Any way to make location services stop waking so much?

[rvhs03]

I would like to keep location services on, and have experimented with it off and on several times. On the days with it on, the phone is awake almost constantly, no matter what setting. On the days location is off, the phone is awake almost exclusively when the screen is on. I enjoy the benefits of the location services being on, but loathe the battery drain and awake time. Any advice?

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[Rukbat]

Is there any way I can keep my pie and eat it? That's what you're asking. Location services use a bit of battery (and wake the phone). You can't have it both ways, either turn them off and save battery or turn them on and use battery. If someone could invent a way of running electronic devices without power, he'd be VERY wealthy (if the power companies didn't make him disappear first).

 

[anon(5600632)]

There are several levels of location services. For example, you can keep location services on but turn location reporting off. That saves battery with no noticeable decline in utility of the phone in my view. I also keep location set to battery saving mode rather than high accuracy. Battery saving mode won't use the GPS - it saves battery and the only time you need to switch to high accuracy is for real time navigation. And you can check your settings app by app. Many apps request location sharing but there's no real benefit to you, so you can turn it off.

 

[rvhs03]

Is there any way I can keep my pie and eat it? That's what you're asking. Location services use a bit of battery (and wake the phone). You can't have it both ways, either turn them off and save battery or turn them on and use battery. If someone could invent a way of running electronic devices without power, he'd be VERY wealthy (if the power companies didn't make him disappear first).

Wow no need to be rude. Just asking a question. Isn't that what the forums are for? Thanks for your input.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[rvhs03]

There are several levels of location services. For example, you can keep location services on but turn location reporting off. That saves battery with no noticeable decline in utility of the phone in my view. I also keep location set to battery saving mode rather than high accuracy. Battery saving mode won't use the GPS - it saves battery and the only time you need to switch to high accuracy is for real time navigation. And you can check your settings app by app. Many apps request location sharing but there's no real benefit to you, so you can turn it off.

Thank you! I will tinker with these settings. I appreciate your response.

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[anon(5600632)]

One other caveat: All of these ideas assume you have Google Now turned off. If you use Google Now, you need pretty much everything turned on. Which is one of the reasons I don't use Google Now.

 

[Android D]

One other caveat: All of these ideas assume you have Google Now turned off. If you use Google Now, you need pretty much everything turned on. Which is one of the reasons I don't use Google Now.

Being a big fan of google now and so far the location services hasn't been that much of a problem for me...I am sure it drains my battery, but my battery does last long enough!

 

[kaitlyn2004]

Mine always seems to be on. I guess it didn't show up in Notification Bar on my Nexus 4, but it seems to be ALWAYS ON on my Note 4, which just seems weird...

 

[Crispy]

Is there any way I can keep my pie and eat it? That's what you're asking. Location services use a bit of battery (and wake the phone). You can't have it both ways, either turn them off and save battery or turn them on and use battery. If someone could invent a way of running electronic devices without power, he'd be VERY wealthy (if the power companies didn't make him disappear first).

Totally incorrect. Even setting location to high should only use it when an app is actively using those. This is a bug in Google play services and is well known and happens on many phones - sometimes usage will be normal, other times it causes a wake lock. If someone has root + Xposed, they can fix this using Amplify module.

I have Google Now turned on, I actually use its location based features, and I don't see wake locks caused by it, but then sometimes I do. There is no real fix until Google fixes this.

 

[cowincanada]

Totally incorrect. Even setting location to high should only use it when an app is actively using those. This is a bug in Google play services and is well known and happens on many phones - sometimes usage will be normal, other times it causes a wake lock. If someone has root + Xposed, they can fix this using Amplify module.

I have Google Now turned on, I actually use its location based features, and I don't see wake locks caused by it, but then sometimes I do. There is no real fix until Google fixes this.

This is the proper answer. people always go about turning features off and toggling this and that setting - as if the phone was designed to drain the battery if all the features are turned on

 

[LaTuFu]

Is there any way I can keep my pie and eat it? That's what you're asking. Location services use a bit of battery (and wake the phone). You can't have it both ways, either turn them off and save battery or turn them on and use battery. If someone could invent a way of running electronic devices without power, he'd be VERY wealthy (if the power companies didn't make him disappear first).

I disagree completely.

In earlier android devices and os versions, there was definitely a difference in battery performance if location services was left on.

I always toggled it on/off for navigation on my previous devices.

I have been using location services, set to high accuracy, and leaving it on all the time, without a noticeable drain in battery performance on my Note 4.

I have my applications set up for limited background running. Most applications I use I don't need them checking in every 15-20 minutes, so I don't allow them.

I'm doing things with the Note 4 that "conventional android wisdom" always said don't do if you want to save battery, and I am not suffering from battery life issues.

Some of the "tried and true" statements for Android battery life no longer apply or require serious caveats with the Note 4.