I keep getting the small flashing icon in the bottom right notifcation bar saying "Searching for GPS". I have turned off the GPS capabilities in settings and am still having an issue. Anyone else have this problem? Its sort of annoying when its constantly flashing and I dont want it draining battery or anything.
Lemme know!
Thanks,
Steve
same here. happened when an app need to access location.
Here too, but the GPS doesn't appear to be enabled -- the status just shows that an app wants to use GPS. If set to airplane mode or you've disabled GPS, you won't be wasting battery power.
Hmm thanks for the replys guys, the flashing icon is just annoying, thats all. I guess it doesnt seem to be effecting battery that I know of.
I wonder if theres a way to tell which app is trying to use the GPS?
Open Google Maps, then close it (go to home). It usually stop the searching of GPS sats on my phone with that method.
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?
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
I have just moved to a Note 4, with Android 4.4.4 kitkat.
I am trying to understand the relationship between "Location Services" and the use of the GPS.
The new Android 4.4.4 on the Note 4 does not have anymore the "GPS toggle" button, to turn GPS on/off.
Under "Location Services", I see that we have the "Locating Method". I have chosen it as "High Accuracy" (GPS, Wifi and mobile networks).
My main question is if the GPS is really ON all the time under "Hign Accuracy" method, draining battery, or not.
According to my observations, I have seen that when an application using GPS (like a tracking app), a location icon appears in the status bar. It seems that at that moment (when the application is "requiring" the GPS), it is being turned off. And I think that if NO "GPS application" is executing, the new Android is keeping the GPS turned off and saving battery.
If I am right, this is a huge improvement over the previous versions of Android: I can have location services allways ON, but saving battery, and the GPS will be turned on ONLY when it is really needed by a "GPS only" app.
Is this correct ?
Thank you very much.
paggps said:
I have just moved to a Note 4, with Android 4.4.4 kitkat.
I am trying to understand the relationship between "Location Services" and the use of the GPS.
The new Android 4.4.4 on the Note 4 does not have anymore the "GPS toggle" button, to turn GPS on/off.
Under "Location Services", I see that we have the "Locating Method". I have chosen it as "High Accuracy" (GPS, Wifi and mobile networks).
My main question is if the GPS is really ON all the time under "Hign Accuracy" method, draining battery, or not.
According to my observations, I have seen that when an application using GPS (like a tracking app), a location icon appears in the status bar. It seems that at that moment (when the application is "requiring" the GPS), it is being turned off. And I think that if NO "GPS application" is executing, the new Android is keeping the GPS turned off and saving battery.
If I am right, this is a huge improvement over the previous versions of Android: I can have location services allways ON, but saving battery, and the GPS will be turned on ONLY when it is really needed by a "GPS only" app.
Is this correct ?
Thank you very much.
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Click to collapse
Well, you do have the GPS toggle. Just look for it in the drawer (use 2 fingers to bring all the toggles in view). EDIT - I see what you mean now - you're right!
If GPS is on, of course it's not really functioning all the time - just when needed. You have to be careful, though, a misbehaved app could use it quite often, increasing dramatically the battery consumption.
Oh, and make sure to turn Report Location off from Google location services. It's a battery killer and you don't really needed (it's used for some - far from all - stuff in Google Now).
I don't think anything has changed. "Off" means off and all location services including GPS are disabled. "On" means whatever location method you've chosen is all on. So if it's high accuracy GPS is still primary and Wi-Fi and carrier signals supplement it. When the little icon appears in the notification bar it means GPS (the actual GPS radio) is active. There used to be some devices that didn't have GPS radios that only used Wi-Fi as a location source but they were tablets and it was a long time ago. When apps call for "location" the GPS radio is always activated, as long as location services are on.
pedmond said:
Well, you do have the GPS toggle. Just look for it in the drawer (use 2 fingers to bring all the toggles in view). EDIT - I see what you mean now - you're right!
If GPS is on, of course it's not really functioning all the time - just when needed. You have to be careful, though, a misbehaved app could use it quite often, increasing dramatically the battery consumption.
Oh, and make sure to turn Report Location off from Google location services. It's a battery killer and you don't really needed (it's used for some - far from all - stuff in Google Now).
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the answers.
I have been using my new Note 4 for a week, all the time with "Location Services" ON, and in the "High precision" mode. And I can confirm that the GPS is being turned on only when a "GPS only" application is launched. The small GPS icon on the status bar is always off. With this configuration, I am having extremely good battery performance (over a day), and the GPS is "always ready" to be activated when a "GPS only" app needs it. For me, this is the optimal configuration, and is a nice advantage over Android 4.3.
paggps said:
Thanks for the answers.
I have been using my new Note 4 for a week, all the time with "Location Services" ON, and in the "High precision" mode. And I can confirm that the GPS is being turned on only when a "GPS only" application is launched. The small GPS icon on the status bar is always off. With this configuration, I am having extremely good battery performance (over a day), and the GPS is "always ready" to be activated when a "GPS only" app needs it. For me, this is the optimal configuration, and is a nice advantage over Android 4.3.
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I sort of agree, but why take out the toggle. There will be times when you just don't want GPS to be used by a particular app, potentially a rogue one as mentioned. As far as I can see, there is no per-app setting for the location method, it's a global setting so you have to turn it off for everything, or have it on for everything, at the level you choose. There is a way to disable GPS altogether in the power saving settings somewhere (which I can't find now...) but that doesn't really help either. It would be pretty cool and totally the best implementation if you could select which app used which location methods. Pity I don't have root... I suspect XPrivacy would sort me right out...
If anyone knows a hidden shortcut to a menu where you can manually turn GPS on and off on a non-rooted phone, please let me know!
Hi,
I am sure, you guys will recall that old stock rom had an option in notification center. When you clicked on the location icon, it showed four options (for battery saving, device only etc). Something similar is there for mobile data toggle.
Now the new official update has reverted to old school toggle button. Problem is the toggle button switches between "Location Off" or "High accuracy" only. So, your options are limited to either let the Google Now drain battery updating your location every two minutes, or has no location details at all.
Previously, I was able to switch between "battery saving" and "high accuracy" option, giving me better control over my battery usage.
I was wondering if anyone can help me figure out a way to get the Location toggle to use "battery saving" option instead of "Location Off". That four option thing will work, but sadly new rom gives priority to bluetooth settings instead of location (i know, retarded, but whatever). Basically any way to do a quick toggle between "High accuracy" and "Battery saving" will do.
P.S. SuperSU still seems to fail for some reason. Any help is appreciated to get this phone rooted again.