Why is Maps using so much battery?

[Ben Joynes]

Ive had my S4 on my desk mostly this weekend, drove 40 minutes to the City on Friday, but I didn't use Maps or anything I just used Spotify to Bluetooth Music to my stereo. Other than that it's sat on the desk, with the occassional call, text or Youtube. Why is Maps in the top usage? I havent seen the GPS icon in the notification tray or anything? Any ideas?

 

[friedtators]

It could be latitude. You could turn that off.

 

[Ben Joynes]

Where do I find that? I cant find it in settings.

 

[androidfan1x]

Where do I find that? I cant find it in settings.

open Maps app, go to settings->location settings->under "latitude location settings", uncheck
you can also uncheck location history to save more battery,
and at the top you can disable the auto update location thing
basically disable everything in settings->location settings lol, if you want to save even more juice

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T

 

[mhil]

I found the same thing on my Google Nexus. Turns out the location history had been turned on. Turned off and solved the problem.

 

[mhil]

I found the same thing on my Google Nexus. Turns out the location history had been turned on. Turned off and solved the problem.

 

[eronfaure]

If you turn off location history, how does it affect Google Now's ability to track your distance walked/cycled and other GPS related info?

 

[nickgalaxys4]

If you have google now turn it off the traffic card uses maps day and night.

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[iN8ter]

I don't have an issue with Maps draining my battery with Location history on and Google Now Traffic Cards enabled.

I do have Latitude disabled, though, because it uses a ton of battery doing what it does when it's tracking you.

 

[garublador]

I have a Verizon GS4 as well and for some background, in my Maps settings I have:

Location Reporting set to update automatically
Report from this device unchecked
Enable location sharing unchecked
Enable location history checked
Automatic check-ins unchecked

I have it that way to enable the Google Now cards I want (I have all of them enabled) but not automatically share my location in stuff like Facebook and Instagram.

I was seeing the type of Maps usage you're seeing until I went into my Application Manager and uninstalled updates for Maps. It seems as if it's reinstalled them as I haven't seen any negative effect, but my Maps usage is down at like 5% now. My "Google Services" is higher but my overall battery life is better. Of course, YMMV, but it's easy to try.

I also have location based profiles in Tasker, so it's checking my location based on net but not GPS.

I also have the Qualcomm Battery Guru running, but I don't think that's had a big effect. It seems like it mostly just stops certain apps from needlessly refreshing, but it doesn't give a lot of information about what it does so that's just a guess. I have the WiFi part of it turned off and WiFi active all the time.

 

[iN8ter]

Facebook and Instagram do not use Maps to share your location. I'm not sure how you have come to that conclusion...

 

[garublador]

Facebook and Instagram do not use Maps to share your location. I'm not sure how you have come to that conclusion...

Or whatever other app/mechanism uses that feature. I don't know what might or might not use it and I don't want anything to use it so I turned it off. Who knows what service might start using Latitude a year down the road and begin sharing my location because I didn't opt out of some feature hidden three layers deep in the settings for any given app? The point is I turned it off so my location could not be shared via Latitude. There is no guarantee that Latitude won't be used by another app unless I disable it.

 

[anon(6174973)]

I just remove maps from my device because it keeps starting up and eating up my battery.

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[iN8ter]

Or whatever other app/mechanism uses that feature. I don't know what might or might not use it and I don't want anything to use it so I turned it off. Who knows what service might start using Latitude a year down the road and begin sharing my location because I didn't opt out of some feature hidden three layers deep in the settings for any given app? The point is I turned it off so my location could not be shared via Latitude. There is no guarantee that Latitude won't be used by another app unless I disable it.

They use Location APIs in the OS, the same APIs that Maps use to get your location either via GPS or from Cell Tower Triangulation. This is why Facebook and Instagram still work properly on Android installations that do not include GApps (which include Google Maps).

Latitude, I'm not sure why anyone is using it because it will be on the chopping block soon. Google has already started bringing its features to Google+ (Google+ now does location tracking and has Check-In functionality). I have all that stuff turned off. Never had an issue with Google Maps draining my phone.

Google+ uses some Location sharing settings on the phone. Are you using that with Location sharing enabled?

 

[garublador]

You're reading way more about into this than you should. If it's about being right then I concede, you know more about what apps use which location service than I do. Congratulations. That doesn't change the fact that I do not, nor will I ever want Latitude to share my location. I was simply stating the reason for my choice in location settings. I'm not even claiming it makes a difference, but its useful to know what settings someone has enabled in situations like this.

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[anon(6174973)]

It is good if you need to find your way out in a situation when you get lost somewhere. However, we wouldn't need it in a daily basis unless you share your location in social media.

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