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For the past few days, I've been dealing with what appears to be a disproportionately huge group of Evo owners (relative to other Android phones) who've been having crashes with an app I wrote that appear to be caused by the unavailability of network-based location services. I did some research, and it looks like a LOT of Evo owners have been doing things that (temporarily?) disable network-based location services in an attempt to keep the battery from dying too quickly.
Are Evo users who do this literally going into Settings and disabling network-based location services outright, or are there one or more apps/hacks that supposedly disable it only when "it's not being used"? If there are, what does an app that depends on network-based location services have to do to make sure that whatever is supposedly enabling network-based location services "when necessary" realizes that it is, in fact, necessary... and do it in a way that won't cause the lookup request to prematurely or needlessly fail?
Like I've said, I've had a few users with other phones have problems due to the app's current absolute dependency on the availability of network-based location services... but with Evo owners, it's more like a nonstop hailstorm of complaints. Rewriting the way the app handles location to eliminate that absolute dependency is my next major project, but it's going to take me at least a week or two to finish, and in the meantime I'd love to be able to find a temporary solution that I can patch and release tonight that will solve the worst of the problem for the majority of Evo users in the meantime.
Speak up brother. What is the App (so people who don't have the slightest clue as to how to relate your user name with the buggy app you have)?
I'm not sure why anyone would do this, aside from "privacy" concerns... It will not help with battery life on it's own. If your GPS is turned off, your device gets it's relative location via the cell phone tower's coordinates. This information gets transmitted to your phone regardless if you have it disabled to accept it.
They are probably thinking that if they disable it, other services won't try to update information based on your location. Instead they should just adjust any services that are auto-updating.
I can go >24hours before I need to charge my phone with moderate usage throughout the day (without using 4G). I can post SystemPanel screenshots if anyone is interested.
mattrb said:
Speak up brother. What is the App (so people who don't have the slightest clue as to how to relate your user name with the buggy app you have)?
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OK, if it makes you happy, I didn't personally write it that way. It's a legacy app I'm helping to fix. In the meantime, I'm trying to put out as many fires as quickly as I can. That said, I'm not going to condemn the original author. All things considered, it was a perfectly reasonable decision for him to make. It was his first major Android programming project, and his immediate runtime environment was a Droid on Verizon. 99% of his Android-owning friends were Sprint or Verizon. For the most part, on Sprint & Verizon, network-based location services work really well. The app's dependency on them didn't really bubble to the surface as anything more than likely user error until lots of non-Americans started showing up with phones that couldn't be automatically assumed to have inseparably-bundled mandatory data service.
Truth be told, America is a lot like Japan -- cellular networks that are almost proprietary to the national market and work in ways that aren't necessarily consistent with the way things work elsewhere in the world, but utterly ubiquitous and totally dominant within it. I'm sure that right now, plenty of Japanese developers are writing Android apps that assume every phone supports network-level low-latency "Push to Talk" capabilities (IDEN's "killer app"), or some other feature that's ubiquitous in Japan and (almost) unheard of elsewhere. Six months from now, they're going to be scratching their heads wondering why it crashes on every phone in Europe and most phones in America (Sprint, and I think Verizon, try to emulate IDEN's PTT on CDMA by buffering the audio stream on a server, then sending a SMS to the recipient's phone that triggers its download and streaming a couple of seconds later).
Anyway, I digress. Getting back to the original question, are Evo owners who disable network location doing it manually, or are they doing it in a way that can be worked with cooperatively by apps in order to get it to automatically turn it back on when needed?
Actually, I have theory #2 about why Evo owners might be having problems, but it's pure speculation at this point. I'm wondering whether there might be Evo owners who've explicitly disabled EV-DO and 1xRTT to try and force the phone to use WiMax in areas where it might otherwise try to fall back to the older modes, and the possibility that even NON-network location service DEPENDS on EV-DO/1xRTT for aGPS data transmission of the raw telemetry data. In a way, it makes sense... the WiMax network is totally parallel to the CDMA2000 network, and it's not inconceivable that there might BE no data route between the Sprint WiMax network and the servers that handle aGPS queries. Especially if there aren't any real-world locations where Sprint WiMax is available, but CDMA2000 data is not.
If you go into the settings you can disable the network location, but there are ways for an app to ask if the user wants to turn the setting back on.
Evo owners can't disable 1xRTT otherwise standard calls and text messages won't work anymore. They can change settings if they have their MSL code such that EVDO isn't ever used however.
Well, maybe "disable" is a strong term. I know that on a Hero, there's a network setting somewhere that allows you to tell the phone, "Use EV-DO, or don't do data at all". It doesn't affect the operation of voice or sms -- only the phone's willingness to fall back to 1xRTT for internet access if EV-DO isn't available. I'm assuming the Evo has a similar setting that goes a step further and lets you dictate "WiMax or Nothing".
Here's how it could theoretically affect location services: obviously Sprint does aGPS. By law, it HAS to do it for e911 purposes. HOWEVER, I think that non-e911 aGPS lookups on Android phones get diverted through Google (or at least an aGPS service hosted by Google) unless you pay Sprint extra for navigation service. Under those conditions, if you told the phone to use ONLY WiMax for internet access, and you were in an area where only EV-DO and/or 1xRTT data were available, you could have a situation where the phone can do e911 location, but wouldn't necessarily have that info available for use by other applications (vis-a-vis most of HTC's WinMo 6 phones). If the phone couldn't use WiMax, and the user dictated "WiMax or Nothing", the phone couldn't reach Google. Without Google, there'd be no free aGPS for Android apps to consume.
The above is pure speculation, of course. As a practical matter, Sprint itself can't/won't give a coherent explanation of where the line gets drawn between Sprint and Google for (a)GPS service, which makes troubleshooting location-related problems that much more fun. Personally, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if late-model HTC phones DO have 100% of the hardware onboard to turn satellite telemetry into latitude/longitude/altitude coordinates, but the underlying software fails without realtime network connectivity anyway because it still tries to involve a server somewhere for some reason.
Look, this is what happens to me and I think it's a bug.
When I turn off GPS for a while, like for 12 hours, and then I turn it on, I still see the "Location" icon crossed out. At first I didn't know what was going on. I thought it was the GPS icon, but it wasn't, it was the location services being turned off.
So I reproduced it several times and this is what happens. When you turn off GPS for a while, the location setting will be turned off also, and it will remain off even after you turn on the GPS again. Which IS A BUG. That's not an expected behavior. So you may be right.
baiatul said:
Look, this is what happens to me and I think it's a bug.
When I turn off GPS for a while, like for 12 hours, and then I turn it on, I still see the "Location" icon crossed out. At first I didn't know what was going on. I thought it was the GPS icon, but it wasn't, it was the location services being turned off.
So I reproduced it several times and this is what happens. When you turn off GPS for a while, the location setting will be turned off also, and it will remain off even after you turn on the GPS again. Which IS A BUG. That's not an expected behavior. So you may be right.
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My experience doesn't mirror that at all. When I turn GPS on (which I am impressed to say has it finding satellites many times faster than my old HTC Fuze) the location disabled icon changes almost immediately. I saw this a lot over last weekend when I was doing a lot of phone based navigation.
Yes, I forgot, I'm in NY, and in Manhattan very strange things happen when you go in and out the subway with signal and no signal several times a day for periods of time from minutes to an hour.
Many programs that are expected to work crash when there is no signal. Or when you run applications in the subway with no signal, the gadget freezes sometimes. Maybe this GPS thing is also one of those glitches. Maybe it's a combination of turning on or off the GPS, and then the loss of signal for a while. It still happens to me, but I got used: every time I turn back on the GPS after being disabled for MANY HOURS (12? 24?), I have to turn back on the Location setting.
merak69 said:
I'm not sure why anyone would do this, aside from "privacy" concerns...
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I turned off network location services for one simple reason....using it caused my location to off by at least 1/2 mile. So it seemed pretty useless to me.
pixelpop said:
I turned off network location services for one simple reason....using it caused my location to off by at least 1/2 mile. So it seemed pretty useless to me.
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It's basing your location on the information from the cell phone tower. It isn't meant to give you a precise location like GPS can (this is why its called aGPS). The point is to give a general location so that apps that need to know what city you are in (weather apps for example) can figure it out to show you information for where you currently are.
If you want precise information, turn on full GPS and you are good to go.
My point was disabling location services entirely will not save you any more battery life vs leaving network location on (excluding full GPS obviously). What will save you battery is turning off your other services (Facebook, Twitter, News, etc) to only update when you manually say so or setting their update schedules to much longer frequencies.
Here's how it could theoretically affect location services: obviously Sprint does aGPS. By law, it HAS to do it for e911 purposes. HOWEVER, I think that non-e911 aGPS lookups on Android phones get diverted through Google (or at least an aGPS service hosted by Google) unless you pay Sprint extra for navigation service. Under those conditions, if you told the phone to use ONLY WiMax for internet access, and you were in an area where only EV-DO and/or 1xRTT data were available, you could have a situation where the phone can do e911 location, but wouldn't necessarily have that info available for use by other applications (vis-a-vis most of HTC's WinMo 6 phones). If the phone couldn't use WiMax, and the user dictated "WiMax or Nothing", the phone couldn't reach Google. Without Google, there'd be no free aGPS for Android apps to consume.
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Your phone doesn't communicate with Google. Sprint has their own aGPS servers but I think you might misunderstand what their purpose is. The "a" part of aGPS means Assisted, but only assisted in the fact of giving the chip the information it needs to lock on to the true GPS signals faster based on your current location.
For example: If you used a GPS device that wasn't assisted and its known internal satellite database was out of date, it'd have to search for awhile to location any/all satellites in the sky. On the flip side, an assisted chip can use the network server to download satellite info (ids, frequencies, etc) to show which satellites are visible for your given rough location. This enables hardware lock to happen faster.
However those aGPS servers are optional since the chip has a hybrid mode of operation:
a) If you have true GPS on, obviously it uses GPS to determine your location, down to potentially 3-4 meters.
b) If the chip can't get a satellite lock or you have true GPS turned off, the chip uses multiple known tower locations in combination to triangulate your location (based on signal strength to known towers). The fewer the towers it has access to, the less and less accurate your known location becomes. This works even with 3G and 4G disabled because it transmits the data over 1xRTT (you can easily test this in Google Maps).
In the second situation (b), I've seen where tower triangulation has narrowed my location down to 100 meters. I've also seen where it can't get a lock on multiple towers reliably such that the chip puts my "center" location as the actual location of the tower with an accuracy rating of 2000 meters. This is what Pixelpop is mentioning above about accuracy.
merak69 said:
Your phone doesn't communicate with Google. Sprint has their own aGPS servers but I think you might misunderstand what their purpose is. The "a" part of aGPS means Assisted, but only assisted in the fact of giving the chip the information it needs to lock on to the true GPS signals faster based on your current location.
For example: If you used a GPS device that wasn't assisted and its known internal satellite database was out of date, it'd have to search for awhile to location any/all satellites in the sky. On the flip side, an assisted chip can use the network server to download satellite info (ids, frequencies, etc) to show which satellites are visible for your given rough location. This enables hardware lock to happen faster.
However those aGPS servers are optional since the chip has a hybrid mode of operation:
a) If you have true GPS on, obviously it uses GPS to determine your location, down to potentially 3-4 meters.
b) If the chip can't get a satellite lock or you have true GPS turned off, the chip uses multiple known tower locations in combination to triangulate your location (based on signal strength to known towers). The fewer the towers it has access to, the less and less accurate your known location becomes. This works even with 3G and 4G disabled because it transmits the data over 1xRTT (you can easily test this in Google Maps).
In the second situation (b), I've seen where tower triangulation has narrowed my location down to 100 meters. I've also seen where it can't get a lock on multiple towers reliably such that the chip puts my "center" location as the actual location of the tower with an accuracy rating of 2000 meters. This is what Pixelpop is mentioning above about accuracy.
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You're correct that aGPS doesn't go through Google. It's presumably handled by the radio and Android is never aware of it at all.
Cell tower location/triangulation is different however. The OP is correct that it does go through Google, as the US CDMA carriers are totally unwilling to allow outside access to this information like GSM carriers do. Google built and maintains their own database of tower info, and that is what populates your rough location in Android. It is not aGPS data from Sprint's servers that is allowing that.
You want a hack? Well use the last known position, if it's historical then post a message "wtf turn on location services, if you want picture phone to work".
The app may not work but it won't crash as it has a location. More so it blames the user. lol
Post a little line to the location service enable semaphore, "who turned off the lights?"
You can get location assisted position from Wi-Max just like you can get it off Wi-Fi. As far as I know there is no app to disable Mobile Network Location on demand. If your having issues with it than users are going in and disabling it by hand through the settings. The problem probably is that 90% of the know it all bloggers advise to disable network position because they think it does something for battery life.
I'm also willing to bet good money that Google is handling the network location. Why else would they have a location server(supl.google.com). Only to let Nokia users use it?
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I've noticed that there are areas where the GPS doesn't work, even outside with no sky obstacles. One of them is on 113 st. between Broadway and Amsterdam avenue (NYC), right next to a building tagged "Cell Motion Laboratories." I've been there twice since I have EVO and the GPS is off like 10 buildings when I'm in the building next door. From outside, it just looks like any other Columbia University residence.
(Yes, my location settings were enabled and GPS was on).
ZIP 10027.
I just searched that lab, and it has nothing to do with cellphones, but with real cells (biological lab for kids, I think).
bedoig said:
You're correct that aGPS doesn't go through Google. It's presumably handled by the radio and Android is never aware of it at all.
Cell tower location/triangulation is different however. The OP is correct that it does go through Google, as the US CDMA carriers are totally unwilling to allow outside access to this information like GSM carriers do. Google built and maintains their own database of tower info, and that is what populates your rough location in Android. It is not aGPS data from Sprint's servers that is allowing that.
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What you are talking about for triangulation is software level functionality part of Google Maps and Google Maps only and yes it contacts their servers to try and guess where you are. Google does build out their own "database of tower info" just like they collect all sorts of other statistical information (you agree to this when you turn on location services), but part of the aGPS standard is that every cell phone tower, GSM or CDMA, transmits its coordinates to your handset.
What I'm talking about is all strictly in the hardware, but perhaps the word "triangulation" was the incorrect choice of word when talking about aGPS, however it is similar... The aGPS functionality in our phones is tightly integrated into the radio chip (Qualcomm RTR6500 CDMA2000) and this chip does not need to contact Google or Sprint to determine your rough location from a tower (turn off all internet access and you'll see what I mean). It can contact Sprints servers through the network (when it is able) to further plot your location based on the data transmitted to/from the aGPS server.
When you first use the EVO, there is a screen that asks if you want to share anonymous location data. That setting is also tied to network-based location services. That is, if you disable anonymous location sharing, it also disables NBLS entirely. You can thank either Google or HTC (not sure which) for their greed on that one.
I just checked and mine was set to off. not sure what sets it to that as I never touch that setting.
Just adding my 2 cents.
Greetings fellow developers and/or Android enthusiasts,
I wanted to take a moment to start a thread on for the Android application (2.2+) Backitude: Configurable Background Location Tracking. I would like a place to discuss the app publicly, discuss troubleshooting solutions, bugs, or motivate ideas and improvements.
Check out the Full version, ad-free available for free in the Android Market/Google Play store:
Download here: Backitude: Configurable Background Location Tracking
EDIT: Google Latitude shutdown their API on Aug 9, 2013 which completely changes the makeup of the application. Its sole purpose was to send locations to Google in order to maintain an accurate and timely history with Latitude. Now, it will be more geared towards keeping its own history and integrating with a number of systems or personal custom servers.
Backitude provides a bundle of extended features and functionality for updating Google Latitude locations from your Android device. If you are a Google Latitude user or once had interest in the concept of Google Latitude, then Backitude is an essential addon. Background gps location updating at your own specified time interval is now within your realm. Backitude expands your updating options, accuracy, and even allows you and your friends to force updates on eachother when needed, all seamlessly behind the scenes.
I created this app about a couple years ago to address two issues: I wanted to fix the short-comings of Google Latitude and make it a plausible application for users to enjoy and utilize effectively and efficiently. Also, I wanted to provide Google Play Store with such functionality free of charge. At the time, no such free application existed.
Google Latitude is somewhat inadequate on its own, but this is of no fault of the Google developers. They designed the application with battery efficiency as a number 1 priority. The conserve battery, Latitude on its own does not update locations in the background using GPS for accurate reporting. Instead it relies on Wi-Fi and cell tower triangulation to determine your location. Since many users refrain from enabling Wi-Fi when not stationary in their own network, or since Wi-Fi cannot be obtained while travelling, the resulting location updates are large, inaccurate "blue circles" on the map. Cycling through your Latitude friends, I mostly would see large, city-wide, inaccurate location readings- like I said, therefore truly defeating the purpose of Latitude. Latitude also fails to give the user any configurable options to location reporting. What good is a location history if majority of the values are city level and inaccurate? Backitude, to the rescue.
Backitude was designed to address all of this and put the power back into the hands of the user. You have complete control what, when, and how to update. Power can be a dangerous thing however. Google chose not to give the user a chance to configure their settings and risk draining batteries and having Android or Google products labelled as "battery drainers." Backitude is for the intelligent user, to know how to manage their battery, know their priorities, and know the effect of such functions. GPS polling is a very battery-intensive maneuver!
The final issue and gap Backitude inspired to bridge is updating a friend's location. It is great to have control over your location updates and allowing your friends to see exactly where you are, but what if they haven't updated recently or exactly when you needed to know their location? Backitude has an answer for that. "Fire an Update on a Friend" is the newest feature which utilizes SMS messaging to receive requests from other Backitude users. If your friend is also using Backitude and has this option enabled, you can send a request to their device which will in turn trigger an update at that very moment.
Additionally, there are many, many more features that all serve to give the user complete control of Latitude updates and battery consumption (in the context of Latitude updating). Thank you for checking it out, and I look forward to supplying any troubleshooting information right here for all to find, and hear ideas and feedback from those other enthusiasts out there.
Troubleshooting Topics
Location Updating using Backitude: the application utilizes oAuth2 authentication which is very easy and very convenient for the user. The user is able to grant permission for Backitude to integrate with their Google Latitude account at a click of a button without even having to enter their credentials.
The issue is, some users on some devices have experienced trouble obtaining this permission. It is important that users do one of the following before using Backitude, however, for some users it is required that they do both:
1) Use the Maps application to "activate Latitude for this device" by signing into Latitude. (Additionally, it is suggested that the user change their Latitude location reporting to "set your location". By manually updating your location and selecting an arbitrary position, you will prevent Latitude from wasting unnecessary battery life on updating your location, but still allow your friends to see your location. Backitude can do all your updates for you instead.)
2) From a PC or computer, visit Google Latitude and sign in from your browser. (And not from a tablet or smartphone browser) I do not know why this is required, but for some, to fully opt into the Google Latitude agreement and conditions, this is required.
After doing so, 99% of users are able to update using Backitude. An extreme minority, still have to perform some additional steps. This would include resetting your Google 3rd party authorizing sites, by revoking access from all, and then trying the process over from start. Signing into Maps. Activating Latitude. Installing Backitude..etc Any issues, I am always available via forum or email. Thanks!!
I just started using this app a few days ago after realizing how often Google Maps is polling for location information just to update latitude... Hundreds of times a day, even when I'm not moving!
So far, I'm liking what this app has to offer
Troubleshooting Topics: Location Updating using Backitude
If all else fails to get you updating, the following detailed description may help get you going as a last resort. Again, I'm not sure why oAuth2 can be so difficult for a small handful, and so convenient for so many others.
Start fresh by trying the following steps to reset your Google Latitude permissions
* From your android device, launch the Maps > Latitude application and Sign out. On the latest version, this is accomplished by going to Latitude > Menu > Location settings > Location reporting > Latitude location sharing > Sign out of Latitude
* Next, go into Android > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Maps and click the "Clear data" button.
* Similarly, uninstall the Backitude application by completing the following: Android > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Backitude and click the "Uninstall" button.
Now, follow these steps from a PC browser to remove access (so that we can then add them back)
* Visit google.com
* Sign into Google using the account you are trying to configure for Backitude
* Go to Google Account settings, or click "Account". (I will post a link directly there when I have the ability too)
* Scrolling down, you see the option to "Visit the previous version of the Account settings screen" which takes you to My Account.
* Under Security, select the link for "Authorizing applications & sites" (accounts.google.com/b/0/IssuedAuthSubTokens)
* Revoke access to any applicable "Android Login Service" entry including those such as "Full Account Access" and "Google Latitude"
Everything is now successfully reset, so perform the following steps in order.
* Sign into Latitude from a PC browser. (It is very important to sign in from a PC browser and not your android device at first). This is required by some devices for authentication purposes, to "opt" your Google account user into Latitude.
* Enable Google Latitude on your device using the Latitude app. If multiple accounts exist on your device, you may have to select the appropriate account by going to Maps > Menu > Settings > Switch Account. Then, or otherwise, sign-in to Latitude from your android device.
* Finally, you can try to re-install Backitude and successfully update your location to Google Latitude.
And that always seems to get the last 0.01% of users updating successfully who couldn't before. Annoying, yes!
Other similar 3rd party Latitude apps appear to be using a variant of oAuth1 authentication, which requires entering your password. I have contemplated implementing the same, to avoid this issue but perhaps future versions of Maps and Android will better activate permissions on those devices.
Backitude: My settings
How do I configure Backitude to run? Personally, with battery efficiency in mind while leaving the highest priority features enabled.
Enable Service: on (this is essentially the on/off switch)
Advanced Settings
Set Priority: Wi-Fi, with GPS/Tower Triangulation backup (One of the most overlooked but favorite options. This setting will abort GPS polling if a Wi-Fi network is present and the Wi-Fi location is accurate. So, in a real-life situation, my phone is indoors at work or at home with Wi-Fi enabled. GPS is enabled but not going to be able to get a fix indoors. Instead of polling for the entire extent of the Polling Timeout, Backitude will abort polling, and update using the Wi-Fi location value, which is all it ever would've gotten anyways. Beyond that, if I am outdoors and away from a Wi-Fi network with the same setup, the GPS will still poll and run its course as normal.)
Settings
Time Interval Option: 30 minutes (if my friends need a more recent update, they can ping me and have backitude fire off an automatic update seamlessly in the background)
Location Polling Timeout: 15 seconds (The longer GPS is allowed to run, the more potential battery gets burned if you can't acquire an easy fix)
Latitude Re-Sync Rate: off (this feature is only needed to prevent Latitude from overwriting your Backitude location update. However, I put my Latitude location reporting to manual so Latitude is no longer detecting my location. Battery saver too!)
Min. Change in Distance: off (I'm not a Location History keeper, so eliminating repeat updates is not a concern for me)
Location Steals: On (This is one of my favorite features. If you're using an app such as Maps, Navigator, or even the Internet, which polls your GPS, Backitude will steal this location and use it to update your location. The battery-intense function is already on-going thru another app, you might as well steal the location value and update your Latitude at very little expense.)
Accurate Update Only: On (You have to think about location "circles" for this option. Circles coming from inaccurate location readings. If your previous location value was more accurate then the current location reading, and the previous location is within the location perimeter of the newest location, it will repeat the more accurate location.
Real-time Enabled: Off (This is for individuals wanting to update at a faster rate when charging their device or docked. Personally, I just change my update interval when I want to update faster)
Real-time Interval: n/a (Users tend to want to poll location and update at a faster rate when their device is docked and battery is no longer a concern)
Real-time Timeout: n/a (When real-time updating, there is a separate timeout value for GPS polling versus the normal timeout. Users may have a different preference if their device is docked so there is a separation configuration for that)
Push Enabled: On (Allow friends to force an update to Latitude on my device by simply texting "Force Backitude update". I can get away polling at a slower rate and save battery because all my friends and fellow Backitude users know they can force an update on me when needed)
Display Message: off
Display Push Notif: off
Status Bar Icon: never
Display Update Message: off
Display Update Failed Notification: off
EP2008 said:
I just started using this app a few days ago after realizing how often Google Maps is polling for location information just to update latitude... Hundreds of times a day, even when I'm not moving!
So far, I'm liking what this app has to offer
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Thanks. I'm currently working on fixing a couple known issues, and hoping to get a new release out this week. Nothing earth shattering though. I noticed you were running ICS... have you noticed any issues? I have not tested ICS compatibility yet, so I was always curious. Using a Bionic myself, I'm still hoping to get an update later this year and try it out myself. Thanks!
backitude said:
Thanks. I'm currently working on fixing a couple known issues, and hoping to get a new release out this week. Nothing earth shattering though. I noticed you were running ICS... have you noticed any issues? I have not tested ICS compatibility yet, so I was always curious. Using a Bionic myself, I'm still hoping to get an update later this year and try it out myself. Thanks!
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No issues that I've seen.
I did have a bit of frustration when testing it as I had it set not to update unless my location changed more than 100m, so when I fired a manual update, I assumed that would force an update regardless of the location setting. It wasn't until after I turned that setting off did the manual update refresh with a new location timestamp.
Not a huge issue, but for some time I didn't think that the app was working because the timestamp on the history log never changed after manual updates.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
EP2008 said:
I assumed that would force an update regardless of the location setting.
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I never thought of that. That is probably a fair assumption. I may have to consider re-working that logic, so that like you said- if "Fire Update" is launched, you do not consider skipping the update because of minimum distance rules. Thanks!
backitude said:
I never thought of that. That is probably a fair assumption. I may have to consider re-working that logic, so that like you said- if "Fire Update" is launched, you do not consider skipping the update because of minimum distance rules. Thanks!
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The reason I made the assumption was because I use an app called FolderSync, which helps manage cloud file storage services. With it, you can setup rules to sync your files, like what time a backup should be made, if you are plugged into a charger and if you are on wifi, etc. The app has an option for the user to initiate a manual sync, which basically ignores all scheduling rules over the users desire to sync right now. That's why I thought it might be the same for Backitude.
EP2008 said:
...The app has an option for the user to initiate a manual sync, which basically ignores all scheduling rules over the users desire to sync right now. That's why I thought it might be the same for Backitude.
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I like the idea. I am going to change that for the next release. The settings for Backitude are pretty intimidating, even for novice Latitude users. I want to make it as user-friendly and straight forward as possible. Thanks for the help!
Still no way to see other people on Latitude? I'm sure it must be an API you don't have access to or something of that nature, but I still don't get the point of this app if it's "write-only". You can't see anyone, only they can see you.
You're correct in that the API is very limited. It only allows you access to your own location and location history, so there is no way to retreive your friends' locations, or even your list of friends. The purpose of Backitude is not to replace Google Latitude, but simply help correct its short-comings. Using backitude, and having your friends use backitude, ensures accurate locations, battery efficiency, and a means to update your friends' locations when you need their location. Once configured, Backitude runs in the background and can remain fairly transparent to your day to day Latitude use.
I'm using your app too in ICS 4.0.4 if you need some feedback. It's working quite well, even better than the other one! Keep the good work.
(Currently testing 2.7) Here is the change log, let me know if there's any more bugs I need to iron out last minute. Thanks!
Backitude: Update release 2.7 Changelog
1. Reported Issue: Backitude just stops running after a couple hours of use. (Unconfirmed but occasionally reported bug) I haven't been able to duplicate, however this could be the result of Android's memory management as an operating system, or the result of a Task Manager, task killer type of process. Users who experience such an issue should add Backitude to the ignore list on their task managers. However, I have made some changes in the code that may help.
2. Enhancement: For IOException, SocketTimeoutException, Read timed out, Unresolved host name. Backitude now has a re-attempt feature that will retry update after 60 seconds from a failed update due to these network congestion exceptions. (As directed to do by Google)
3. Enhancement: Implemented notification for users who cannot update due to permissions problem. (403/503 exception) Instructing user to first login to Google Latitude from a PC browser to "opt user into Google Latitude" and/or reset their Latitude location manually again. Google sometimes implements new terms and conditions and it may be required to re-opt into their agreement.
4. Enhancement: Updated Java Client libraries and Google Latitude libraries. I am hoping this shows improvements with efficiency, speed, memory, and issues.
5. Issue: (GUI) Steals option is not disabling if the Time Interval is under 5minutes. Likewise, it should then enable if the Time Interval is switch to greater than 1minute, similar to the behavior of the Re-Sync Rate option.
6. Reported Issue:*Wifi turns off after an update when Wifi Wake lock is enabled. Backitude now checks to see if Wi-Fi is connected (and therefore not sleeping) before acquiring a Wi-Fi wake lock.
7.* Change: "Fire Update" does not update location if minimum required distance is configured and new location is not outside of the bounds of previous location. Fire Update, since it is a manual update, has been changed to not consider the minimum distance configuration and bypass this validation.
8. Issue: Steals and manual updates (Fire Update) are not resetting the Time Interval clock after a successful update. This issue has been resolved.
9. Issue: Minimum distance calculation not taking into consideration changes in accuracy. If accuracy changes greatly from one location poll to the next, the location centers could be drastically far apart although the device has not moved. Offsetting the accuracy changes will result in better results for calculating change in distance.
10. Change: Push Update notification labels have been updated.
Well thats a nice application. Just starting to use it.
I have a suggestion. As my phone goes at night in a kind of sleeping mode - Wifi off, 3G off, Wifi Off, etc. - i would like to have a function to disable Backitude for certain hours or much better a Tasker Plugin.
What do you think ?
Thomas_BA said:
Well thats a nice application. Just starting to use it.
I have a suggestion. As my phone goes at night in a kind of sleeping mode - Wifi off, 3G off, Wifi Off, etc. - i would like to have a function to disable Backitude for certain hours or much better a Tasker Plugin.
What do you think ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, glad you like it so far!!! It's funny you mention that because I have two main goals for the summer. Tasker integration and off-line storage/sync. I looked into Tasker once before over the winter and it turned out to be a lot more work then expected so I put it off, as this is just sort of a hobby in my free time. But with baseball season upon us, I do a lot of coding with the games on. Go Sox!
In the mean time, there is a setting for wake locks in Advanced Settings for Backitude. You can turn disable the wake locks and Backitude will not run once your phone goes into sleep mode. This means that the gps will not run while sleeping..etc Hope this helps
Nice to read hat you planning a Tasker integration/plug-in.
Yes for the time being i have disabled both wake locks. Disadvantage is that my phone sleeps a lot . I have my display timeout set to 1 minute, so sometimes my phone is sleeping for an hour while walking around in Buenos Aires or Argentina. Anyway for now this is the only solution. Looking forward to your next developments.
Thanks.
Thomas_BA said:
Yes for the time being i have disabled both wake locks. Disadvantage is that my phone sleeps a lot . I have my display timeout set to 1 minute, so sometimes my phone is sleeping for an hour while walking around in Buenos Aires or Argentina.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, it shouldn't be that bad. Backitude will only cease functioning without wake locks once the device goes into a "deep sleep mode." I am not sure about the specifics of when this occurs, but it's separate then just display timeout. Can even take up to an hour or more from what I read, so as long as you're using it every hour or so, it should continue functioning. Please post your findings though, I am intrigued now.
I will observe the pushing frequency to Latitude and keep you informed.
I've been using Backitude for a few months now.
However, even with WiFi Wake Lock enabled, it seems the accuracy of my updates does not improve. However, when I open google maps with WiFi already on, the accuracy is few meters (I work and live in a dense WiFi area).
Do you think that Backitude for some reason is not turning on the WiFi, or is WiFi based localisation not being picked up by latitude?
Thanks for a great app!
So if you are walking around in public with wifi enabled - you are allowing stores to collect data such as how often and how long you are in their stores.
SOURCE
Wow that's kinda scary. Nice find, thank you.
Why is the right door always locked?
I don't find this nearly as unnerving as the NSA tracking me; if I don't like it, I can take my money elsewhere. We can't "opt out" from government tracking us. Retailers analyzing this data makes them more efficient; has the potential for reducing their advertising and marketing budgets, lowering their costs in one area, helps them lower prices in the long run.
erikoink said:
Retailers analyzing this data makes them more efficient; has the potential for reducing their advertising and marketing budgets, lowering their costs in one area, helps them lower prices in the long run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that to an extent this isn't really a big deal; so Dillards knows that you spend more time shopping for men's clothing than women's shoes.. Who cares right? Problem is, will they stop there? No, they wont. We don't know what information could be (easily) collected (and sold) in the future, that is the problem. Today its "customer 74593654 spent and hour in the store total, 20 minutes in refrigerated goods, 10 minutes in the deli, and 30 minutes in canned foods". But tomorrow, it could be "John Doe who visited our store for an hour today, mostly connects to these two wifi points; they must be his home and work locations. We sell his information to our partners in those areas."
I don't really think that they're tracking (or able to track) that type of information. They're just taking advantage of the way the 802.11 discovery process works.
When a WiFi device is on and not associated with an Access Point (AP), it announces it's presence and attempts to discover a nearby AP. APs respond to these queries with their BSSID and SSID which then gets listed in your device's list of connection options. If it's a "hidden" AP, it will only respond if the discovery query includes a specific SSID. Instead of responding, all it does is log the querying devices MAC Address and timestamps it. Other APs can compare the Rx signal strength and approximate the location of the device.
As far as I know, unless and until your device actually associates with (connects to) the AP, no other communication occurs. If there are any WiFI engineers in here that know of a way to force a device to associate to an AP remotely and request it send data that it isn't configured to send, I'm willing to be corrected.
WiredPirate said:
So if you are walking around in public with wifi enabled - you are allowing stores to collect data such as how often and how long you are in their stores.
SOURCE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to bump because im honestly curious if anyone knows what kind of info they could pull from our phones through this.
erikoink said:
I don't really think that they're tracking (or able to track) that type of information. They're just taking advantage of the way the 802.11 discovery process works.
When a WiFi device is on and not associated with an Access Point (AP), it announces it's presence and attempts to discover a nearby AP. APs respond to these queries with their BSSID and SSID which then gets listed in your device's list of connection options. If it's a "hidden" AP, it will only respond if the discovery query includes a specific SSID. Instead of responding, all it does is log the querying devices MAC Address and timestamps it. Other APs can compare the Rx signal strength and approximate the location of the device.
As far as I know, unless and until your device actually associates with (connects to) the AP, no other communication occurs. If there are any WiFI engineers in here that know of a way to force a device to associate to an AP remotely and request it send data that it isn't configured to send, I'm willing to be corrected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for explaining that better.
Perhaps you connect to their free wifi, it's tempting if you want to save data or maybe you are in an area with bad reception.. Couldn't they then gather more personal information?
WiredPirate said:
Perhaps you connect to their free wifi, it's tempting if you want to save data or maybe you are in an area with bad reception.. Couldn't they then gather more personal information?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See, now if you associate with (connect to) their network, that changes things. But let's explore that hypothetical:
Have you ever heard of a "captive portal"? You see them in airports, hotels, anywhere with a so-called "guest wifi network", whereupon if you connect to their network and try to go to a website, it first redirects you to a page. And this page requires you to enter a password, or answer a survey, or agree to their terms and conditions. I'm sure we've all seen these.
Let's say that part of their terms are you must download their smart phone apps as a condition of connecting to their network and allowing you to be routed onto the global internet. Lets also say that in order to install the app, you have to grant the app certain permissions. Among these reading from areas of your phone, you might not want people reading from. As you suggested in a previous post, your list of saved WiFi networks, etc. Then yes, they could start gathering additional data. In this case, it's still your choice to use their resources, you still have the choice not to. Their network, their rules.
I will say this though.. be careful of how your device is configured. I think the setting is available that tells your device to connect to any available open (unsecured) WiFi network. I would advise anyone to disable this. Once your device connects to any network, and you an IP address on said network, then something could make a connection attempt to a vulnerable/compromised device (whether that be the network owner, or another compromised or rogue device) running some kind of Trojan service that responds to certain requests without you knowing. This of course, would be illegal and if they got caught doing this then they would face a huge backlash from their customers. I doubt they'd attempt something like this.
Mac address is worse enough.
Today's data is aggregated, ALWAYS.
You can buy it you can sell it... There isn't just one source.
Cameras in the shops running track analysis and soon facial recognition, mimics and so on.
Your mac address? Your router knows it.. And so your provider has access to it. He also has your ip.
Your ip? Most websites you visit and some more tracking / advertising sites.
So, as your mac is known, data sold, we assume your owned devices are well known.
Now we don't need anything else than a WLAN to track your GPS like location.. Beside.. This is how android WLAN location service works. Did I say android? Sorry, it is an exclusive google service.
You can:
Adapt your behavior .
Use tor or i2p.
Host your own services.
Encrypt everything.
And again, adapt your behavior... Elseway no onion routing brings any advantage.
So, if you are willing to go the painful road, opt out of most things.. You can't opt out of your phone providers data collection, if you still want a mobile phone.
But still... ANY data reduction is the right way.
The data is and will be more and more widely used, aggregated and abused.
It is time to realize that there won't be any freedom in the modern world - this IS the new world order.
Forgot one freedom: you are free to be a consumer and a product.
And for people arguing with laws... Laws can and will be changed... In the name of safety.
Sent from mobile.
[APPLICATION UPDATED 2/25/21 Version:2.02]
Hello XDA!
If you are interested in a simple and straight forward WIFI application that allows you to easily roam, scan the area, and see your current status. This is the app for you.
I have spend 6 months writing and testing my application with select beta testers. Enjoy!
SDK 15+
My Website for download:
https://ruckman.net/wifibadger.html
Github for Source Code:
https://github.com/williamruckman/WIFIBadger
Why I don't put apps on Google Play:
https://ruckman.net/whynotgoogle.html
Description:
Get the strongest and best performing WIFI access point automatically based on your selected roaming profile.
Works great on most mobile or on the move devices:
- Phones
- Tablets
Available roaming profiles:
- Same SSID (Roam across access points that have the same name)
- Any Saved SSID (Roam across any saved access point regardless of name)
- Any SSID and Open (Roam across any saved and open access points) *VPN Suggested
- Off (Turns off roaming. Only use as a WIFI scanner)
Great for businesses, homes, or any large building with multiple access points.
All timers are customizable. Choose how often you want your device to check for better access points.
View your connections current status and the available access points in your area.
Get the best from your WIFI!
AREA TAB:
- Green = Connected AP
- Yellow = Candidate AP
- Blue = Encrypted AP
- Red = Open AP
LANGUAGES:
- English
- Portuguese (Brazil) - Thanks to Jijo Smidi
@RuckmanXDA
first off all thanks for that nice and usefull app
Is it necessary that the symbol stays active in status bar ?
And how is battery consumption with this app ?
Battery consumption is good with the default settings. If you increase the timers you will scan more and use more battery.
The icon is necessary in later versions of Android as they prefer that persistent services show their presence. No way around it unfortunately. Not without root.
RuckmanXDA said:
Battery consumption is good with the default settings. If you increase the timers you will scan more and use more battery.
The icon is necessary in later versions of Android as they prefer that persistent services show their presence. No way around it unfortunately. Not without root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and whats the solution with root ? can you explain that ?
or maybe the icon can be changed ? i my case the icon is to big and unproportional. maybe thats because i changed the default DPI
-Update-
maybe you can implement the notification in a different way ?
Other apps like LightFlow or Avast AntiVirus doenst show a persistent icon but have a persistent notification in notification bar.
der_Kief said:
and whats the solution with root ? can you explain that ?
or maybe the icon can be changed ? i my case the icon is to big and unproportional. maybe thats because i changed the default DPI
-Update-
maybe you can implement the notification in a different way ?
Other apps like LightFlow or Avast AntiVirus doenst show a persistent icon but have a persistent notification in notification bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a good suggestion! I'll see if I can figure that out. Thanks!
2-23-17: I have changed the software so that after version 1.7 is released that the persistent notification will no longer show in your tray but only shows in the notification tray.
This is only available to API 16+, anyone on API 15 will still see it.
With this simple code addition for anyone else who needs it:
Code:
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN) {
notification.priority = Notification.PRIORITY_MIN;
}
I currently don't plan to implement any root options as I want to stick to the API as closely as possible to minimize compatibility headaches.
Thanks!
@RuckmanXDA
Hello RuckmanXDA,
Thank you for your app. It addresses an important problem with Android network usability: selection of the desired WiFi network. Others developers have tried to address the issue in different ways, but the implementations have been severely lacking.
In the interest of improving the app development, I have made some notes from a user's perceptive about desirable network selection and am sharing them with you.
A user often has various criteria to decide upon which is or are the desirable access point(s). The following are considered:
Not all access points have the same features, security, or offer the same level of access. This is true regardless of SSID-name sameness or signal strength. For example, access points of a given SSID name may offer Internet access at different levels of service (or none at all) or impose different network management criteria; it may therefore be preferable to connect to an access point with lower signal power that offers superior features than one with same SSID name and higher signal strength, but that does not offer the better access or features.
There are some access points that are defective, rogue, or otherwise undesirable. Connecting to such access points is problematic, and thus it is important to be able to prevent automatic roaming to such access points.
At times it is desirable to manually select a specific access point to use or test.
It is sometimes, oftentimes, or always important to know which specific network or access point one is connected to. This is especially true with network roaming, where the network or access point one was connected to may no longer be the current network or access point.
There may be more than one option with regards to network interfaces (single or multiple of WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, cellular, etc.) and such options should be manageable to be usable how the user wants. Currently, this is handled very poorly on Android; the interface types are prioritized and network connection is often exclusive. For example, if there are network resources on Ethernet (which seems to be given low interface priority), they often cannot be used without disabling other interfaces (such as WiFi or Cellular data) first if they are enabled. Ideally, the different interfaces and links should be used, prioritized, or balanced in the manner a user wants.
It is also worth noting the following common use scenarios:
Same SSID naming and feature access points are used for a single network.
Different SSID and feature access points are used for a single network.
Same SSIDs used for multiple and separate networks.
Subscription services over public access points. (such as subscription WiFi Internet service). These are sometimes troublesome to roam when they have captive portals. These may use the same or different SSIDs.
For the moment, I request three features:
Ability to manually select an Access Point to connect to.
Ability to create and use custom (SSID, MAC address, etc.) roaming rules and profiles.
Ability to blacklist access points given criteria (SSID, MAC address, etc.).
Hey @RuckmanXDA are u alive? Badger is missing at Google Play Stole and even your webpage is not functional. Wifi Badger was excelent app but now it can not be installed anymore
frogale said:
Hey @RuckmanXDA are u alive? Badger is missing at Google Play Stole and even your webpage is not functional. Wifi Badger was excellent app but now it can not be installed anymore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am still alive, I have updated the app information. The final version, updated links, and github page are now listed. Thanks for the bump, I forgot to update the info here.
This would be a big leap in privacy if we can pull it off together.
Do you know if there is a way to permanently disable precise location & Wi-Fi scanning switches from turning on?
Google Location Accuracy = assisted_gps_enabled
How can we turn this (permanently OFF!)
Wi-Fi scanning = wifi_scan_always_enabled
How can we turn this (permanently OFF!)
Bluetooth scanning = ble_scan_always_enabled
How can we turn this (permanently OFF!)
Keeping in mind these basic inviolate privacy rules... everything below that question above is merely a detail as to WHY I want to permanently turn these three switches off.
Never do I need or want to use anything but the GPS radio for location accuracy.
And never do I wish to upload my location to Google.
And never do I wish to upload anyone's Wi-Fi AP BSSID to Google
And never will I create ANY account on my phone (especially a Google Account!).
The pernicious problem described below did NOT use to be the case.
android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION
Luckily, this stays off usually, after I turn it off
android.permission.ACCESS_COURSE_LOCATION
Practically, this is required for GPS, so it must be turned on
android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION
I NEVER want this on but this keeps turning back on
It seems now, that every "map related" app that links in the GSF spyware, forces upon us wholly unnecessary de facto Google spying by needlessly requiring the app to turn on two pernicious Google spyware settings, even if you constantly turn those to settings off!
Google Location Accuracy = off
Wi-Fi scanning = off
It used to be that apps which needed your location would politely "ask" but you could turn on the GPS radio manually, and the map-routing apps would all accept that they had sufficient GPS-only information without resorting to uploading your location needlessly to Google servers.
Recently I tested the following parked-car finder apps, all of which perniciously turned on these completely unnecessary Google GSF spyware uploads to the Google servers!
Parked Car by Myroslav Kolodii
Free, ad free, requires GSF, 4.4star, 179 reviews, 10K+Downloads
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.unagit.parkedcar>
Car Location by DigitalBox Studios
Free, ad free, requires GSF, not rated, not reviewed, 500+Downloads
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.carparking.location>
Find my parked car by Aurum App
Free, has ads, requires GSF, 4.6 star, 32.7K reviews, 1M+ Downloads
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.carfind>
The technical part of this privacy problem is no matter how many times I turn precise location off, either globally or per app, many (if not almost all) location-aware apps (with GSF spyware linked in) turn it back on.
I don't ever want any app to ever be able to turn precise location on.
I have zero desire to use Wi-Fi access points and Bluetooth beacons to determine my precise location, particularly since I often spoof GPS. (I'm guessing the bluetooth spyware switch uses beacons, but I don't know that for a fact.)
Unfortunately for me, almost every app which asks for location nowadays (which uses the GSF spyware), automatically turns on both "Use precise location" & "Wi-Fi Scanning" no matter whether you've already turned precise location access off for that specific app a billion times already.
To be clear, this location tracking spyware situation doesn't matter if you don't even have a Google Account on the phone (which I don't have) because that's not the location tracking that I'm talking about here.
Android 12 Settings > Privacy > Google location history > empty
{I'm not talking about this location tracking as I have no Google Account
It doesn't even matter if you've globally turned the switches off in the Android 12 settings!
Android12 Settings > Location > Location Services >
Google Location Accuracy = off
Wi-Fi scanning = off
Bluetooth scanning = off
Even if you have every app that needs GPS set to "Allow only while using the app", many of those apps will ask EVERY TIME for "precise location".
Android12 Settings > Apps > Permission manager > Location > {app} >
Use precise location = off
The reason is most gps-enabled apps keep turning these precise location switches back on!
Even if you have your Wi-Fi radio & Bluetooth radio turned off, many of those apps still ask EVERY TIME for "precise location" - and worse - the apps won't run until you say yes to the request for location, and then saying yes will automatically turn on precise location every time.
Worse than all that, even if you already turned on the GPS and you already turned off precise location for all your apps and you already set every app to only use the location when the app is running, still most apps will ask for precise location (and then you can manually turn it off yet again).
I turned off all the system apps location permission that I could in
Android12 Settings > Location > App permissions >
Show system > Allowed all the time >
But some of them are grayed out and therefore can't be turned off.
Fused Location = Allow all the time (grayed out)
Fused Location = Use precise location (grayed out)
Samsung Location SDK = Allow all the time (grayed out)
Samsung Location SDK = Use precise location (grayed out)
The fact remains that, since I care about my privacy, I do NOT wish to upload my location to Google servers. Nor do I wish to upload all the BSSIDs around me to Google. And I also don't want any app using them for location. Ever!
I will never want precise location to be turned on, mainly because it gives away my true location (in terms of other people's Wi-Fi access points) and more importantly because I never will need location accuracy better than GPS which is just fine for what I want and for what I need.
In summary...
Do you know if there is a way to permanently disable precise location & Wi-Fi scanning?
NOTE: I'm not rooted (the Galaxy A32-5G SM-A326U apparently can't be rooted) & I therefore don't have Tasker nor, for privacy reasons do I have IFTTT (if this, then that requires a mothership account) but just in case automation forms the basis of a workaround, today I installed both MacroDroid & Automate which are better behaved than IFTTT is on privacy (but I don't yet know if they can do the job of turning off the GSF "assisted_gps_enabled" & inherently malevolent spyware permissions).
Also I have adb working well from Windows over Wi-Fi (for scrcpy/sndcpy & vysor), so maybe I can permanently revoke the permissions using that?
---
REFERENCES
<https://developer.android.com/training/location/permissions>
<https://developer.android.com/training/location/permissions#upgrade-to-precise>
<https://www.androidpolice.com/how-to-disable-google-location-tracking/>
<https://www.reviewgeek.com/127460/how-to-disable-precise-location-tracking-on-iphone-or-android/>
<https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-get-google-to-quit-tracking-you>
<https://hothardware.com/news/stop-apps-knowingprecise-location-and-why>
<https://androidforums.com/threads/how-to-disable-high-accuracy-location-service-permanently.1267243/>
Using ADB you at any time can grant / revoke permissionsA one-liner that helps granting or revoking vulnerable permissions.
granting
Code:
adb shell pm grant <sample.package.id> android.permission.<PERMISSION_NAME>
revoking
Code:
adb shell pm revoke <sample.package.id> android.permission.<PERMISSION_NAME>
Did you manage to achieve your goal? Using App Ops is really showing how often google checks your location...
Is the adb idea working?
Yeah, that stuff is all pernicious.
I run an external GPS through UDP and mock location daemon.
I don't want Google to ever listen for WiFi or BT.
It's pesky, every time I start Maps it's always asking me if I want to turn their stuff on.
Bad news.
Apparently Google has recently changed the
Android Google Maps app such that it no longer routes using only GPS.
I tested it without a Google account, and with the following turned off in the Android 12 Settings.
Settings > Location > Location services >
Google Location Accuracy > Improve Location Accuracy = off
Settings > Location > Location services > Improve Accuracy
Wi-Fi scanning = off
Bluetooth scanning = off
Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation [April 4, 2023]
<https://www.deceptive.design/articles/google-maps-now-requires-wifi-scanning-to-use-navigation>
<
https://www.reddit.com/r/hackernews/comments/si6wx2
>
<
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1488641697227624448>
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30167865 >
<https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20220204-google-map-wi-fi-gps/>
"Now, enter a new update. I can no longer navigate with Google Maps, unless
full location tracking is on. Comments in Play Store indicate others hit
the same wall."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and
"a further update to Google Maps will prevent navigation on Google Maps
without fully allowing location tracking."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even the official Google Play Store Google Maps app description says it can't use only GPS anymore also.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.maps
There are only two choices now, none of them are GPS only anymore.
Location Permission
"precise location (GPS and network-based)"
"approximate location (network-based)."
There no longer seems to be an option in Google Maps for GPS only location. Am I right or wrong?
GalaxyA325G said:
Bad news.
Apparently Google has recently changed the
Android Google Maps app such that it no longer routes using only GPS.
I tested it without a Google account, and with the following turned off in the Android 12 Settings.
Settings > Location > Location services >
Google Location Accuracy > Improve Location Accuracy = off
Settings > Location > Location services > Improve Accuracy
Wi-Fi scanning = off
Bluetooth scanning = off
Google Maps now requires WiFi scanning to use navigation [April 4, 2023]
<https://www.deceptive.design/articles/google-maps-now-requires-wifi-scanning-to-use-navigation>
<
https://www.reddit.com/r/hackernews/comments/si6wx2
>
<
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1488641697227624448>
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30167865 >
<https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20220204-google-map-wi-fi-gps/>
and
Even the official Google Play Store Google Maps app description says it can't use only GPS anymore also.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.maps
There are only two choices now, none of them are GPS only anymore.
Location Permission
"precise location (GPS and network-based)"
"approximate location (network-based)."
There no longer seems to be an option in Google Maps for GPS only location. Am I right or wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me Wifi-Scanning is off and Maps works fine. Not sure though, if Maps is maybe somehow still using it or whatever google/maps able to do.
Iam on Android 13 though (and custom Rom + rooted, not sure how much this plays a role)