GPS to turn off when on home wifi; otherwise always on

[Steve_0]

Samsung S24+ (Android 15)

I want GPS tracking on when I leave home, but GPS chews a lot of battery, so I prefer it off at home. Searching for automation, I found 'Modes and Routines' and created a script.

A screenshot is attached of the routine.

A similar routine was done to switch location off when connected to home wifi

Neither script works (but the lock screen gives a message 'Location off Home', that indicate the system is running/ran the script. I went searching and found few opinions about automating wifi on/off. Some indicate 'not without rooting the phone' (I don't want that). Others suggest a Routine should do it.

Am I doing something wrong?
Has anyone been able to achieve location on or off without rooting their phone?

 

[SpookDroid]

GPS should only use up considerable battery if you're actively navigating or an app is constantly polling your precise location, so you may not need this (unless you have a rogue app polling constantly).

But for your routine, when you say the phone shows it as 'running', I'm assuming you're still seeing the Location button 'ON'? Also bear in mind that some system apps can still override this if they need location info to work (like payment apps, location-based automation, etc.).

 

[Steve_0]

Actually, what I'm not seeing is the part I most want. When outside the range of my home wifi, I want location on, mostly so I don't forget, so someone can see where I am if not home in reasonable time; lost phone tracking, etc. At home, no such problem exists.

My guess is my Fit3 smartwatch, which requires precise location to map my running routes, is a contributing factor to the battery drain ( Fit3 has no GPS - uses phone GPS).

I do have other apps with location enabled, but manually switching location off doesn't upset anything.

Meanwhile, I'm due to go running soon, deleted and re-wrote routines and restarted the phone to see if a fresh start will work around it (restart did fix this morning's declining recognition of fingerprint login).

 

[Steve_0]

Meanwhile, I'm due to go running soon, deleted and re-wrote routines and restarted the phone to see if a fresh start will work around it

UPDATE: that seemed to do the trick.