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Is it possible to locate a user by his WiFi or Bluetooth connection?

  • Thread starter Thread starter localapp_developer
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localapp_developer

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Dear community,

I am currently developing a business idea. One part will be to check into locations. I am wondering whether this is possible without using the location services and without the user´s confirmation about the location by recognizing the phone from its Bluetooth or WiFi information when he is entering the location? Could a notification then be sent so that the program receiving the Bluetooth/WiFi signals from nearby phones could recognize the specific user and e.g. store that he is at the location?

Thank you in advance for your answer!
 
Are you thinking about using an app on the phone to locate it or using some sort of device/software inside a location to determine which devices are there?

In the first case, that's going to be pretty tricky without using location services. You'd have to maintain your own database of information matching WiFi networks to certain locations... and I think your app would still need location permissions granted in order to scan for nearby networks or devices.

In the second case, that also might be challenging since Android uses randomized MAC identifiers when scanning for networks (since Android 8) and even when connecting to new networks (since Android 10).
 
Yes, this is possible, but you will need to have paired the person's phone with some bluetooth device at the entrance to the location, and to have on that device an app that scrutinizes nearby bluetooth and recognizes the ones that have been paired, and then enters the bluetooth id into whatever database you would use to register that the user has entered. If you want to be sophisticated you would also be able to discover the user leaving.
 
Well to be fair you would want this to be based on an app that the user has specifically installed for the purpose of identifying when they enter the location. Then it's a matter of the app on the phone exchanging identifiable information, like these covid contract tracing apps do (and the fact that they do log phones with the same app installed that you've spent significant time in the proximity to using bluetooth shows that it's technically possible, though the failure of the UK's attempt shows that it's not necessarily trivial).

To do so without the user having explicitly signed up would be beyond creepy, and I'd feel entirely justified in hunting down anyone who tried to build such a system ;).
 
Yes, but you cannot use the library for Covid, unless you are a government -sponsored developer.
However, there are a number of libraries that allow the connection to be recognized.
Anyway, the user would have to give permission on running the app the first time, and then specifically the first time he/she/it enters a location where there is another device running the app.
 
Yeah. The UK tried to do its own version without that API and failed (though given that they gave major parts of that contract to a crony of the PM's chief advisor it's hard to say how serious they were about succeeding).

I must admit that I struggle to think of an case where I'd agree to install the app that's the topic of this thread.
 
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