Android 15 really doesn't want you to turn off Bluetooth

Any way to turn that off? Bluetooth is very insecure.

If you read the article they say there's a toggle to enable/disable auto Bluetooth on.
In what ways is having bluetooth on but not doing anything insecure?
- I mean it was not too long ago there was a bug which could lead to an unauthenticated RCE against Bluetooth on Android.
  
  https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20345
  
  So yea, reducing surface area of attack when a feature is not needed is kinda important.
- People lock their door when lock picks and axes exist. Making criminals work harder to access your belongings is pretty important in a lot of aspects.
- tracking!
- I mean, just look at what happened over in ios land. Every time there is a new security issue or denial of service attack on their bluetooth stack, apple has to scramble to fix it because bluetooth is always on in their devices. Android at least has some respite by turning off bluetooth, especially on old devices that no longer receiving security updates.
- Bluetooth has one of the largest network stacks. It's bigger than Wifi. This means some parts of the stack probably aren't tested and may have bugs or vulnerabilities. It has duplicate functionality in it. This opens up the possibility that flaws in how different parts interact could lead to vulnerabilities or exploits.
  
  A number of years ago some security researchers did an analysis of the Windows and Linux stacks. They found multiple exploitable vulnerabilities in both stacks. They called their attack blue borne, but it was really a series of attacks that could be used depending on which OS you wanted to target. Some what ironically, Linux was more vulnerable because the Linux kernel implemented more of the protocol than Windows.
- The Google Nearby feature thing (Google's coming version of Apple Air Tags) will require a constant background Bluetooth scanner to listen for the tags.
  
  My opinion: that stays off. Looking for your lost phone, luggage, or ex-wife? Im not going to help you if i dont know you. Buy a new item, take better care of it.

I'm so fucking sick of it. I just want to go back to old Android and Windows. Fuck both these bloated corps who keep inching away at shit they know goddamn well they're doing. Seriously. Leave my shit alone. Let me root it and customize and fuck it up as I please. Leave me the fuck alone. /rant

So that the phones can ping each other in order to find lost phones

That's their excuse.

Better be an opt-in feature instead of an opt-out, because I'm tired of needing to turn off new 'features' I don't need that are said to be for something that sounds kind of reasonable but ends up being because they want to track more things and have more control over you.
- Ya I don't like the idea either. But what really grinds my gears is that misleading headline that makes it sounds like they are doing it suddenly with no apparent reasons.
- If you read the article, it does have a toggle to enable or disable the feature
- Covid was an excuse to implement contact tracing and literally nobody batted an eye.
Don't complain too much about it. They can already do that part, really. I'm just happy the find my device network is finally about to go live do I can have non apple air tag like things that will actually work really well.
I shan't

Ha jokes on them I always keep it off. Wired headphones all the way baby

Doing the dishes while listening to podcasts with low battery makes me wish my wireless earphones didn't break so soon. The amount of times I took my phone out, put it on a table and walked away to tow it off the table is staggering. Or forgetting to turn down the amplifier before unplugging just to get blasted with static noise isn't something I miss.

Not having to bother with reconnecting bluetooth headphones and instead plugging in a cable is great tho, so I understand everyone who still likes their wired headphones.
nice pfp

Google is taking a page from Apple, iOS does exactly that kind of shit. It's annoying.

And probably for the same reason. Google is rolling out an update to their device tracking network and if it's anything like Apple's, it relies on as many phones as possible having blue tooth enabled.

The UI strings make it pretty clear this is an option the user can choose.

It is informative, but how often does the average person read this kind of information? Especially when they are set on doing something simple, such as turning off Bluetooth. What if you never use the settings menu, and only turn it off from the notification drawer? They never see that information. Not to mention that it’s such a small option (even though it’s a big paragraph) that they make it seem like they don’t want the user to disable it completely.

What they should do, is when the user disables Bluetooth the first time (anywhere on the phone), a pop up is at least shown to instruct the user that it is still scanning in the background. That way the user is informed. OR, hear me out, have background scanning disabled by default and prompt the user to enable it the first time they disable Bluetooth.
- Honestly this is probably for the average user... Because Google doesn't want to receive calls that XYZ (that uses Bluetooth) is broken from those that are tech illiterate in the general public and accidentally turned Bluetooth off.
  
  My grandpa as an example would also not read your pop-up.
  
  The general public is not concerned with disabling Bluetooth for more than a power saving or troubleshooting step... And even then, it's going to be an accident more than a choice for a lot of people.

My April fools prank ~~you~~ on my friends was a fake news article. It would've worked if any of them actually read past the headline.

In the same regards, it's a toggle if you want it to come back automatically. You can still turn off Bluetooth and leave it off. The feature is there so you don't turn off Bluetooth and lose your device & the only way to track it

Edit: fixed typo

Probably Google wants to create a new surveillance web using Bluetooth LTE on devices like Apple did with its AirTags

Did you even read the article? That's literally what they're planning.
- I know

It will be a really sad day when they kill Termux and Tasker. At the same time, maybe it will be the push for people smarter than me to write a proper competitive OS that we can flash.

Latest MIUI 14 (Android 13) is already doing this shit.

yeah i think this is a pretty good option since a lot of people turn off bluetooth and then wonder why their hearing devices or smart gadgets don't work. it's obviously just an option not mandatory.

Well that's another serious reason for my next phone to be a Linux one

If you read the article it says there will be a toggle to enable or disable the feature. It's part of updates to support their "find my device" network
- Sorry I'm one of the Lemmy users who sometimes don't open the links and read sources. It's really really good if the feature can be completely disabled. Though opt-it might be a little bit better
  
  EDIT: I just read the article and didn't see the info about disabling the feature. It can be my poor English knowledge though. Could you say where exactly it says about it?
GrapheneOS is definitely a great choice if this kind of stuff bothers you.
- We don't know if its devs will remove or disable all the privacy invasive features. Though idk that much about it so probably it's more serious than I think
Any good recommendations?
- Maybe someday, everytime someone says "just get a Linux phone" I look a few up and the specs are always piss poor...
  
  Better to just get a pixel and slap GrapheneOS (A privacy and security focused Android fork) on it
- Unfortunately only a few phones support Linux well and they are either really old (OnePlus 6, Samsung A5 etc) or expensive (PinePhone and FairPhone). Privacy costs a lot nowadays

Android 15 really doesn't want you to turn off Bluetooth - Android Authority