In the bluetooth settings it literally states:
"To improve device experience, apps and services can still scan for nearby devices at any time, even when Bluetooth is off."
This can be completely turned off in scanning settings. The article title is kind of clickbaity.
The article says turning off Location History "cripples" certain features of Android and Google.<p>That's a stretch. I have had Location History disabled for years and have yet to notice what crippled experience I suffered from, but I did learn today that my location is not being sent to Google when Bluetooth is turned off.<p>Disabling Location History seems like it has significant upside to me.<p>Think about it this way. If Location History had defaulted to "off" instead and "on", would you have opted in? For what feature or benefit? With what risks?
Is this similar to Apple’s “off but not really off” modes for Bluetooth and WiFi where the toggle in Control Center keeps them active for certain purposes on iOS (and making it “really off” requires going to Settings)? Or is it different from that? I couldn’t really distinguish even after reading this article fully. The way to turn it off, described in the article, did seem very messy, and as with Android, the steps depend on the device and what (customized) Android it’s running.<p>I was so sick of this from iOS (because I don’t want WiFi to connect automatically in a different location or at 5 a.m.) that I have shortcuts readily accessible as widgets that turn these off, really off, when I want to.
This is the exact same behaviour iOS shows - the BT stays on to allow for fast bluetooth pairing, indoor precise location, nearby communications and a few other things.<p>Last I checked the details, the data didn't leave the device but it was awhile ago.
> A third option on Android called “Device only” location allows a user to utilize only GPS to determine location, rather than “High accuracy,” which uses GPS, wifi, Bluetooth, and cellular signals. But even when a phone is in Device-only mode, beacon information is sent to Google when Bluetooth is off (though not when scanning is also disabled). If Location is turned off entirely, and then re-enabled, the phone resets to the High accuracy mode, making the setting hard to rely on.<p>This was removed in Android P, unfortunately.
When you consider this fact together with news such as this one is when it starts getting scary:
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/13/nhs-coronavirus-app-memo-discussed-giving-ministers-power-to-de-anonymise-users" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/13/nhs-coronaviru...</a>
If you are tired of constant lies from Google Android, consider Librem 5 phone by Purism. It has hardware kill switches and is based on GNU/Linux, not Android.<p><a href="https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/" rel="nofollow">https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/</a>
To paraphrase Arthur Dent: "This must be a meaning of the word off with which I was previously unaware"<p>Both the title and <i>Google</i> are misleading: Bluetooth is not off; it is not participating in Bluetooth transactions but it is still listening.
> The Pixel 4 and 4 XL received generally positive reviews from critics [...] but were criticized for their poor battery life<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_4#Reception" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_4#Reception</a>
I really got to get around to compiling one of those Android forks with telemetry turned off. As much as people like to criticize G, at least they released the code. The world would be a much worse place if both members of the phone duopoly hid their source code.
I'm starting to think...so what? The ads I see are either comically irrelevant or easily explained by the search terms or video I selected. This targeted claim is just to dupe their customers.
It amazes me there are not more scandals yet with Google senior staff abusing the incredible data access they have. When it happens at the NSA, they can cover it up. But Google must be working very hard to keep it hush hush.
Shocked! I wouldn't really care if they were upfront about it, but when they try to hide it, it makes it adversarial and since I consider myself technical, I must do as my cat does and make it stop.
What's all this data about me worth to Google? It can't be that much. I've never bought something from an internet ad in my life. With the whole world going SaaS I'm amazed there's no "Google Private" subscription where I can pay them five dollars a month to give me what they already do without collecting data about me.<p>Frankly I think personal data is every bit as much of an addiction as heroin.
Well if this comes as a surprise to you if you're a regular here, perhaps you need to read this article in its entirety, because it's clear that a sentence like "Privacy by Google" is a valid oxymoron.<p>Luckily I have a throwaway dual SIM dumbphone to use, so I should be covered...