Hundreds of millions of people live with diabetes or other chronic conditions that require continuous monitoring. Fortunately, modern medical devices make it significantly easier for people to track their glucose levels, blood pressure, and other key vitals. Some even connect directly with smartphones, sending crucial data and alerts via Bluetooth to the mobile devices we carry every day.
Despite the importance of these medical devices in many people’s lives, Android doesn’t treat them any differently than other Bluetooth peripherals. The operating system is designed to maximize privacy and battery life, which forces medical device makers to jump through hoops to ensure their apps operate reliably. These apps must request a host of permissions during setup and then hope the OS doesn’t terminate their background processes — a dangerous possibility, since any lapse in reporting can become a life-or-death situation for users.