Location Set by GPS notification

**icebike** · 11-08-2012, 03:41 PM

Both my Acer A700 and wife's Atrix show this constant reminder in the notifications that the location was set by GPS.

Why do I need to know that? Why does it need to clog up my notification area ALL the time.
Can this be suppressed?

**zorak950** · 11-08-2012, 06:07 PM

That should only show up if your GPS lock is active. If it's on all the time, you're probably running an app in the background that's always using GPS. There's no way to turn the notification off that I know of short of turning GPS off entirely, but you may want to look into what app is constantly getting a GPS lock. Besides that notification, it's probably affecting your battery life.

**icebike** · 11-08-2012, 10:37 PM

What Is this gps lock that is active of which you speak?

The notification is always there as long as gps is turned on. Why would I want that clogging up the task bar just because the gps is on? None of my other devices has this, and my gps is always on on all my devices.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

**patruns** · 11-09-2012, 12:49 PM

Read zorak's response again. There is probably an app causing this. My wife had it briefly when she downloaded a free living wallpaper. Constant GPS, ads in the notification area and once a short cut to an ad placed on her home screen. Kills the battery.

**icebike** · 11-09-2012, 01:38 PM

No app running.
On JB, it is there constantly if gps is turned on.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

**zorak950** · 11-09-2012, 02:36 PM

What ROM are you running? It could be a bug in the firmware. Since these are totally different phones, though, I suspect it's a background app/process you've installed on both. This is not a Jellybean thing. Remember, Android doesn't terminate processes just because you aren't looking at them. A place to start would be the Apps section of your phone settings. Go under the Running header and look for something suspicious, or just start Force Stopping things. See if terminating any of them turns the notification off.

**Shadowriver** · 11-09-2012, 02:50 PM

This icon appes when GPS is in use, which usally means some application or service running on background monitors the location. That icon should not apper all the time, or else you got app that constantly checking your location (like track recorder)

Considering you not running any app i mean some service is using it, Service is a part of application that runs on background because main application can't actually run on background.

You can check services running in Application settings in 3rd tab, you click application and you should see what services are on. Now you need to figure which one is using GPS, you can check it by turning them off one by one and see which one will make GPS disappear (thru i'm not sure), also try to avoid stoping services that sounds as a part of system since it might crash it, so check them as last.

**icebike** · 11-09-2012, 02:58 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions, but I'm not an android newbie.

I can shut down apps and services all day long, but as long as the middle check box in location settings is checked the notification is constantly there, saying searching, or location set by gps.

Happens on two different devices from two different manufacturers.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

**zorak950** · 11-09-2012, 03:33 PM

If you're convinced that it's nothing to do with your ROM or apps, I don't know what to tell you. I've been using Jellybean on my Nexus S for months and the only time my GPS notification is ever on is when an app or service is actively using it.

**Shadowriver** · 11-10-2012, 01:09 PM

Yeah it might be something custom UI done to your system you currently using :> or some deep process or system it self doing something with GPS

**Johnnyxp** · 01-29-2013, 01:12 AM

I had the same problem but eventually discovered that it was the mapmyrun app. It had a service that kept constantly checking the GPS. I used the app info to force a shut down of the app but it didn't clear. Only after stopping the service did it finally disappear. It's worth pointing out that the advanced task killer app wasn't able to clear it either. Find the app service lurking in the background and then you'll finally be able to get rid of that annoyance :-)

**New Daddy** · 01-29-2013, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by Johnnyxp

I had the same problem but eventually discovered that it was the mapmyrun app. It had a service that kept constantly checking the GPS. I used the app info to force a shut down of the app but it didn't clear. Only after stopping the service did it finally disappear. It's worth pointing out that the advanced task killer app wasn't able to clear it either. Find the app service lurking in the background and then you'll finally be able to get rid of that annoyance :-)

I have the exact same problem. I had to turn off GPS altogether to save battery.

How do you find out which app service is lurking in the background? Long pressing the home button only displays active apps.

**dhinged** · 02-14-2013, 08:23 PM

I have the exact same problem even after closing all apps, turning off GPS, and unchecking all location services. I ended up rebooting the phone. This shouldn't happen. Also, the notification doesn't make sense if it's just an app using GPS. If it did, it would say "Using GPS" or "[App Name] using GPS". It was either Facebook or Skout that started it.