Why does the Thermo app ask permissions to access certain things on my phone?
Starting with Android 6 Marshmallow, Android devices require location services to be enabled in order to detect and connect to Bluetooth devices via BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). As such, you must enable location services on your Android device in order to install and sync your Thermo. For more information about Android’s permission requirements, see Google's Android 6.0 Changes document.
The Thermo app for Android also needs access to:
- The Bluetooth settings so that you can enable or disable the Bluetooth without going to your phone's Settings each time. Bluetooth is used to pair the application with the device.
- The internet to send and receive data from the internet. For example, you need the internet to download new versions of the app.
- Network connections to check the connectivity state of the phone (Wi-Fi, 4G, GPRS).
- Existing accounts on the phone to handle push notifications.
- Wi-Fi connections to display them when installing a Withings device.
- Vibration control (not used).
- Flashlight control (not used).
- Running apps (not used).
It also needs to be able:
- To know when the phone has finished starting up so that it can start in the background and connect to your Withings devices.
- To prevent your phone from sleeping so that you can receive push notifications.
- To test the access to protected storage and modify or delete the contents of the USB storage. This allows the Thermo app to keep images in the cache.