Originally Posted by
SpookDroid Depends on how the service works. If it's not a simple file transfer transaction between to paired devices (like the stock sharing menu from Android does), chances are it uses location to establish a connection and instead of looking for nearby devices with a signal or pairing ping, it does so by looking for ACTUALLY nearby devices (i.e. location).
Well, Mi Drop uses both BT and WiFi, and requires you to scan a QR code on your target device (unlike CM transfer which just searches for devices set to "receive" mode and lists them). I'd imagine it does some handshakes/pings over said BT connection. I've set my phone to use GPS only and I highly doubt I have GPS signal inside my apartment, but Mi Drop works fine and treats it like everything is normal. Should I be worried? Another weird thing is that CM Transfer didn't need location permissions back on Nougat, so not sure what Oreo did to make apps like this require location services.