you only need to keep these two services when syncing your Fitbit or using features like the Weather app, GPS, etc.
If you are not using any of these features and do not have to sync your Fitbit to the app at the moment, you can keep the Bluetooth and location off for Fitbit.
Read on to find out whether Fitbits can work without GPS, how to stop Fitbit from asking for your location, and whether people can see your location on Fitbit.
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Can Fitbit Work Without GPS?
If you’ve disabled your smartphone’s GPS for Fitbit, it can still track your activity, distance, and pace using its built-in GPS. Fitbit does not necessarily require you to connect your smartphone’s GPS with it. Fitbit Sense, Versa 3, Ionic, and Charge 4 & Charge 5 have built-in GPS.
Fitbits have two types of GPS tracking that are used for tracking your run:
- Built-In GPS: Fitbit Sense, Versa 3, Ionic, and Charge 4 & Charge 5 have built-in GPS trackers. So you don’t need to carry your smartphone with you as these models can track your pace and route accurately.
- Connected GPS: For all the other models, Fitbit uses the connected GPS in your smartphone to track your pace and route. To enable connected GPS for your Fitbit, you must allow the Fitbit app to use your location and ensure that location access is set to be used “Always.”
So if you don’t have a Fitbit with built-in GPS and your smartphone is not nearby, your Fitbit will use your step count and the stride length to estimate the distance covered. You won’t be able to track your run accurately.
Your Fitbit device can work perfectly fine without GPS for all the other functions.
Have you noticed how high Fitbit calories are? Please read my article to find out why Fitbit calories are so high compared to other trackers and whether they are even accurate.
How Do I Stop Fitbit From Asking My Location?
You can stop your Fitbit from asking for your location by clicking on the “Open Settings” option in the pop-up notification and then setting the location services to “Always.” Once you place your location services to “Always Enabled,” you won’t get a message from Fitbit asking for your location.
If you have disabled location sharing on your Fitbit, you will always get a pop-up for Location Access and Bluetooth Sharing every time you open the Fitbit app. You are presented with two options; “Open Settings” or “No, thanks.”
If you want Fitbit to stop asking you for your location, click on Open Settings and make sure that Allow Location Access is set to Always.
This way, you won’t ever get the same notification from Fitbit again. The only other option is to not open the Fitbit app at all to avoid this notification.
Have you started losing steps on your Fitbit? Please read my article to discover why this may happen and how to get those steps back.
Can People See Your Location On Fitbit?
No one can see your location on Fitbit unless you share it individually. For example, if you have friends on your Fitbit app, they can only view your weekly steps, average daily steps, trophies, badges, country, and other friends. They cannot see your exact location.
Fitbit does not allow anyone to view your specific activities and run maps unless you share this info with someone individually. No one can view your location, email address, phone number, or other details.
Only your friends on Fitbit can view the country you are from, your weekly achievements and steps, and other friends. You can even hide this if you want by changing the privacy settings. However, other Fitbit users can only view your Fitbit name and the date of joining. Again, you cannot hide this data from anyone.
Want to add a family member to your Fitbit? Please read my article to find out whether it is possible to have two accounts on Fitbit and how to set up one.