gps running persistently, can't find culprit

**cogit0** · 06-26-2012, 03:32 PM

My phone appears to be using the GPS consistently. The crosshair-circle icon keeps flashing on the top, as it does when trying to connect to the GPS satellites. It does this for hours on end.

There seems to have been a lot of app updates recently, so I'm guessing that one of the updates added access to gps, and is constantly polling for the location. Of course, this app doesn't appear in the "running" list. I have killed all apps that are running, and still it keeps blinking.

Here's what's in the Running list:
Settings
Google Voice
Android System
Factory Test
Digital Clock
TetheringManager
Google Services
Media Hub (I keep trying to uninstall this motherf***er)
Wi-Fi sharing
Wi-Fi sharing manager
Android Keyboard

I have killed each of these, and it keeps blinking. I have uninstalled other apps that have given me a hard time with GPS before (facebook, okcupid, groupon), and it keeps blinking.

I'm starting to worry that this is actually a phone/OS problem. My battery life drops from 90% to 10% in 4 hours, so it is affecting my battery lifespan as well. Any ideas on how to track this down?

**blweldon2** · 06-26-2012, 04:36 PM

Hm. Try a factory reset and don't install anything for a while and see if it pops up.

**cogit0** · 06-26-2012, 04:47 PM

I'd rather not do a full factory reset if it can be avoided, that seems pretty drastic for now.

Here's the battery trace. The problem is pretty obvious.

**blweldon2** · 06-26-2012, 04:51 PM

Dang man. Something is definitely keeping your phone awake. What apps do you have on your phone that arent running use gps?
What apps does it say are using your battery?

**cogit0** · 06-26-2012, 05:03 PM

Not sure, since so many apps tend to use it but don't overtly say that they do. Sketchy bastards. Right now i have quite a few apps installed, which is why 1) i dont want to do a factory reset, and 2) why i think it was an update that granted an older app permissions to use GPS.

There isn't a way to monitor which app makes a call for the GPS sensor?

**blweldon2** · 06-26-2012, 05:21 PM

Haven't seen anything like that. If you do decide you want to reset, backup everything with "App Backup & Restore". It doesn't require root, and it backs up all your apps to the sd card.