This works with Beacons and BLE (BlueTooth Low Energy), which of course requires Bluetooth to be on. Why does it also require location service to be on? Can I physically turn off location, and still push notifications just using the BLE range ?
I also want to employ Geofencing. Can I do this without writing an entire new app?
As of Android 6.0, Bluetooth LE scanning is blocked by the operating system unless Location permission has been granted by the user to an app, and location services are turned on in settings
This is a privacy policy restriction imposed by Android. As you note, there is no technical reason this restriction must exist. (Indeed, prior to Android 6, no such restriction exists.) The theory is that because Bluetooth signals may be used to infer location, location security settings should apply to Bluetooth as well.
For geofencing, there is no custom behavior you can invoke without an app, other than what other apps already installed on the phone may do.
