Short answer: no, tracking doesn't depend on Bluetooth — but you'll want it switched on, because it gives you a better experience when your pet is nearby. Here's the split.
Tracking works without Bluetooth
The tracker has its own GPS and 4G mobile connection. It sends its location and health data over that connection, which is why you can see your pet on the map when they're nowhere near you — "GPS + 4G, so it works far from home too."
Your phone doesn't have to be anywhere near the collar for that to work. Everything the tracker reports over the mobile network — the map, location history, alerts and settings — works whether or not your phone has a Bluetooth link.
[CONFIRM: whether the tracker needs a separate SIM or data plan, and which countries and networks are covered, including travel abroad.]
What Bluetooth is used for
When your pet is nearby, the app can connect straight to the collar over Bluetooth. As the app puts it: "Your phone talks to the tracker over Bluetooth whenever it's nearby — it keeps the connection fast and saves battery."
That direct link is used for:
- Pairing a tracker in the first place
- Faster, more battery-friendly updates when you're together
- On-the-spot controls such as the tracker light
- Radar — the close-range finder that walks you the last few metres to your pet
- The firmware update for the tracker's Bluetooth chip, which your phone streams over that link, so the tracker has to be nearby with the app open (the tracker's main firmware downloads itself over its own mobile connection instead)
Keeping location updating where there's no mobile coverage
If the tracker can't reach the mobile network, a phone within Bluetooth range takes over so location keeps updating:
{Pet}'s tracker is within Bluetooth range of your phone, so location keeps updating even without mobile network.
Permissions you'll be asked for
| Phone | Permissions |
|---|---|
| Android 12 and newer | Bluetooth scan, Bluetooth connect and precise location |
| Android 11 and older | Precise location |
| iPhone | iOS prompts for Bluetooth automatically; no location permission is needed for Bluetooth |
And Location permission?
Location is a separate thing. Ask A Vet uses your phone's own position to show you and your pet on the same map and to know when you're together. It's requested only while you're using the app.
Each phone needs its own Bluetooth permission
Bluetooth permission is asked for during pairing, so a phone that never paired a tracker — a second handset, or a family member's phone — hasn't been asked. Those phones show a Bluetooth permission needed banner on the tracker screens until it's granted. Tracking still works on them in the meantime.
Good to know
Important: Only one phone can be connected to the tracker over Bluetooth at a time. Once one phone connects, the tracker stops advertising itself.
Please note: Bluetooth work needs the app open on screen. In the background the app only handles alerts and location events.
How to tell the link is live
- The connection label reads Connected via Bluetooth in blue
- A Bluetooth pill appears at the top of the map
- In the tracker status screen, the Tracker dot in the GPS → Network → Tracker chain turns blue
The Bluetooth pill only appears when the link is genuinely current, so it never shows a stale "connected".
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