Google Maps can't keep the gps signal on, and 2 minutes after screen turns off, it tells me "gps signal lost".
The app called GPS Keeper is capable of keeping my gps active, so I don't get GPS signal lost message.
But I would rather not use a 3rd party app to fix this issue.
What does GPS Keeper do that Android Pie can't?
Why can't google maps keep the gps signal active while screen is locked, like GPS Keeper can?
I am not running in power saver mode, and google maps has background battery privileges. In the developer options standby apps list, google maps is listed as Active.
Is there a hack that can keep the gps active while using a navigation app, while the screen is turned off?
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Gingerbread doesn't allow apps to turn on/off GPS anymore (CM still does but it's missing some features for my device that I can't live without). Only system apps can do this these days.
As I use Tasker to automate a lot of stuff this quite sucks. I tried making Tasker a system app but the latest version still refuses to toggle GPS.
Thus my request: Could someone please create 2 tiny apps that just turn GPS on/off that can be moved to system and used by other apps to toggle that setting?
Why do you need to do that?
Just keep gps on, it doesn't do anything while it's not in use by some app. In particular, it doesn't contribute to battery drain while inactive.
some apps use GPS while in background, e.g. Google Maps. So having GPS enabled does drain the battery
XlAfbk said:
some apps use GPS while in background, e.g. Google Maps. So having GPS enabled does drain the battery
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Strange, I don't think I've ever seen that happen. The only time I see the GPS in use indicator on my notification bar is when an app like maps, my tracks etc is in the foreground. Just checked that as soon as I switch away from maps by hitting the home button, the GPS indicator vanishes.
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XlAfbk said:
some apps use GPS while in background, e.g. Google Maps. So having GPS enabled does drain the battery
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drbobb is right. Having GPS enabled does not mean that the actual hardware is on all the time. It merely means that android will allow apps to use it, at which point the GPS hardware will become active. So having it "ON" is just a permission thing.
If you are worried about GPS background apps (really Maps does that? I will surely test this), then I would highly recommend LBE Privacy Guard. Set the app up in such a way that Maps will need to ask you for permission to switch on GPS hardware. I tried this with the android browser because it uses GPS when you start it at google.com. Works like a charm!
well, it is as it is. this thread is not intended as a discussion thread about whether someone thinks disabling GPS is unneccessary. it's a request for an app that just turns on GPS and quits.
I would like to disable the ability to disable the GPS in the phones for use with an "invisible fence" app.
I don't care if the toggle in the notification area goes off or on, but I would like the phone to enable GPS on bootup, and just keep it on regardless.
Any ideas?
Why would you want it to stay on? It is a huge battery hog.
voldomart13 said:
Why would you want it to stay on? It is a huge battery hog.
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mrcpu said:
I would like to disable the ability to disable the GPS in the phones for use with an "invisible fence" app.
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I think I was pretty clear in the original post.
WTF is an invisible fence app??
and any app that requires GPS, will use GPS as needed. OLD Facebook app version for example, as long as it was on your screen, GPS was constantly locking. But it would kill the battery in less than 2 hours from full charge. so the facebook app changed the gps to lock once every so often, while the app is open on screen.
Other apps run a background service to access GPS at a set or random interval. Google Latitude for example. Not on screen, but will check-in or update location when-ever.
As you see the APP needs to have the set permissions, and options selected.
and in the end. your battery is dead in 2 hours with what you *think* you want
TRusselo said:
WTF is an invisible fence app??
and any app that requires GPS, will use GPS as needed. OLD Facebook app version for example, as long as it was on your screen, GPS was constantly locking. But it would kill the battery in less than 2 hours from full charge. so the facebook app changed the gps to lock once every so often, while the app is open on screen.
Other apps run a background service to access GPS at a set or random interval. Google Latitude for example. Not on screen, but will check-in or update location when-ever.
As you see the APP needs to have the set permissions, and options selected.
and in the end. your battery is dead in 2 hours with what you *think* you want
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This is not correct. (at least on the apex rom I'm running).
If you turn off the GPS in settings (not using the toggle on the notification bar), then fire up google maps, the first thing it does is tell you that not all the options for locating the user are turned on, and to go to settings and turn on GPS.
I recall reading somewhere that Google disabled the ability for apps to turn the GPS on and off. They could query it if it was enabled, but couldn't turn it on if it was off.
If the user can turn it off in settings, then that defeats the purpose. I want the GPS on all the time, regardless of settings.
I don't care about battery life, I have 4 captivates in this house, I am well aware of their capabilities and limitations. And I don't really care if you think it's a good idea or not, all I'm asking is if anybody knows of a way.
there is a difference between switching GPS "on" and having GPS activated or locking signal.
in the android settings or with any toogle app, you can turn GPS on or off.
I have it ON 24/7, I bet you do too.
you turn GPS "on", so apps CAN use/activate it if they try to.
you turn GPS "off" to prevent apps from using it, thus reducing battery drain and increasing security.
having GPS on 24/7 doesn't do crap to battery, it depends on the apps, and how they are programmed to use GPS, and if they were programmed to work like you want, they would work like I SAID.
there have been apps that used GPS like you suggested. THEY GOT FIXED. you really dont understand how fast it drains the battery.
and i dont mean to offend, but you also dont understand how the apps interact with the GPS.
Originally Posted by mrcpu
I would like to disable the ability to disable the GPS in the phones for use with an "invisible fence" app.
I think I was pretty clear in the original post.
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Click to collapse
No. You weren't, WHAT THE FRICK an invisible fence app? and how does using the LARGE font help?
house full of captivates? did your dad get a family plan?
I have been using llama (Llama on Google Play) since my early days on the OG Atrix and now on the Atrix 2. Moving to the ICS leak, I've noticed that GPS control has been disabled, and after searching I see that Google removed the ability for user programs to enable/disable the GPS.
However, the llama website says this about it:
Android fixed the hack that applications used to turn GPS on and off in Gingerbread (Android 2.3). Bear in mind that Android manages GPS power usage by itself: if no applications are using GPS, then the GPS hardware isn't turned on and using power. The tickbox in the settings is simply permission to use GPS.
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One of the few places I've found that corroborates that statement is this post from a Droid Razr forum (forgive the cross-post): Post on another forum, which eventually says
GPS is turned on by default after updating to ICS. That said, turning it off really won't save battery. It's a myth that just having GPS switched on will drain your battery. GPS will only use battery when it's active, and it's only active when the crosshairs are flashing in the notification bar. That will only happen when you have an app running that uses GPS. So, as long as you're not running something that's using GPS, leaving GPS switched on will not drain any more battery than leaving it switched off.
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Now, obviously there are many programs that might be running in the background that like to use the GPS, and it still seems like there are times I wouldn't want to let anything use the GPS which means the GPS chip should never power on.
Here's the question finally: given the plethora of advice that says to turn off the GPS when not in use, what are you doing with the GPS in ICS?
In my case, Llama can't turn off the GPS for me anymore, so unless I couple Llama with something like Smart Actions (which apparently can turn off the GPS), the GPS is staying on most of the time. I'm going to try leaving the GPS on all the time to see how much it affects my battery.
close tiantam
hi,
i had same problem that profile scheduler did not switch on/off the gps once i upgreded to ICS.
there is a work around for your apk (to turn on/off gps), pls search for "secure settings" at play store which will serve as plug-in for your apk.
unfortunately, it did not compitable with profile scheduler.
i had tried to put profile scheduler as system apk, did not work.
only motorola default profile manager will toggle the gps.
hope this helps.
I found that removing Google Maps has made battery life much much better but am sad that I don't have the app for when I actually want to use it. Is there any way to force the service to never run unless I have the app open?
The app doesn't use a noticeable amount of battery life for me.
Do you have GPS enabled in "Location" settings ? Also, go to Map app's settings and uncheck "report from this device" under it's "Location settings". See if that helps. I keep the network and wifi location reporting on, it doesn't seem to use much/any battery for me. I only turn GPS on when I am actually using it as such (like when I used the Navigation today).
Pennycake said:
The app doesn't use a noticeable amount of battery life for me.
Do you have GPS enabled in "Location" settings ? Also, go to Map app's settings and uncheck "report from this device" under it's "Location settings". See if that helps. I keep the network and wifi location reporting on, it doesn't seem to use much/any battery for me. I only turn GPS on when I am actually using it as such (like when I used the Navigation today).
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I have turned off all location settings. For some reason it still sucks a massive amount of my battery. With maps installed my battery dies in 6 hours with very little usage. The last two days without it I've managed to make it 13 hours and still be at 50% by the time I plug it in at home. It took a ton of narrowing down the problem but maps is definitely it.
I'm running AOKP on my Galaxy S3 with the latest 4.1.2 gapps installed. Not sure if the rom would have anything to do with the way maps operates though.
Edit: I also have GPS turned off at all times until the app is running (tasker turns it on when I open certain apps).
I don't want to keep my phone screen on during navigation. I just need voice navigation. So I keep my screen on while driving.
In older versions of android, there were apps that could hold the gps signal while the screen was off.
Now with Android 11, when the screen is off for 1 minute, google maps shouts "gps signal lost"
and sure enough, the gps signal was cut out until I turned on the screen again.
This aggressive battery saving is not what I want. I even selected not to optimize battery for these gps apps, and every single time it loses gps signal after 1 minute with the screen off.
I have found no app so far that can get around this issue.