Google Play Store frequently turns on GPS - and sometimes keeps it on

[b3ns0r]

I am owner of a german Honor 5x (at this day still on android 5).

Recently, my phone started showing me the GPS indicator when I start the Google Play Store. This does not happen all the time, but lets say in 7 out of 10 cases.

Closing the Play Store sometimes also stops GPS, but sometimes it also stays on.

When I go to settings and check the apps that recently used location-services, there's always "Google Play Store" on top with "very high battery consumption". Furthermore, if I open the app details it shows me that it e.g. right now used GPS for more than 1h.

My girlfriend also has a 5x. However, on her phone I cannot observe the same behavior.

Do you have any ideas what the reason could be and how I can eliminate it?

 

[Tom Westrick]

It may be a rogue app. Go to developer options, and have a look at the Running Services. This will list the specific app that is requesting your location through Google's location API.

 

[b3ns0r]

Didn't find it in the developer menu. But when I look on the details of active apps, I can see the Google Play Store app continuously using the LocationService. Is that normal?

 

[nSheep]

Hello, I registered just to confirm this. I have LG G2 (D802) with CloudyG2 (modified stock ROM) and Google Play Store often activates my GPS too. Sometimes I don't even open Play Store and it activates GPS (when checking for updates, probably).
It remains turned on for some time after closing Store using back [<] or home [o] button. I must kill the Store (or wait) to turn GPS off.

I tried deleting cache and settings for Play Store and also installing latest version from ApkMirror. None of that solved this issue.

 

[DiceDemon]

Having same issue here, Waze can't find the GPS, although the GPS icon is "on". When I kill Google Play Store, everything works again. Hope someone finds a solution.

 

[Helmut49]

Having the same Problem on a Huawei y6. Playstore is always searching for gps, and other gps applications doesn't work anymore. When I kill playstore everything works with gps.

 

[Skylinestar]

I have the same issue on my MotoG (1st gen on KitKat 4.4.4). When Play Store is using the GPS, all other apps failed to get GPS to work. As the GPS is constantly running, battery drains like hell. When the Play Store is killed, everything goes back to normal. I believe this is a bug on the Google apps. I haven't found any permanent fix yet.

 

[naax]

I have the same issue here on my nexus 5.
I tried to turn off the location permission of play store, and of course it doesn't use GPS any more. Not sure if this will affect any normal functioning of play store yet.

I am owner of a german Honor 5x (at this day still on android 5).

Recently, my phone started showing me the GPS indicator when I start the Google Play Store. This does not happen all the time, but lets say in 7 out of 10 cases.

Closing the Play Store sometimes also stops GPS, but sometimes it also stays on.

When I go to settings and check the apps that recently used location-services, there's always "Google Play Store" on top with "very high battery consumption". Furthermore, if I open the app details it shows me that it e.g. right now used GPS for more than 1h.

My girlfriend also has a 5x. However, on her phone I cannot observe the same behavior.

Do you have any ideas what the reason could be and how I can eliminate it?

 

[that1guyyep101]

I have this problem lately also. I have a Huawei Ascend Mate 2 running android 5.1 also I don't have Waze installed. I even paused my Google location history and that didn't help. Once I closed play store the icon went away....

 

[Michel van der Vleut]

My workaround is to disable location for Google play, using "app ops" . App ops is freeware from dev. Nowsky . Furthermore I disable "keep awake" for Google play and Google play services to save additional battery. It works.