Why do I need to turn on location services to pair with a Bluetooth device?

Whenever I try to connect my Samsung Galaxy S6 with Android 6.0.1 to a Bluetooth enabled device, it tells me to enable "location services". When I complained about this, the software vendor replied: "Recent updates to the Google Android API affecting Bluetooth LE technology requires location permissions to be granted in order to use the app." I fail to see the need for this. This discussion talks about this. The technical reference says the apps need to have certain *permissions*, not that location services be active. > To access the hardware identifiers of nearby external devices via > Bluetooth and Wi-Fi scans, your app must now have the > ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION or ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION permissions **Question**: Does this mean the software vendor's statement is incorrect?