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Is there a way to opt-out of telemetry and respect user privacy?

9417105
over 2 years ago

Hello,

I have reached out to the privacy team about this question and have been in correspondence with them. I also want to alert users here to my concerns and perhaps a member of the technical team could also address this.

Using a VPN and tracker lists, I found the following connections originating from the Garmin Connect app on Android (GrapheneOS with Google Play Services disabled):

- Facebook Login

- Facebook Share

- Google AdMob

- Google CrashLytics*

- Google Firebase Analytics*

- Google Play Install Referrer

The Garmin privacy policy describes in the "Monitoring and Analytics" section  "examples" of the third party providers, but not all the ones I included above.

On the Garmin Privacy Policy page, it says:

"Google: Google Analytics is used to track statistics and user demographics, interests, and behavior. Find out more information about how this analytics information may be used, how to control the use of your information, and how to opt out of having your data used by Google Analytics."

Unfortunately, the procedure is not for mobile apps, but for desktop browser add-ons. This is not a solution for users of the Garmin Connect app. How does a user of the Garmin Connect app opt out of monitoring and tracking by third party services?

The privacy team explained to me on why some of these are used (and others may have been erroneously recognized based on IP traffic) but not how they can be disabled.

Does anyone have any insight to this?

Thanks,

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I have used Connect behind a firewall that blocked all its traffic, so I still could have phone notifications on the device. But if you don't need those and don't have to use Livetrack:

    Garmin Express on a Windows or Mac system does everything. And as a Linux user you can simply use USB file transfer to whatever service or private storage you want.

    The only things you may need Connect Mobile or Express for, are updates, and once, for registering your device if you want, and for updating CPE files if your device does not use EPO files (that are freely downloadable). Your device will still be fully functional even if it does not get these predicted satellite orbit information files, it just takes more time to get a GPS fix.