Android 7.1.1: google app needs location permission?

MrDoh

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Oct 25, 2012
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I was noticing that the location icon was on in my Pixel's status bar all the time. So, to track this down, rebooted into safe mode, and the location icon was still on all the time. I looked through the active app permissions, and found that the "google" app had location permission. Turned that off, and the location icon immediately went off in the status bar.

I believe that there was a recent update to the google app...does anyone know why the google app would need location services, and whether this would make a difference on an everyday basis? Also, does anyone else see this issue with the location icon? I'm presuming that because the location icon was on that the google app was "using location services" for something.

Thanks.
 

B. Diddy

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Mar 9, 2012
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It's not surprising that the Google app needs to access your location -- considering all that Google can tell you in Google Now, the ability to access your location is integral. But the location icon in the status bar usually means it's using the GPS radio -- you don't need that on for location to work. Go to Settings>Location, and change it to Battery Saving (which only uses wi-fi and mobile data to estimate your location).
 

MrDoh

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Thanks, I've already done that...I don't really use Google NOW. So I'm kind of pretending that I don't need location permission for google app. I figure that it'll ask me when it needs it. In the interim, I'm not allowing it since it seems to doing something with it when I'm not using the app.