Location Services enables itself ~Midnight and then back off a short time later.

[AgentFawkes]

Galaxy S6
Android version 7.0
Model SM-G920P

Some background, apps that use Location services (Waze, Uber, etc) are not on any of my home screens. I also keep all services (mobile data, wifi, location services, bluetooth) turned off unless I'm activity using them.

A year ago, I unlocked my phone and noticed that the little GPS symbol was up in the bar. I googled to try to find out what could be using it, followed those steps, and saw that Contacts (of all things!) was listed under "recent apps" under Location services. Drilled down into Apps > Contacts and disabled its ability to use Location Services.

The core problem - Location Services turning itself on multiple times a week at night around midnight, then back off 15-30 minutes later continues. It doesn't seem to do it every night (or I'm not catching it).

I find it mildly disconcerting. I have Lookout Antivirus on my phone, no apps that didn't come through the playstore (though I know that doesn't always make every app safe).

It feels like an invasion of privacy (and to show how far I take that, I do not participate on Facebook, don't post on InstaGram, or whatever else is out there these days). I don't think the phone should be enabling functionalities without my permission or expressed input. I finally created an account here because I couldn't find a solution through internet searches.

What is driving this behavior? And how do I stop it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mustang7757]

Hi, welcome!

It could be any app that uses location, including lookout which I think not worth it on phones or antivirus, app cleaners.

 

[ManiacJoe]

If you have wifi-calling turned on, GPS is used every now and then to confirm where you are in case you need to call 911 or the like.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! So you went to Settings>Location and turned off that toggle completely? Look through your system settings for Wi-fi Scanning and Bluetooth Scanning, and make sure those are turned off as well. These are ways the phone tries to improve location accuracy.

 

[AgentFawkes]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the replies, and I apologize for my late response. When I created the thread, I had ticked the option to 'subscribe' to it, thinking I would get email notifications when someone posted, but they didn't come through (yes, checked junk mail). Thanks for the good points, Mustang and ManiacJoe. I normally shut off my wifi when I go to bed (don't need it while I'm sleeping), next time this happens, I'll see if wifi is still enabled as well.
B.Diddy, I will check that next as well.

Thanks guys!

 

[mustang7757]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the replies, and I apologize for my late response. When I created the thread, I had ticked the option to 'subscribe' to it, thinking I would get email notifications when someone posted, but they didn't come through (yes, checked junk mail). Thanks for the good points, Mustang and ManiacJoe. I normally shut off my wifi when I go to bed (don't need it while I'm sleeping), next time this happens, I'll see if wifi is still enabled as well.
B.Diddy, I will check that next as well.

Thanks guys!

Keep us posted

 

[AgentFawkes]

So about 30 minutes ago I made sure no programs were actively running (the 'close all' function), and made sure my wireless and mobile data were both off. 4 minutes after midnight, I unlocked my phone... the Location Services had turned themselves on! I immediately shut it back off out of habit, instead of watching it to see how long it stayed on or trying to track down what app accessed it.

What bugs me is other apps are supposed to ask for location services to be enabled first, right? Like when I launch Waze, it reminds me location services needs to be on, and asks me if it can enable it. I never check "remember my answer" (or however it's phrased).

So tomorrow night I'll watch for it to do it again. When it does, what steps should I go through to see what's using it?

Thanks!

 

[mustang7757]

So about 30 minutes ago I made sure no programs were actively running (the 'close all' function), and made sure my wireless and mobile data were both off. 4 minutes after midnight, I unlocked my phone... the Location Services had turned themselves on! I immediately shut it back off out of habit, instead of watching it to see how long it stayed on or trying to track down what app accessed it.

What bugs me is other apps are supposed to ask for location services to be enabled first, right? Like when I launch Waze, it reminds me location services needs to be on, and asks me if it can enable it. I never check "remember my answer" (or however it's phrased).

So tomorrow night I'll watch for it to do it again. When it does, what steps should I go through to see what's using it?

Thanks!

You can long press location icon on pull down notifications panel and see whats currently using it . Let us know!

 

[AgentFawkes]

Thanks! I did not know (or didn't remember) I could get to it that way! I once drilled through menus and found that Contacts had accessed it (as previously mentioned), your way will be infinitely faster!!

 

[mustang7757]

Thanks! I did not know (or didn't remember) I could get to it that way! I once drilled through menus and found that Contacts had accessed it (as previously mentioned), your way will be infinitely faster!!

Ok , try deny permission to contacts see what happens, your welcome!

 

[mustang7757]

Fastest way is to long press contact app then tap info, scroll to permission and deny location

 

[AgentFawkes]

Alright, at midnight on the dot Location Services turned itself on. Mobile Data and Wifi were off.

I held down on the Location icon in the pull down menu, and it brought up the new page. "Recent Location Requests" were:
Contacts (why?? I disabled access to Location on this already!)
Google
Google Play Services
Lookout (the antivirus that is still on there).

I went to Settings > Apps > Contacts > App Permissions. "Location" is still disabled. Why would it still show as recently accessed?
I'm going to go threw and turn off Location Services for the other Apps. I probably won't be able to stay up till midnight again till next Friday due to work. In the meantime, any thoughts on why Contacts were still showing up?

 

[B. Diddy]

Are you able to uninstall Lookout? Some phones come with it preinstalled, which means you wouldn't be able to uninstall it -- but you should at least be able to disable it in the Settings>Apps​ menu.

 

[mustang7757]

Deny permission to play store, Google service, phone app also

 

[AgentFawkes]

Okay everyone,

I disabled Location for the apps listed. I could not uninstall Lookout A/V. Strangely, I thought that was one of the Apps I installed, so I'm surprised I can't uninstall it. Then again, I've had this phone for five years, so that memory is questionable!

I'll see what happens next Friday!

Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

[B. Diddy]

You probably remember updating Lookout in the Play Store, and not necessarily installing it fresh.

 

[mustang7757]

Okay everyone,

I disabled Location for the apps listed. I could not uninstall Lookout A/V. Strangely, I thought that was one of the Apps I installed, so I'm surprised I can't uninstall it. Then again, I've had this phone for five years, so that memory is questionable!

I'll see what happens next Friday!

Thanks again for everyone's help!

You might have to deactivate it in settings under device administrator then uninstall

 

[B. Diddy]

You might have to deactivate it in settings under device administrator then uninstall

Oh, good point.

 

[AgentFawkes]

Well, I believe the service kicked itself back on at some point (as usual). Here's why I suspect that. When I disabled Location services for the aforementioned things, one of the things I noticed is the un-removable "news feed" tab was blank after making the changes. I have no issues with this as I don't look at it often. This morning, it was populated again.

I suppose at this point, I'll have to accept there are things going on under the hood in Android that it overrides user settings to carry out. That is disappointing.

(Don't get me started on how now it demands I have Google Assistant installed, which requires Location and Data access, to do even simple things like voice-activated calling to people in my address book!! Talk about a step backwards! As you can imagine, I do not have Google Assistant installed, I was able to roll it back the first time it snuck it's way in a few years ago. I simply don't use the voice command feature anymore).

I appreciate everyone's help. I'm glad to know that nothing malicious is going on.

 

[mustang7757]

Well, I believe the service kicked itself back on at some point (as usual). Here's why I suspect that. When I disabled Location services for the aforementioned things, one of the things I noticed is the un-removable "news feed" tab was blank after making the changes. I have no issues with this as I don't look at it often. This morning, it was populated again.

I suppose at this point, I'll have to accept there are things going on under the hood in Android that it overrides user settings to carry out. That is disappointing.

(Don't get me started on how now it demands I have Google Assistant installed, which requires Location and Data access, to do even simple things like voice-activated calling to people in my address book!! Talk about a step backwards! As you can imagine, I do not have Google Assistant installed, I was able to roll it back the first time it snuck it's way in a few years ago. I simply don't use the voice command feature anymore).

I appreciate everyone's help. I'm glad to know that nothing malicious is going on.

Yeah pretty sure your going be OK.