Verizon Location Agent after OTA Update - Battery Killer!

[phorts]

Since the update my battery has taken a nose dive. (this on top of an already poor battery life). Yesterday I had my phone in airplane mode for most of the day yet my battery STILL drained at an alarming pace (down to 10% after 7 hours of no use!).

So i checked my Battery Use - 30% use by "Verizon Location Agent". I researched this and it's all over the web in android forums, blogs, etc. It's not part of Verizon Location Services (this was turned off). From what i've read it has something to do with trying to find the best cell tower/satellite/etc for communications. Well, thanks but no thanks pal!

It came in via the OTA update. Not sure if everyone is having this problem but if your battery started sucking even worse afterwards, then it's something to check.

One fix reported was to update it via the Market after which it would say that it wasnt compatible with the phone and would thus stop working (Force closes, etc would not work). Short of rooting your phone, this appeared to be the only option.

So i tried it. ANd my phone went into a never ending boot cycle that was not cured by battery pull, sim card pull. After talking with Verizon they wanted me to reset my phone to factory defaults. I was only able to get in with the sim card pulled, so that's what i did.

I just re-setup my phone and i'm back to pre-OTA performance. Verizon Location Agent has not reared it's ugly head in my battery use.

Thanks Verizon. Suck one.

 

[HollyDolly]

Yep, it is a battery Killer. VZW seems really big on bloatware...

 

[ShaggyKids]

Won't this dang thing just get you again on the next OTA upgrade? I can't call VZW till Monday I'm so mad after just spending $200 on my Rezound BECAUSE of the lousy TBolt battery and was really enjoying decent battery life with the RZ that I may just drive the 30 miles to the store to pitch my b#@%!

Sent from my Rezound via TapaTalk

 

[brad419]

It does not list VZW on what is using the battery screen

 

[amadkins]

It does not list VZW on what is using the battery screen

I don't see it either. It was there right after the the update, but after a restart I haven't seen it.

 

[PaulQ]

I've seen a couple threads on this. Just for the record, I did the OTA and have not experienced any dramatic power consumption change. I do have the Verizon location agent on my device but I can't say I see it running. Given that fact, there may be something related to how it is implementing itself. One way results in what I'm experiencing and another is causing battery drain.

Just thoughts.

I'm running stock.

...Sent from my Tab

 

[humpagardengnome]

I've seen a couple threads on this. Just for the record, I did the OTA and have not experienced any dramatic power consumption change. I do have the Verizon location agent on my device but I can't say I see it running. Given that fact, there may be something related to how it is implementing itself. One way results in what I'm experiencing and another is causing battery drain.

Just thoughts.

I'm running stock.

...Sent from my Tab

24 hrs ago, I thought different, now I'm on your side of the fence. I went to a local store to see what the fuss was about on the VLA app on a display unit. I may be wrong but it looks like it's resident memory, not fully active. It does'nt appear to run unless it's requested by an app. that was given permission to access your location info. I don't believe that updating it, amounts to a hill of beans. FC stops it but it restarts when you open various apps. It just idles when not in use. So I don't see how it could be a battery hog.

 

[twgerber]

It it's not affecting me at all. I see it running but it is not using my battery from what I see

 

[G671]

Get rid of things like "Juice Defender" and "Tasker", and install "LGE Switch" to turn off 4G. It's worked like a charm for me. I'm getting 12 hours of medium-heavy use on standard battery now (even after the OTA update). Also, there's a SLIM extended battery coming out for Rezound in a couple of days (Mugen 1900mAh Slim Extended battery).

 

[Sax1031]

Does it only work if you have Verizon Location Services on?

I only ask because I haven't noticed a difference at all in my battery life. I also haven't seen it listed anywhere near the top of things that drain battery life.

But I also keep locations services off. And at most I usually will use Google Services, and the built in GPS.

 

[burwil]

I saw it once on my battery stats. But don't see it anymore.

Sent from my HTC Rezound.

 

[humpagardengnome]

Does it only work if you have Verizon Location Services on?

I only ask because I haven't noticed a difference at all in my battery life. I also haven't seen it listed anywhere near the top of things that drain battery life.

But I also keep locations services off. And at most I usually will use Google Services, and the built in GPS.

Not sure what makes people think it's a battery killer. Only time I think you'll.see it in battery stats was on the install and first initiatialization of it. After that it idles till an app. that was given the permission to access your location is requesting access. VLA, shouldn't be a culprit for battery drain so it seems like people are attributing the wrong.app. b/c they snuck it in, omitted from the update changelog. If anyone knows anything different, please pass it along b/c I'm stumped. It sure doesn't look like that app would be active enough to blow through juice.

 

[Dovahkiin]

Not sure what makes people think it's a battery killer. Only time I think you'll.see it in battery stats was on the install and first initiatialization of it. After that it idles till an app. that was given the permission to access your location is requesting access. VLA, shouldn't be a culprit for battery drain so it seems like people are attributing the wrong.app. b/c they snuck it in, omitted from the update changelog. If anyone knows anything different, please pass it along b/c I'm stumped. It sure doesn't look like that app would be active enough to blow through juice.

The apparent problem with Verizon Location Agent is the fact that it prevents the phone from going into idle/sleep mode whenever you have the screen off.
So basically, it keeps all radios and processes on 24/7, which can drain battery very fast.

 

[humpagardengnome]

The apparent problem with Verizon Location Agent is the fact that it prevents the phone from going into idle/sleep mode whenever you have the screen off.
So basically, it keeps all radios and processes on 24/7, which can drain battery very fast.

Good work, Detective Dovahkiin. That permission eluded me in my readings on the topic.

 

[Dovahkiin]

Good work, Detective Dovahkiin. That permission eluded me in my readings on the topic.

I'm glad to do the legwork for you and others, sir.

 

[phorts]

Im the OP. I only created this post as, after the OTA Update, i saw a dramtatic decrease in battery life. In my battery usage stats the VLA comprised of nearly HALF my battery use, more than the ALWAYS #1 Display and close #2 Voice Calls. I didnt have ATK or JD installed so i was unable to see if it was actively running, but regardless, it was consuming a concerning amount of battery life.

This was my experience and, as i mentioned, i know that not everyone had the same result after the OTA. I attribute it to some sort of memory leak or permissions issue as a recent poster has suggested. My issue was resolved by resetting back to factory.

I havent had an issue since. In fact, battery life has improved from before the OTA, albeit not dramatically. I may go for the extended slm battery. I bit on the Seido extended slim for my DInc 1, but even then wasnt entirely thrilled about dropping an extra $60 on marginal increase of performance.

Looks like i'm stuck with this one!

 

[Sax1031]

I did actually find it running today. I was apparently looking in the wrong place before.

 

[Sonshine01]

I have a question and it may be a stupid one but oh well here goes. I have read here that the VLA app is causing the phone NOT to go into sleep mode. If you go into settings and then power and go to enable sleep mode and set a time for sleep mode to start and end- will that put it into sleep mode so that VLA won't run during those times or will that have no affect on it? Thanks for your help!!!!

 

[dpham00]

I have a question and it may be a stupid one but oh well here goes. I have read here that the VLA app is causing the phone NOT to go into sleep mode. If you go into settings and then power and go to enable sleep mode and set a time for sleep mode to start and end- will that put it into sleep mode so that VLA won't run during those times or will that have no affect on it? Thanks for your help!!!!

No, that won't make a difference because one of its permissions is to 'prevent phone from sleeping' in addition to 'change network connectivity' and 'modify global system settings'

 

[Sonshine01]

Thank you for explaining that to me!!!