App Permissions

What each permission supports, what stops working without it and how to grant what was denied before.

The App Permissions screen, in the side menu, lists everything the app can ask for and the current state of each item. It is the place to grant in one go what was skipped during setup.

The screen is worth knowing, because most reports that the app stopped recording on its own end here. Each permission is used only by the feature that depends on it, and the app works without several of them, with fewer features.

  1. Start with location

    Location and Use precise location are the two most important permissions, and they follow an order: the foreground one has to exist before the system accepts the background request.

    The background permission is what supports recording continuing with the screen off, saving the parking spot after you have already left the car and, on Android 14 and later, the very start of the service that keeps the recording alive.

    Choose the option that grants access all the time, not the one for use only with the app open. When the app is not in use, no location is collected.

  2. Turn precise location on

    Use precise location is a separate switch. Denying only that leaves the app with an approximate position, accurate to within hundreds of meters.

    The consequences go beyond precision: the route comes out distorted, the distance covered is wrong and the parking spot points at the next block.

  3. Allow Bluetooth

    Nearby devices is the permission that makes it possible to scan for and connect the adapter. Without it, the scan on the Connection screen returns no results.

    On Android 11 and earlier, the Bluetooth scan also requires the location permission, by decision of the operating system itself.

  4. Turn notifications on

    Notifications deliver reminders, maintenance warnings, vehicle fault alerts and the parking alarm.

    On Android it is also a prerequisite of the foreground service: the persistent notification is what keeps the service alive while a trip is being recorded. Denying the permission leads the system to end the service, and the recording stops with it.

  5. Grant motion access

    The motion and physical activity permission lets the app tell driving apart from walking or riding public transport.

    With it, the app wakes up and reconnects to the adapter only when you are in the car, rather than at every movement. That saves battery and avoids questions about trips where you are a passenger.

    It also works as an alternative for anyone without the car stereo paired: the system tells the app when it works out that a vehicle has started moving, so the trip is not lost when the adapter is slow to answer.

  6. Turn battery optimization off

    The Battery optimization option, on Android, keeps the system from limiting background work.

    It is the most common cause of trips cut in half on phones from certain manufacturers, and the effect is not limited to the trip: with the app restricted, sensor collection, route recording and the driving score all lose precision.

    If you use battery saver mode, add the app to the exceptions list.

  7. Grant the rest as you need them

    Camera serves the dashcam and the photo of the parking spot. Microphone serves only to record audio with the dashcam; without it, the video has no sound. USB adapter serves the wired adapter on Android, and the system asks for the authorization once per adapter, with the use-by-default option making it permanent.

    None of the three is needed for the app to work.

If something goes wrong

After two denials the system stops asking, and no app can reopen the dialog. From then on, granting it happens only through the phone settings.

Use this screen to get straight to the setting, or open the phone settings, Car 2 Home permissions, and grant it there.

Check three things, in this order:

  1. Whether the option granted is the all the time one, and not the one for use only with the app open. On Android 11 and later, the background permission is a second screen, which is often left incomplete.
  2. Whether Use precise location is on.
  3. Whether battery optimization has been turned off. Several manufacturers end background work even with location in order.

The most frequent cause is battery optimization. Without the exception, the system suspends the app and the connection drops with it.

The motion and physical activity permission works the other way round: with it, the app works out that you are driving again and reconnects, without depending on you opening it by hand.

No. Camera, microphone and USB only matter to anyone using the dashcam, dashcam audio or a wired adapter.

The ones that really change how the app behaves are location, notifications and, on Android, battery optimization. Without those three, the app stops working on its own and comes to depend on you opening it for every trip.

This happens when the system revokes permissions from unused apps, standard Android behavior. Open the phone settings, Car 2 Home permissions, find the option that removes permissions from unused apps and turn it off.

Yes. Fill-ups, expenses, income, services, maintenance, reminders and the whole diagnostics side work with no location permission at all.

What stops working is whatever depends on position: the trip route, distance measured by GPS, saving the parking spot and filling the address in automatically.

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