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Comment by zmzrr | Hacker News Reader

I was automatically redirected to the version in Spanish[] that says that location access is optional. But if I go to the English version[], it says it is mandatory. I wonder if 1) the Spanish version of the documentation is not up to date or 2) they don't do this in the European market.

[] https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3092?language=es

[] https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3092?language=en

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Seems that, while it may be optional (e.g. for Android devices), you simply will not be able to set up your speakers if you disable it:

"This allows Sonos to detect your nearby speakers during the Setup process. If you leave this disabled, you will not be able to setup your speakers."

The iOS explanation that it's only used to auto-fill a zipcode is insane and presumably inaccurate, given the Android permission's description.

IOS apps are not allowed to require location access, they must perform some kind of function if they do not have it. Enforcement is pretty random of course, either they were hit or they purposely avoided breaking the rules.

It seems like the rules aren’t so strict when it’s regarding Wi-Fi/Bluetooth device discovery, since you definitely could derive a location from nearby Wi-Fi access points and Bluetooth devices (that’s why this permission behavior changed in iOS 13/Android 10), but the alternative to device discovery is… for a lot of devices, probably nothing.

Putting the blame for this on Apple/Google doesn’t excuse Sonos’s sleazy data collection here, of course.

In the German version it explicitely stats that I can manually fill in the fields if I do not give permission. Additionally I do not find the mandatory on the English version of the page, only "requires" - can't this mean that Sonos requires this permission to fill in some data fields, but well, if you do not give permission then the data is left unfilled? Seems badly worded - can anyone check this?

I think it's a slip on the Spanish version, the Italian one[] states that without access to your GPS position it's not possible to configure the speakers. Plus, I was forced to use it a couple of months ago in Europe and I remember I had to allow location access to continue.

[] https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3092?language=it

French version states you can disable location access and enter your postal code manually to list local radio broadcasts in a section, and that you can’t proceed with installation on Android it you don’t allow it as it won’t find nearby devices. Huh?

Looks like a case of coarse grained access rights required to enable very specific, time bound setup features, but then again that’s what the underlying platforms ask for/provide (like, 5min BLE beacon requires location access, which also grants GPS)

Not being able to complete setup without it though is not OK.

maybe GDPR?

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