Is Bluetooth Tracking More Than You Realize?

Weekly Wheaties #2620

May 17, 2026

In this newsletter:

📝 Post: Is Bluetooth Tracking More Than You Realize?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Google Updates and Gemini Intelligence
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Tech Headlines
😎 Pick of the Week: A Trip Back in Time
📦 Featured Product: Fitbit Air

📝 Is Bluetooth Tracking More Than You Realize?

Last week I talked about how Is GPS Tracking More Than Just Your Location? What you may not know is I intentionally left out a piece that helps with making GPS more accurate sometimes — Bluetooth. Remember, GPS data is aggregated and anonymized. Bluetooth, however, is actually doing more than GPS, and can even become much more of a privacy issue. And I’m not just trying to scare you. Hear me out…

Think about it this way. You typically only do one thing with GPS - location data. Which, yes, in and of itself can tell a much bigger picture about your personal habits and privacy. Bluetooth does way more things. For example, it’s used for: headphones, smartwatches, vehicles, tracking devices, smart home devices, remote controls, gaming accessories, and even assists with indoor positioning systems.

While there are many factors affecting both, GPS can usually pinpoint a location to within 10 feet while Bluetooth can get within 1 foot. When paired together, they both can work well in any condition or location, indoor or out. Bluetooth also helps with location data in more urban areas. However, walls and other devices (including microwaves and Wifi), can cause interference with pairing and cause random disconnects.

So how does Bluetooth help with tracking and in regards to location?

Bluetooth functions similarly to Wifi in the sense that it broadcast a signal that other devices can connect to. Rather than an SSID and a password, Bluetooth devices use unique hardware identifiers called Bluetooth Device Addresses (BD_ADDR), which function much like MAC addresses in networking.

They also usually require a pin or the other connection to ‘verify’ connectivity. The key here is this identifier is unique to each device and no other device can share the same address (usually an alphanumeric label of sorts). This is different from Wifi in that many networks can share the same Wifi name. These identifiers are so unique, they even help dictate the manufacture of the device based on the naming structure (usually the first few letters or numbers). While they are unique, some modern smartphones may randomize these identifiers.

This naming structure helps dictate what device is sending a signal or receiving a signal. For example, when looking at your Bluetooth list of devices and searching for a new device, notice other phones, tablets, or computers in the area do not show up alongside your headphones, speakers, and other devices.

Any device that has power and the Bluetooth signal is on is advertising its identifiers (including device type), availability, and proximity. What this can lead to is a much more nuanced tracking when compared to GPS. Meaning — (legal) first and third party companies that place Bluetooth beacons in public (including around traffic signals or corridors) can track much more than your current location.

As these beacons capture your unique identifier and location in multiple places, they can track a very specific device across town over days, weeks, months, or even years. This means your device’s information (not tied specifically to you) is shared. What would this look like and why does this matter?

Companies and businesses can tell (roughly) how many people are in each vehicle based on the number of phones. They may see how many Apple devices are in their building compared to Android phones. They can accurately estimate how long it takes a vehicle to get from point A to point B on a normal basis on any given day within any time frame. Or, they can see where the core of their customers are coming from to help answer the question - “Where should we open our next location?”

Every time you drive somewhere, a system can infer about where you live, where you work, your commute path, how often you visit a location, and how long you stay there. None of this necessarily means companies know exactly who you are. But modern systems are becoming much more powerful in putting puzzle pieces together to build a surprisingly accurate picture of behavior, movement, and habits.

With all of the information companies are able to gather between GPS and Bluetooth, how much of our modern convenience depends on these systems quietly learning our patterns every day?

🗞️ ICYMI: Google Updates and Gemini Intelligence

Last week, Google announced a bunch of updates to their line of software and (hardware). You can read how Android is getting a big AI overhaul in 2026, Watch The Android Show | I/O Edition 2026 on YouTube, or catch the snippets below!

Across the Android OS, there are many updated apps, new emojis, changes to the camera and camera software, and a major update to Android Auto (in tandem with updated Google Maps and live lane guidance) including specific car widgets. One of the biggest changes now allows YouTube video to play while the vehicle is in park, moving to audio only when in drive.

Many of the updates to apps and/or built-in features that may sherlock other third party apps include:

Rambler — a audio/text feature that helps organize your rambling thoughts when using voice-to-text.
Create my Widget — an app to literally create widgets! I’ll be honest, this is one of the first things I’ve seen that even has me the least bit interested in switching to Android. I have downloaded/purchased multiple apps to modify my phone’s home screen and widgets. Third party apps just don’t have the control of the system all the time.
App Automations — the “app” version of deep research and AI chatbot Agent features already available, just on mobile.
Screen reaction — works in tandem with Adobe Premiere and Instagram (both getting updates for Android, along with tablet apps) to record your body cutout from your camera over your screen.
Pause Point — a feature that helps you limit screen time by noting distracting apps.

Next, Google’s new Android-powered laptops are called Googlebooks, and they’re coming this year. This shows a shift from an Operating System to an “Intelligence System” that appears to be the best of Android mixed with Chrome OS and heavily AI focused. This is “the first laptop designed for Gemini Intelligence with personal and proactive help around every turn.” Other manufactures are helping sell this “premium hardware built with Gemini at the Core.” The mouse pointer (cursor) has been upgraded to give quick contextual suggestions from a wiggle of the mouse from any screen and within any app (image editing for example) to provide a new and innovative way to change the use of your mouse.

🗞️ ICYMI: Tech Headlines

😎 POTW: A Trip Back in Time

With technology, there’s always something new around the corner. But sometimes it’s also fun to look back and see where we’ve come from. Check out some of these trips back in time in tech and history.

📦 Featured Product

If you’ve ever heard of the Whoop, it’s essentially one of the most powerful health tracking devices on the market used by tons of professional athletes. Except it comes at a pretty steep price point of around $240 with a yearly membership fee of $200 and up. It’s very popular for not only the metrics the device offers, but the lack of a screen. Google recently released their Fitbit Air to target customers who would like to track some of their health metrics without diving too deep. It’s simple tracking of steps, workouts, heart rate, and sleep tracking is plenty for most. With a 7 day battery life, it comes in at $100 with no subscription plan required. Although for $100 a year, you can receive premium features, personalized plans, and a coach.

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