Database Users

GPS Power Usage

Ok, I think I already know the answer to this and its probably a stupid question but, just to check:
If you enable GPS as a method of getting your location in sharing, is it actually using any power when you don’t have an application accessing GPS data (i.e. no GPS icon on the notification bar).
I ask because I have just installed WaveSecure. As I understand it since Android 1.5 3rd party apps cannot enable the GPS (and I believe WaveSecure is no exception). So I want to have GPS enabled in case my phone gets stolen / lost / runs away etc. However I don’t want my battery to suffer too much because of this.
Based on the lengthy testing period of… this morning I don’t think the battery drain has increased from having GPS enabled. But anyone know definitively how this works?

As far as I am aware the gps chips usually do use power even when not actively in use. This is because a full cold start takes a long time to get a satellite fix, so the chip stays powered up (if you don't have it switched off), so that it can 'warm start' and get a fix much faster.

GlenH said:
As far as I am aware the gps chips usually do use power even when not actively in use. This is because a full cold start takes a long time to get a satellite fix, so the chip stays powered up (if you don't have it switched off), so that it can 'warm start' and get a fix much faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers, but I'm not sure that is what is happening here.
I haven't seen any increase in battery usage really. I suspect that the setting just opens the gate for applications to access the GPS. I still have to wait for it to lock if I open Maps (the icon then appears on the notification bar and flashes until it gets a lock) so I don't think the chip is any kind of standby state (not for me anyway).

Lock the screen but leave the GPS module running?

I don't know if this is really just a "screen lock with disabled bits" or if this is some full-blown idle mode, but I was wondering...
I don't have any car-accessories, but I'd still like to use TomTom. Now, TT offers some nice voice guidance, which is more than enough for just getting around (if I ever get really lost, I can pull over and pick the thing out of my pocket).
However, leaving TT running in my pocket means that the screen is on, the display changes and thus battery will be drained considerably faster than if the thing would be locked... not to mention an accidental press of a button (it's in my pocket, after all).
However, locking the phone turns the GPS off, so even if I leave TT running in the background it does me no good.
Is there anything I could try out in such a case?

So... this is impossible? :/

Nothing specially made for that has been released that I know of.
But from info I could gather around, RunGPS has the capability to be set to turn off the display leaving the GPS running.
So you could just install rungps as well, set it to turn off the display with GPS on, and at the same time also run your fav GPS app, tomtom in this case.
What should happen is that the screen will go off with the GPS still working (thanks to rungps) and tomtom will run in background being now able to access the gps device (still thanks to rungps).
Still worse for battery than having only the useful app running (as rungps will take some cpu cycles for itself and will cause more load on the device) but should still be better than leaving the display on at all times.
Let us know your results.
hey what do you know, 900th post

Hmmm... strange... Last I've noticed my GPS kept runnung while the device was locked. I used NaviComputer to track a walk I did with a friend and had my HD2 locked in my pocket most of the time.

ThoroSOE said:
Hmmm... strange... Last I've noticed my GPS kept runnung while the device was locked. I used NaviComputer to track a walk I did with a friend and had my HD2 locked in my pocket most of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
uhm, don't let that fool you.
First times I used navicomputer just for fun, I thought gps was running in background, but only later I realized that the GPS signal was restored right after turning on the display, and navicomputer was showing a straight line going from my latest positiotn before turning off the display, to the first positiotn it got after wakeup... and I'm sure of that since I double checked several times
In case you check and you DO have your GPS on at all times with device in standby using navicomputer, please let me know the list of installed programs you have (I doubt it tho)

jan-willem3 said:
Change this with your registery
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\State\Resuming]
"gps0:"=dword:00000001
"gpd0:"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\State\Unattended]
"gps0:"=dword:00000001
"gpd0:"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\State\Suspend]
"gps0:"=dword:00000001
"gpd0:"=dword:00000001
Normaly the numbers are on "4" - put this on "1" and gps should stay awake even when you put the phone in standby.
It will stay on until a program stops using the gps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bib_x said:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Power\State\Unattended]
"gps0:"=dword:00000001
This was already "0". I changed it to "1", too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this. It works on my HD2. I use Run.GPS to log my tracks while jogging or mountain biking.
Other way to keep gps-fix while screen is off - you have to do only a "screen off", not "standby". I did it with AEButtons+ (e.g. screen off on long-press green call-button) - but with this reg-changes it works better for me.
Or you can only lock your phone and let it go to standby on its own. Then gps-fix will still keep alive. GPS-fix only gets lost if you press hardware-power-button (red end call button) - and registry not changed like above.

Bib_x said:
Try this. It works on my HD2. I use Run.GPS to log my tracks while jogging or mountain biking.
Other way to keep gps-fix while screen is off - you have to do only a "screen off", not "standby". I did it with AEButtons+ (e.g. screen off on long-press green call-button) - but with this reg-changes it works better for me.
Or you can only lock your phone and let it go to standby on its own. Then gps-fix will still keep alive. GPS-fix only gets lost if you press hardware-power-button (red end call button) - and registry not changed like above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks!
I'll try it out tomorrow. A bit too late to go for a walk now.

Bib_x said:
Try this. It works on my HD2. I use Run.GPS to log my tracks while jogging or mountain biking.
Other way to keep gps-fix while screen is off - you have to do only a "screen off", not "standby". I did it with AEButtons+ (e.g. screen off on long-press green call-button) - but with this reg-changes it works better for me.
Or you can only lock your phone and let it go to standby on its own. Then gps-fix will still keep alive. GPS-fix only gets lost if you press hardware-power-button (red end call button) - and registry not changed like above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as I know rungps is able to use the gps during screenoff as a feature.
I tried locking the device without pressing endbutton, but navicomputer loses the fix no matter what.
I also noticed thos reg patchesin some other thread but I also read there that other users tried them with no avail; did you test those registry fixes with software other than rungps by any chance?

Without these reg-changes i tested RunGPS and when i press hardware-power-button - GPS-fix was getting lost.
If i only did a screen off - then GPS-fix was still there.
Now with these reg-changes i can press hardware-power-button during running RunGPS and GPS-fix is still there.
I did only test with RunGPS because that is the only GPS-app i want to use while screen is off/device in standby.
If i use a navigation software (iGo8), then i want to have screen always on- so i didn´t test this scenario.

Bib_x said:
I did only test with RunGPS because that is the only GPS-app i want to use while screen is off/device in standby.
If i use a navigation software (iGo8), then i want to have screen always on- so i didn´t test this scenario.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, thank you, let's wait for the OP to test this himself.
Since I already knew rungps has a feature to turn off screen without losing gps signal, I don't think it's the reg settings, but rather it's rungps itself that allows you to do that; since you couldn't test different apps we don't even have a verification
I may try to get at it tomorrow, no guarantee I'll have the time tho

I´ve installed sportypal, too. Maybe i can make some tests this weekend.

Bib_x said:
I´ve installed sportypal, too. Maybe i can make some tests this weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
us wants tests with navicomputer
No really, navicomputer is cool anyway, so install that too since you're at it

All right! I'm back with some results. Now, a quick note: I switched to MapaMap, a Polish map application, as it has a lot better maps for Poland.
I performed two tests: firstly, I started a route around the street and used the softftware lock to lock the screen. Result? MM application kept running and kept talking to me. Nice. However, this is still vulnerable to the physical button being pressed and locking the phone; when that happens, MM looses GPS and, in fact, I think the system somehow pauses this applicaiton altogether (more on that in the next bit).
So, since the physical button is still possibly a problem (after all, during driving the phone is in my pocket, and it's not really difficult for that button to be pressed), I tweaked the registry as Bib_x suggested. However, it seems that even IF the GPS module was still running, the MM application enters this weird suspended state, and whenever I resumed it, it would always greet me with a "searching for GPS signal" message. Granted, it would find the signal very quickly, but it still didn't work while the screen was off.
The odd thing is that mode the application went into. Normally, when it's minimised, I can pick it from the task-switcher and bingo! It's instantly back up. But when I press the hardware lock button and then unlock the phone, I get the Windows "please wait, I'm working" wheel in the centre for a while, before the app is restored.
I can check with TT again to see if the problem is restricted to only MM, but something tells me it's not an isolated case. So now I'd need to figure out a way to keep MM working when the phone is locked; kind of like the music player.
EDIT: TomTom resumes a lot faster, but it still looses GPS; right after resuming it says "no GPS device", and that's with the registry changes applied and after restarting the phone.

Shaamaan said:
EDIT: TomTom resumes a lot faster, but it still looses GPS; right after resuming it says "no GPS device", and that's with the registry changes applied and after restarting the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly my experience with any other gps software.
Didn't even try the reg tweaks as I didn't trust them that much.
Just try installing rungps as per my suggestion and using that at the same time with your fav navigation software, maybe the fact that rungps keeps the gps subsystem working while screen is off makes also the other app do its job.

After some more fooling around, I've made it, albeit I fear this method might be limited to MapaMap only.
When installing MM there are two options: either installing onto the HD2 or directly onto the MicroSD card. The former option will always install something called "wake up plugin" (might be worded differently in English) which doesn't show up in the "remove applications" menu, so it's more of an integral part of MM and probably can't be removed in this case. In the latter option, this plugin won't be installed, and in fact, is unavailable.
Initially, I've installed the app directly onto the phone, so that plugin was included automatically. My guess is that THIS was the bit responsible for putting the app into some sort of "sleep" state. However, when I installed the app onto the SD card without the plugin, I could lock the phone using the end-call button and the app wouldn't shut itself down like that; it even kept talking to me during the ride, so everything worked. Once more, I can confirm: THE SYSTEM KEPT ON WORKING DESPITE BEING LOCKED - I drove quite a distance and took some different turns, and the phone kept nicely informing me of the new distance and of upcoming turns.
This was all done using the registry settings suggested in this thread! Without them, the app will loose GPS data when the phone is locked, and if I set it to record my movements, it'll create a straight line between the start and end point, with a "no GPS signal" in the middle
EDIT: Do the registry values 1 and 4 mean "always on" and "always off"? What about values 2 and 3? I'm assuming there's no way to make the GPS module "smart", so that it's turned on only when needed? Or is it possible to add a manual switch for the GPS module to the Comm Manager?

GPS will only be on if a program sends this comand. And if you end the program, then this program sends a kill-comand to gps.

Have you tried with Pocketshield screen lock?
There is a setting at Locking > "Except when...", there you add exceptions to applications which will be allowed to continue running with the screen turned off.

The reg edits work for me with GPS Tuner and google maps, not with iGO8. I had actually tried that myself, but only the ones in "unattended" and set to 0 instead of 1 (as that's the fix that's used to keep music playing in Coreplayer and that works), but apparently it wasn't enough for the GPS. Good news

Searching for GPS wont go away

i came from 4.2.1. updated to 4.2 and now my tablet wont stop saying searching for GPS (i am indoors and no GPS lock can be found).
nothing has changed, i have the same APPs haven't removed or added anything except updating via OTA yet now after the update this searching for GPS wont go away and i have to toggle it off now.
i have always left GPS and Wifi on with 4.2.1 and didnt have this problem and its draining my battery so i disable GPS.
anyone else see this on theirs?

1) turn GPS off
2) download gps status
3) wait until you are outside and stationary
4) turn on GPS and run gps status to see if you are getting any kind of fix on satellites.

Zillow (an app in the Play Store) causes this on my device. If I force closed it, the GPS icon would go away. If you're not using Zillow, maybe another app is the cause. Try force-closing anything you think might be using GPS

while google nav is running in background (searching for gps..) Hit the home button Go to settings . Toggle gps Of then back on..
You might have to then exit google nav off then back on.. Sometimes it will take a few tired..
This randomly happens to me sometimes if i start google Nav with the gps enabled.. Was present in 4.1.2 after the latest maps update .

I had the EXACT same problem.. I had updated in my "bunker" where I work (no GPS signals get in here) and until it finally got a signal it tried for like 2 hours. Once it did it, it was happy.
I really, really wish there were some way to see GPS usage history. There has got to be a way to do that. A log of what apps used the GPS, how long, etc

Same here. I also noticed this today and the battery drained quickly. It looks like the Weather Channel app was causing it in my case. It had an unusually large share of the battery consumption (according to the Android battery monitor) and uninstalling it seems to fix the issue (will take another day to confirm). This was working fine on 4.1.2.

Mine also has gone AWOL. I tried the on-off trick, all styles, but no joy (and waiting 2 hours was not a possibility... I needed it there and then).
I'll try the apps suggested, but as Gps is a core service, and one Google relies upon, it's disappointing that this crops up after an update to 4.2.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

szeiger said:
Same here. I also noticed this today and the battery drained quickly. It looks like the Weather Channel app was causing it in my case. It had an unusually large share of the battery consumption (according to the Android battery monitor) and uninstalling it seems to fix the issue (will take another day to confirm). This was working fine on 4.1.2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for bringing this up. I was having this problem, and I have The Weather Channel too so I went to uninstall it and right when I did the GPS notification went away. It's looking like it may be a problem with the app then and not the GPS. Maybe something changed in the background and they have to make some modifications to the app to fix it.
I reinstalled TWC and when telling it to find me through GPS on the first run, it doesn't seem to want to get my location. I did it indoors before so I don't know why it wouldn't pick it up now. But at least it doesnt seem to be constantly accessing the GPS. I was going to do a factory reset to figure out if it was a problem with the system update itself but I'll just chalk it up to an app problem right now.
It's strange though, in 4.1.2 I don't remember getting any notification that the GPS was searching\locked on unless it was Navigation or Maps doing something. Either way, I dislike this new GPS notification thing overall. On the other hand, it's a good thing that we know the GPS was being used improperly. I hope they update The Weather Channel app soon. Weather Underground is slow even on the Nexus 7.

I'm having the same trouble after the update.

I left The Weather Channel uninstalled and had the GPS on again... still a lot of usage so I've just turned the GPS off until I need it. This is very unnecessary though. It has to be something in the operating system (I don't have any apps running in the background that should be using it so much when fine location isn't required).
Has anybody else tried a factory reset to see if this alleviates this problem? I really don't want to be the first and then lose important things I have saved to memory. :/

In 4.1.2 when using Navigation, GPS would be lost at times. Firing up GPS Test Plus would show no satellites, then rapidly find them, and suddenly Navigation would work again. I sometimes had to toggle GPS, sometimes didn't.
In 4.2 so far, I've had GPS vanish in Navigation, and stay vanished in GPS Test Plus. Toggling GPS doesn't seem to help. Rebooting is required to locate the satellites. Annoying.
About to delete 5gb of data to see if my 16GB model will magically speed up from the constant heavy lag.

A factory reset seems to have fixed my GPS problem.

same problem.i found a advertisement module in heywire caused it.as i force closed heywire,it is gone.before that,it continues for 7 hours.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

zhj said:
same problem.i found a advertisement module in heywire caused it.as i force closed heywire,it is gone.before that,it continues for 7 hours.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the bump but it seems even after uninstalling The Weather Channel and the factory reset I still get GPS activation for a long time from time to time. I seem to have found the process in the battery usage that's causing it. "Fused Location". Not sure what uses this or what it is, it has an android icon. I force closed it and GPS stopped searching. Probably not a permanent fix. I sent feedback from the OS on this process.

I've seen this in 4.2 on my Nexus 7 AND my Galaxy Nexus.
Not nailed it yet, one culprit was Shazam (turned off Location in the settings for that and it went away)
Checking my Battery stats again, Shazam is on 12% and I've not even run it! Gonna remove the homescreen widget, see if that helps.

jmbillings said:
I've seen this in 4.2 on my Nexus 7 AND my Galaxy Nexus.
Not nailed it yet, one culprit was Shazam (turned off Location in the settings for that and it went away)
Checking my Battery stats again, Shazam is on 12% and I've not even run it! Gonna remove the homescreen widget, see if that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i suggest you to to Settigs -> Apps -> Running (Tab)
Individuall kill/stop the application that you think might have caused the problem..
You will eventually know which Apps has caused it because the GPS icon goes away after you killed the erring application...
This worked for me. The problem App was "Perfect World Clock"

That solution is rather clunky. I have created a couple of simple Tasker profiles to get rid of this annoying notification. Works flawlessly for me. What it does is it shuts off GPS when the screen turns off, and restarts it after a short delay when the screen turns on. The delay is the real key here, as it circumvents the initial GPS search and, hence, no annoying message. Google Maps and Google Nav are not affected, as the GPS is always on when the screen is on, i.e. GPS is on whenever it is actually needed and off only if it is not needed. And, these profiles do not significantly impact battery, as they are Event triggered rather than State triggered. In fact, it probably saves battery, given that it turns GPS off when it's not needed. There are two profiles needed, which I have called "GPS Suspend" and "GPS Restart." Their associated tasks both utilize the Secure Settings plug-in which is needed to turn GPS on or off. As you will see, I have also added "If" conditions to each task's GPS command, to ensure that the command is executed if and only if the screen is in the correct (on/off) phase.
Here are the profiles and their associated tasks...
Profile: GPS Suspend
Event: Display Off
Enter: GPS Suspend
A1: Secure Settings [ Configuration:GPS Disabled Timeout (Seconds):0 ] If [ %SCREEN ~ off ]
Profile: GPS Restart
Event: Display On
Enter: GPS Resart
A1: Wait [ MS:0 Seconds:3 Minutes:0 HConfiguration:GPS:enabledours:0 Days:0 ]
A2: Secure Settings [ Timeout (Seconds):0 ] If [ %SCREEN ~ on ]
Try it and see!
modestdave

how to make GPS persistently lock on?

how to make the nexus 4 GPS persistently lock on to satellites? because on the nexus 4, GPS would lock on only if you are in a maps app, but if you exit, say if you press home or go check your music player, then it would lose the lock. it would have to re-lock when you re-enter the maps app. this is very annoying. on the iphone, once the GPS is locked on, then it's persistently locked on, regardless if you are in home screen, maps app, or whatever. it only loses lock if you turn off gps. how to fix this on the nexus 4?

You do realize this will nail a battery in 2 or 3 hours right?
Oh, you mean the app in suspended state, uhmmmm, not sure lol

jinjin12 said:
how to make the nexus 4 GPS persistently lock on to satellites? because on the nexus 4, GPS would lock on only if you are in a maps app, but if you exit, say if you press home or go check your music player, then it would lose the lock. it would have to re-lock when you re-enter the maps app. this is very annoying. on the iphone, once the GPS is locked on, then it's persistently locked on, regardless if you are in home screen, maps app, or whatever. it only loses lock if you turn off gps. how to fix this on the nexus 4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there is an Option for that. To reduce Battery usage, GPS is paused when an app is no longer actively using it.
If you were in Navigation app, then the GPS would stay on.

skezza said:
You do realize this will nail a battery in 2 or 3 hours right?
Oh, you mean the app in suspended state, uhmmmm, not sure lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i guess you only read the title and didn't even read my post. even so, if you just read the title then you misunderstood my title. i said keep gps "persistently lock on", NOT "persistently on". there's a difference. that's means when i turn on gps, i want to to keep locking on to satellites once it's gets a signal. but like i said, right now, it will only keep the lock on if you stay on a maps app, if you switch apps, like to check your music, then it loses the signal and when you switch back to the maps app, then it has to relock on. this is very annoying and often relocking to satellites take a long time. on iphones, if you turn on gps and it locks on to satellites, then the gps stays locked on until you shut if off, irregardless of whether you are in a maps app or not. this is very useful, since you don't have to re-lock everytime when switching between apps and maps apps.

If you're rooted, try the app FasterGPS which allows you to amend your NTP pool which might improve your GPS locking times.
It also had some advanced settings but I can't tell if any of those can fix your main issue of getting persistent locks.

UberSlackr said:
I don't think there is an Option for that. To reduce Battery usage, GPS is paused when an app is no longer actively using it.
If you were in Navigation app, then the GPS would stay on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see that makes no sense from a user perspective. poor implementation from google IMO. i mean if you turn on GPS, then it's already expected that you want to use it, so it should be kept locked on. sure sometimes you want to switch between apps while using a map to say change music or etc, but that should be no reason to turn of the GPS lock. i mean if you turned it on, then means you're going to use it for a while, so that's poor judgement on google. it's not like someone is going to turn on gps and forget to turn it off the whole day. also relocking is a pain, especially if it took a while for your GPS to even lock on in the first place. also wouldn't trying to relock waste alot of battery anyway, i don't see the point it...very inconvenient.

jinjin12 said:
see that makes no sense from a user perspective. poor implementation from google IMO. i mean if you turn on GPS, then it's already expected that you want to use it, so it should be kept locked on. sure sometimes you want to switch between apps while using a map to say change music or etc, but that should be no reason to turn of the GPS lock. i mean if you turned it on, then means you're going to use it for a while, so that's poor judgement on google. it's not like someone is going to turn on gps and forget to turn it off the whole day. also relocking is a pain, especially if it took a while for your GPS to even lock on in the first place. also wouldn't trying to relock waste alot of battery anyway, i don't see the point it...very inconvenient.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well from a different users perspective its makes sense. I use GPS.. via Navigation, via Google Now, and etc. But I don't want it on all the time when I don't need it, and I certainly do not want to have to Enable and Disable it every time I need it. If I need to do a quick search for a store/restaurant/etc, all I have to do is Ask it... if I had to Enable it every time I wanted to do that, it would require another step..
And from your other post, about Persistently On verses Persistent Lock, they are essential the same thing is this case. To have a Persistent GPS Lock that would require the GPS to be ON... therefore Persistently ON.
Note sure why you are having so much trouble getting a GPS Lock. The Nexus 4s GPS works pretty well in my experience (better than other phones I've had) - It even locks on to my location when I'm inside my Metal Workshop.. all other phones I had to step outside before GPS would lock on.

UberSlackr said:
Well from a different users perspective its makes sense. I use GPS.. via Navigation, via Google Now, and etc. But I don't want it on all the time when I don't need it, and I certainly do not want to have to Enable and Disable it every time I need it. If I need to do a quick search for a store/restaurant/etc, all I have to do is Ask it... if I had to Enable it every time I wanted to do that, it would require another step..
And from your other post, about Persistently On verses Persistent Lock, they are essential the same thing is this case. To have a Persistent GPS Lock that would require the GPS to be ON... therefore Persistently ON.
Note sure why you are having so much trouble getting a GPS Lock. The Nexus 4s GPS works pretty well in my experience (better than other phones I've had) - It even locks on to my location when I'm inside my Metal Workshop.. all other phones I had to step outside before GPS would lock on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
again you're misunderstanding the problem. and persistently ON is NOT the same and Persistent Lock ON . you can turn on GPS via location access and the GPS would be on but never not locked on to anything, thus nothing about the GPS would show up in the status bar, but the GPS would still be on, just at a low power state. on the other hand, the GPS can be on and actually be locked on to satellites, which happens only when you enter nagivation apps, and it would show up in the status as searching for location, this would require more power. just cause you don't see anything in the status bar about GPS does not mean it's off. if you turn on it GPS in location settings, then the device is on, only difference is if it's in lower power state or actively searching for satellites. exiting out of NAV apps put GPS in lower power state, similar to a standby mode.
i never said to keep it GPS on all the time. i only said to keep it location locked on when you turn on GPS.....huge difference. who actually leaves there GPS on all the time?
btw you said you don't want to enable/disable GPS when you need to use it but also you said you don't want it on all the time. so that's already a contradiction. because right now, in order to get GPS, you would already have to go to settings>location access then turn it on. so idk what' you talking about. and the only way to not have to enable/disable it all the time, is to leave it on all day, thus you've contradicted yourself.
and not i'm having any trouble getting a GPS lock, i never said that was the problem. i said i'm having trouble keeping it locked on when switching apps. after doing some research, it seems this is the default behavior of android, which is to remove active satellite lock when you go away from a NAgivation app.....very annoying. there are some apps in the playstore that claims to keep the lock on persistent, but they haven't worked for me

jinjin12 said:
again you're misunderstanding the problem. and persistently ON is NOT the same and Persistent Lock ON . you can turn on GPS via location access and the GPS would be on but never not locked on to anything, thus nothing about the GPS would show up in the status bar, but the GPS would still be on, just at a low power state. on the other hand, the GPS can be on and actually be locked on to satellites, which happens only when you enter nagivation apps, and it would show up in the status as searching for location, this would require more power. just cause you don't see anything in the status bar about GPS does not mean it's off. if you turn on it GPS in location settings, then the device is on, only difference is if it's in lower power state or actively searching for satellites. exiting out of NAV apps put GPS in lower power state, similar to a standby mode.
i never said to keep it GPS on all the time. i only said to keep it location locked on when you turn on GPS.....huge difference. who actually leaves there GPS on all the time?
btw you said you don't want to enable/disable GPS when you need to use it but also you said you don't want it on all the time. so that's already a contradiction. because right now, in order to get GPS, you would already have to go to settings>location access then turn it on. so idk what' you talking about. and the only way to not have to enable/disable it all the time, is to leave it on all day, thus you've contradicted yourself.
and not i'm having any trouble getting a GPS lock, i never said that was the problem. i said i'm having trouble keeping it locked on when switching apps. after doing some research, it seems this is the default behavior of android, which is to remove active satellite lock when you go away from a NAgivation app.....very annoying. there are some apps in the playstore that claims to keep the lock on persistent, but they haven't worked for me
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Well I'm not going to sit here and argue with you all day. But regardless of what you believe, if you go to settings>location and enable GPS, its not Constantly On... There is no "Power Save" mode it falls into. At times apps like Google Now will access the GPS to get a location, this is why it will tell you the time of travel from work to home... the toggle in settings>location is simply to allow or disallow apps access to the GPS. The GPS is not actually "On" unless its called via an app... GPS is only running when you see the GPS Icon in the notification bar. When I get home I'll find the page where Google explains this change since android ICS.
GPS on my phone stays enabled via settings>location all the time... But its only used when I open Maps, Facebook, Google Now, etc. Check your battery stats (press the graph) and you will see when the GPS is actually used.
So again, to have Persistant LOCK ON your WILL HAVE TO HAVE THE GPS PERSISTENTLY ON - MEANING YOU HAVE TO HAVE AN APP THAT IS GOING TO PERSISTENTLY CALL THE GPS .. YOU CAN NOT HAVE A GPS LOCK UNLESS THE _____ THING IS ON and GOOGLE APPS DO NOT DO THIS

I think he's getting confused. He's saying that the data from the GPS is stored so the lock speed is quicker, but it already is. On GB, it was retained and it is too on JB, so he's wrong.

My GPS never has to relock when I switch apps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

AS was said, GPS enabled is not the same as GPS ON. Enabled just means apps have access to the API to call GPS functions. ON means it's actively searching or locked to sats.
The implementation Google uses is the same as everyone. Your phone should pull down AGPS data via your data connection once every so often so when apps go for more detailed location they the phone will calculate the sats position and lock in 2-3 seconds. Without AGPS data the phone has to do a WARM lock (or a COLD lock which can take up to 2 minutes if your phone has been rebooted since the last lock).
So your phone is not functioning correctly if you haven't blocked AGPS data. I can switch from Maps to Facebook to GPS Test apps and they all lock instantly after the initial lock with Maps (or whatever app is first). The first lock takes only 5-10 seconds also (inside my house), outside is 2-3 seconds.

shotta35 said:
AS was said, GPS enabled is not the same as GPS ON. Enabled just means apps have access to the API to call GPS functions. ON means it's actively searching or locked to sats.
The implementation Google uses is the same as everyone. Your phone should pull down AGPS data via your data connection once every so often so when apps go for more detailed location they the phone will calculate the sats position and lock in 2-3 seconds. Without AGPS data the phone has to do a WARM lock (or a COLD lock which can take up to 2 minutes if your phone has been rebooted since the last lock).
So your phone is not functioning correctly if you haven't blocked AGPS data. I can switch from Maps to Facebook to GPS Test apps and they all lock instantly after the initial lock with Maps (or whatever app is first). The first lock takes only 5-10 seconds also (inside my house), outside is 2-3 seconds.
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you have a data plan? cause i don't so i'm relying purely on the GPS itself when i'm outside. i know using mobile data, it can lock on really fast, my sister has a data plan on the note 2 and GPS locks on fast due to that cause of a-GPS.

Maps keeping my phone awake

Hi, maps seems to be keeping my phone awake when I lock it. I've searched this forum and I've disabled almost all the settings regarding GPS, location etc, as it seems this is what people are recommending. The only ones that I have kept enabled are 'Access my location', 'GPS Satellites' and 'Wifi & mobile network location'.
Better battery starts shows that 'NetworkLocationPassiveCollector' is giving partial wakelock.
Is there any way to stop this without turning GPS off?
Thank you

Anyone help? I've completely disabled location access, gps etc for now to see if it helps.

Mine was doing this a lot recently. I force closed the app, killed cache/data, then relaunched it and went into settings and toggled all of the stupid "track my location in the background" settings (on again, then back off). Haven't had a problem with it since.
It was sneaky about it, too. I would wake up my screen and see the GPS icon in the status bar and it would disappear right away. 20 minutes later I would wake up my phone and it would do the same thing.

Happens to me a lot also. I noticed facebook app will ping my gps occasionally unless I actually close the app out. I just turn location off unless I need it.