Why does the Tailwind app ask to track my location?

This is a hot topic for some users, so please allow me to explain why and how location is monitored. First and foremost, nothing about your location comes back to us because that's not just wrong, it's creepy. You can always turn these features off in the app. If you turn them off, there’s no need for the app to track your location. However, automating your garage door so that it simply opens when you arrive home, and closes automatically if you forget to close it when you leave are two really great features you would lose if you decide not to allow the app to track your location.

Why does Tailwind need access to my location? 

If you are using the auto-open / auto-close features of Tailwind, the app on your phone needs to know when it should send the command to open or close your door, based on your location. Your location information is not used for anything more than this. Period. That data does not leave your phone unless you submit an error report to us to help diagnose a problem with your auto-open feature, and even then, it only sends the last 24 hours of data. You must actively take steps within the app to send us this information.

Why does the app request "ALWAYS" permission for location tracking?

The app DOES NOT always track your location, but it does require that permission level because the only permission levels are as follows:

1) Never
2) While in use
3) Always

If you set the Tailwind app location permission to "never", it will never know where you are and cannot automatically open the door when you come home. This is perfectly fine as long as you don't plan on using the auto-open / auto-close features that work based on your location.

If you grant the Tailwind app "While in use" permission, it only knows where you are if you have the app open and you're actively using it - something you should NEVER be doing while driving a car!

The only option left is "Always" permission - but that absolutely DOES NOT mean the app is always tracking your location.

Here's how the Tailwind app location tracking works:

If your phone detects the Tailwind vehicle sensor nearby (or your vehicle Bluetooth connection in the case of Android), it will start location tracking so it can determine if you are approaching home (so it can open the door for you), or leaving home (so it can close the door if you forget). When you are really close to home, the location tracking becomes more frequent and more accurate so it can do its job. However, as soon as you are a bit further away from home (a few miles) the accuracy and frequency drop dramatically to save battery life on your phone. So for example, if you drove 10 miles away from home the app would know you were roughly 8 to 12 miles away from home, but it wouldn't be able to pinpoint your location very well. As soon as you move away from the vehicle sensor (or the bluetooth connection with your car drops), location tracking stops completely.

So you see, the Tailwind app is tracking your location when it needs to, and with the accuracy it requires at the time. If you're not in your car, it's not tracking. If you're far from home, the accuracy is really low (again - to save battery power on your phone). And most importantly - NONE of that location data leaves your phone without you sending it to us intentionally by using the "Send Error Report" feature in the app.