Maps not used but using battery, sensors, keep awake

[slayer#WN]

Sorry, yes another battery-related thread. I've looked for anyone else with this behavior but have not seen it reported in the S3 forums. One thread in the Galaxy Nexus forum showed something similar, but with no resolution.

Every few days, I notice in the Battery stats that Maps is one of the highest users even though I've not run the Maps app at all.

I dug around in GSM Battery monitor and saw it waking up the device very frequently and using lots of gyro and GPS time. The keep-awake time is also high comparatively speaking. But what would it be doing in the background without me actually using the app?

 

[DomL25]

I've actually noticed the same thing on my phone. I factory reset the phone a few hours ago, so I haven't seen it pop back up - I'm wondering if its location services using maps?

 

[slayer#WN]

I've actually noticed the same thing on my phone. I factory reset the phone a few hours ago, so I haven't seen it pop back up - I'm wondering if its location services using maps?

That was my first thought too.

A factory reset has crossed my mind, but I'd hate to do that if it's something normal or fixable. Let me know if you still don't see Maps near the top.

 

[mikesmith]

You have either GPS or location turned on.

You see the diamond with the cross in it on your notification bar? The lines to the right of it mean either GPS or location is turned on.

Go to Settings > Location Services and make sure all three boxes are unchecked.

Should look like this when off:

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[DomL25]

Well Google Maps is now 4% of my battery useage, which is lower than I've seen, but still there for not having used maps at all.

But I just turned off location services. So we'll see how it does.

 

[mikesmith]

Well Google Maps is now 4% of my battery useage, which is lower than I've seen, but still there for not having used maps at all.

But I just turned off location services. So we'll see how it does.

GPS and location services are going to kill your battery because they constantly are finding your location even if you aren't using the phone.

It's best to turn them on when needed and then turn them off when you're done.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[slayer#WN]

GPS and location services are going to kill your battery because they constantly are finding your location even if you aren't using the phone.

It's best to turn them on when needed and then turn them off when you're done.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

I'm not entirely sure that is accurate. The device doesn't hold a GPS lock, for example, unless an app is requesting it. The same can be said for cellular-based location service (VZW in this case)... it performs its function only when an app requests use of it ("Location - Coarse"). These services aren't problems and for the most part don't need to be turned off. It's bad or poorly written applications that don't stop or relinquish use of these services that are the problem in most cases.

From what I've gleaned from other sources recently, is the Google Location Service is a database of wifi SSIDs captured from the StreetView cars as they pass by.

WIFI must be on for that to be of any value I would imagine. Normally I'm not on WIFI during the day, and I haven't seen this Maps battery situation for several days. Today I am on WIFI and the "problem" is present.

I turned OFF the Google Location Service and left the GPS and VZW/cellular location ON. Since I did that 4 hours ago, the Maps:
* Keep awake value has not increased, not even a second
* Background CPU use went up only a second
* Foreground CPU did not increase
* Number of wake locks has not increased (was 500 prior to change)
* Number of times waking device went from 139 to 154 (a rate much slower than prior to change)
* GPS time has not increased
* Accelerometer and "Light" have not increased
* Interestingly, the Gyro has kept increasing but appears to have little battery impact

I'd say turning off just the Google Location Service has solved the issue. Hopefully this info is useful to someone else too.

 

[lbkiml]

I leave my google location service on. No affect on battery performance at all.

 

[marlin29311]

I had this problem initially - I since turned off standalone GPS services, but left VZW and Google location on...has not come back since...and I just turn on GPS if i need to use maps.

 

[Tarpit_Carnivore]

GPS and location services are going to kill your battery because they constantly are finding your location even if you aren't using the phone.

It's best to turn them on when needed and then turn them off when you're done.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

This isn't the case anymore with Android and I don't think it has been since 2.2(?). I keep location and gps on 24x7 and never see any difference in battery life. Gps is now on-demand so if location services are killing battery it's because something is requesting it.

 

[bpearse]

Resurecting an old thread here, but I am having the exact same issue. After 12 hours of standby (overnight), Battery meter reports Cell Standby #1at 61% of the power, with Google Maps #2 at 21%. Is this an error in reporting, or is Google Maps really using that much battery? I have GPS and VZW location services turned off, GPS turned off, but Google location services turned on. I guess I will try again tonight with Google Location turned off and see if that helps.

 

[JimChristensen]

Hi -- I just got a new Nexus 7 in late Oct 2012. It's running Android 4.2.1, and I see Maps using a huge percent of my battery even tho I do not use it. I have played with it but rarely. This thread has some conflicting info, but I just looked at my location settings about found both GPS and WiFi location turned on. I turned them off and will now see if that makes a difference. I also note that the Fore Stop button appears for the Maps app, but appears to do nothing. I feel like I'm poking in the dark when it comes to optimizing the battery life on the Nexus 7... we could use a little help Google! -- Thanks, Jim

 

[Brian Hillard]

On my Galaxy S3 (International version) it has been driving me insane.
First off I noticed that Gmail had started using around 30% of my battery. I checked with GSam Battery Monitor, and it showed it had been using my gyroscope for around 6 hours.
I then froze gmail and the problem went away of course, and battery life was much better.
However, I just happened to check my battery stats yesterday, and noticed that Facebook had used around 20% of my battery.
Again I checked GSam and it showed Facebook had used the gyroscope for 7 hours!

So it seems that high power usage is linked to the apps using the gyroscope continuously over a long period of time. Even when the phone is asleep.
The same apps do not do this on my Nexus 7, so something is up with 4.2.1 on my beloved S3.

 

[GSDer]

When you refer to GSam, you're looking at "View Sensor Time Used"?
Unless you're using those apps (in the foreground) constantly in both landscape and portrait mode you shouldn't be seeing the gyroscope referenced like that. I just looked through my data from today, and only Messaging used any gyroscope time, and that was just a few minutes worth. I have also used Gmail and Maps today and neither of them showed any gyroscope time (mainly just the light sensor).
It sounds like your phone is rooted - are you running the stock ROM?
Did you perform a Factory Reset after the OTA, or did you manually flash the ROM that you're currently running?

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Tyler Cameron1]

Well, then Google Maps is broken because my gyroscope has apparently been on eevr since I've had my phone unplugged.. about 2 hours. I KNOW I havent been using Maps that much. The magnetic sensor has been on for an hour and 28 minutes. What the hell is wrong with Google Maps?! I'm using the Galaxy Note II.

 

[lemmy999]

I have a Verizon S3 I got 2 days ago and I am having the same problem. At first I had GPS and all 3 location services on and my battery was dead before I left work at 5pm (I took it off the charger at 7:30AM). Today I have GPS off, haven't started Maps at all and all 3 location services off and no voice calls and Google Maps is the primary battery drain at 32%, 5m 17s of CPU, 3m 26s Stay Awak, 76.60KB data sent and 10.71KB data received. On my old Droid 2 I left all location services on and even with old batteries I could make it through the entire day. I hope someone figures this out. I thought it was "Google Now" but it doesn't work if you have the Google location turned off.

I installed GSam Battery Monitor and it shows that Maps has used the Gyro for 3h 8m (since I unplugged it) and the light for 1h 34m. Something is definitely wrong with this.

 

[lemmy999]

I found a page where a guy had this probably after the Jelly Bean update. He said he simply turned off Google Now and in Google Maps set it to not update your location from this device and it fixed his problem. Even though I had all location services off, I am wondering if Google Now was still requesting the location and accessing sensors resulting in big battery drain. I have my fingers crossed.

Is Google Maps Draining Your Battery?

 

[meyerweb#CB]

There is apparently a bug with an Android service called gsiff-daemon, which many believe is related to the gryoscope. Generally, a reboot will fix it. If you're rooted you can rename the app to prevent this, but other than rebooting I'm not sure what you can do otherwise. Fortunately, it seems to be a very random occurrence. It happened to me once, and hasn't recurred since.

 

[gammalori7]

I'm not entirely sure that is accurate. The device doesn't hold a GPS lock, for example, unless an app is requesting it. The same can be said for cellular-based location service (VZW in this case)... it performs its function only when an app requests use of it ("Location - Coarse"). These services aren't problems and for the most part don't need to be turned off. It's bad or poorly written applications that don't stop or relinquish use of these services that are the problem in most cases.

From what I've gleaned from other sources recently, is the Google Location Service is a database of wifi SSIDs captured from the StreetView cars as they pass by.

WIFI must be on for that to be of any value I would imagine. Normally I'm not on WIFI during the day, and I haven't seen this Maps battery situation for several days. Today I am on WIFI and the "problem" is present.

I turned OFF the Google Location Service and left the GPS and VZW/cellular location ON. Since I did that 4 hours ago, the Maps:
* Keep awake value has not increased, not even a second
* Background CPU use went up only a second
* Foreground CPU did not increase
* Number of wake locks has not increased (was 500 prior to change)
* Number of times waking device went from 139 to 154 (a rate much slower than prior to change)
* GPS time has not increased
* Accelerometer and "Light" have not increased
* Interestingly, the Gyro has kept increasing but appears to have little battery impact

I'd say turning off just the Google Location Service has solved the issue. Hopefully this info is useful to someone else too.