Has anyone else noticed a strange increase in GPS usage after the Lollipop update?
I've always kept the Location mode on High Accuracy, and didn't have this behavior until recently. Basically, whenever an app attempts to find my location, and I'm indoors or somewhere I can't get a GPS satellite, the GPS will say "finding location" for a very long, if not infinite, amount of time. It seemed that until recently, the device would give up after a few seconds with GPS and use Wi-Fi/Mobile to approximate my location - it doesn't seem like it's doing this anymore.
Most of the time, it's the Live Weather app that's looking for my location. I do use that for wallpaper on the lock screen, I know it probably drains the battery faster. However, I have not seen this behavior until recently; I used the wallpaper since I got my phone in December.
I have already factory reset and wiped system cache after the Lollipop update, and wiped the data and cache of Live Weather, no change unfortunately.
Has anyone else seen something like this before?
Quick update for more details:
It looks like this only occurs whenever I first boot the phone, whether it be a reboot or a cold boot. According to the Location settings menu, Live Weather is the only app with "Battery usage: high" listed under it; when I kill Live Weather, the GPS will turn off.
However, if I do step outside and get a lock, the GPS will eventually shut off. Whenever I come back inside, it behaves as I would expect it to, i.e., the GPS will come on periodically, then shut off after a few seconds.
supertoast92 said:
Quick update for more details:
It looks like this only occurs whenever I first boot the phone, whether it be a reboot or a cold boot. According to the Location settings menu, Live Weather is the only app with "Battery usage: high" listed under it; when I kill Live Weather, the GPS will turn off.
However, if I do step outside and get a lock, the GPS will eventually shut off. Whenever I come back inside, it behaves as I would expect it to, i.e., the GPS will come on periodically, then shut off after a few seconds.
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it looks like I have probably the same problem too. In my case it behaves as follows: if I'm not connected to the GSM network (when using the device without a SIM) and out of reach of any WIFI signal, then the GPS does not work at all. :crying:
Did you try changing your location settings to use only the GPS?
Also, I found a workaround: killing the Live Weather service seems to have no negative effect - it comes right back whenever you open the weather widget or view your lockscreen. Still a pain, but it works. It still sorts itself out the minute I step outside.
Related
I keep having problems with getting a gps fix on my DHD.
I turn on the GPS on the phone, also setting it to checked in the "Location" settings, and I wait forever. Yesterday I tried using the Compass app (By Catch.com), the GPS Status app, Tried using My Tracks and RunKeeper, and couldn't get a fix.
Every time I go back to the "Location" settings, and check and uncheck the "Use wireless networks" box, and also turn on or off the WIFI radio. But nothing seemed to work.
This morning I tried again, set My Tracks to record the road, and it did get a fix after about 5 minutes - So sometimes it does work.
I did manage to get fixes at various times, using all the apps above, but most times I need to fiddle with it quite a lot before it works, by checking and unchecking stuff. Sometimes it finally gets a fix with the "Use wireless networks" checked, and wifi turned on (even on locations where I have no wifi), and sometimes when its off.
Using the GPS Status app I see it usually finds 8-11 satellites, and they all seem green and with high bars, but I get no location at the end. Also with the Compass - I can see it connects to 10/10, but there is no long/lat.
What can cause all this mess? Is there some known bug with the gps? Or maybe some apps are interfering with others?
I also don't have any data plan (2g or 3g), so I only surf on wifi. Maybe this trows the location off somehow?
My location results are less accurate than 3g but still usable. Have you had better gps results from other devices? Your area might have some problems.
Cheers from my DHD.
When it works, it works just fine. Today on my way to work it succeeded in getting a fix after several minutes (which I still consider to be a bit too long - it should do it in less than a minute).
Last week, during a short jog outside of my house, it got a fix using RunKeeper.
Two days ago, while walking outside for well over an hour, and seeing in all the apps it finds multiple satellites, I could not get any fix at all. I want to use GPS only, no need for 3g or wifi. It should be enough (And had been enough on other occasions).
And it wasn't only defective two nights ago - many times I can't seem to get a fix. And only occasionally I get it to work properly.
I have the same problem ,i flashed a few different radios to try them and getting a gps lock was a nightmare.Originally i was on radio 26.03.02.26 and it was actually fine(shouldnt have messed with something that works.I have now flashed back to that radio and same problems.
i am sitting here with the misses hd and it instantly finds 6 sats and gets a gps lock while my hd finds one and does nothing.
i turn off gps on both phones ,turn back on and now her phone gets a lock at least 1 min faster.
Seems to be first time using gps after booting phone,once i have turned gps on give it a few mins then turn it off.I now run gps status on both phones,gps turns on and now get 2 more sats and a much lower error reading.
I have the same issues with gps, if I leave my phone flat on the dashboard of my car so that the screen is facing upwards, the gps seems to work without losing a fix, maybe because it connects to more satellites.
when I place the phone in my dash mount, it seems to drop signals and loses location.
I have tried a solution which I found while browsing the net extensively for the problem you mentioned and there does not seem to be much info on the issue. The solution I found on the net seemed to have made a huge difference although more testing is needed.
I have downloaded a program called "Tracker Booster - Tracker Booster is a small utility to help sports tracker applications (e.g. Endomondo) to get best possible GPS signal by keeping the GPS unit active in the background." It is available for free from the market, the way to use it is by starting this program up and then clicking "Start Booster" followed by "send to Background", then load GPS Status, hopefully once you see some satellites on GPS status and have a fix, you can now load your sat nav software or google maps, I use co-pilot.
Once you have finished with using the GPS, remember to stop Tracker Booster as it runs in the background and keeps your GPS on constantly which will no doubt drain the battery.
This so far has worked for me and as I have stated earlier, I need to do a few more trips before I can say that it works all the time.
I think this is the best solution until something better comes up.
This is not whats happening to me - When it's not working properly, I can't seem to get a fix at all, even after a long while. When I do get a fix, it works just fine even when the DHD is in my pocket, or facing sideways.
Has anyone one of you guys tried using gps status from android market?
Download it reset agps data than redownload agps data and that's it.
I get a fix in aprox 10s without it is few minutes
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Just wondering if anyone else is having this issue.
Noticing apps and widgets are not refreshing my location on request and still think I'm somewhere I was up to 24 hours ago. Seeing this on my home screen weather widget and in 4square; all data (weather and nearby venues) is for a geographic area I was before. But, it IS giving me up-to-date weather info.
If I reboot the phone I'm good for another day or so. Also if I enable GPS or go outside for good GPS signal its ok (until I turn off GPS or go inside for a while). I'm running stock kernal, non-rooted.
same here. seems to show the location i was in 15 minutes earlier with no way to refresh. quite annoying that i have to turn the gps on to get the correct location
I have my GPS enabled. Half of the time I'm using my phone, everything is good, everything works fine. But during the other half of the times, the GPS is constantly on the notification bar. I try restarting my phone, still up there in the notification bar with a 'solid' gps icon which says "Location set by GPS"... I can even turn the GPS off, and then on again, and it still doesn't fix the issue. As i turn on my "Maps" app for the first time, my location is already "accurate to 3 meters" before it even loads the map graphics... How do i figure out which app is causing this, and how do i stop this? it's irritating. I have to constantly check my phone to make sure the GPS isn't active and draining my battery. And please, don't say "Just turn off the GPS". Android is designed to work with the GPS enabled. Even if the GPS is toggled "on", it shouldn't be using it unless it needs it, therefore using zero battery. (Just like wifi is supposed to). thanks.
I have the same issue and it seems like it's Maps that's constantly trying to turn on GPS. Once I have GPS off, my battery life is a lot better. Tried uninstall Maps, clear data, re-install...but the issue is still there but not all the time...very annoyed.
Another reason might be an app that is using gps in the background. Facebook, twitter, and other apps might be the problem?
Sent from my SGH-T999
If you have your google search settings on to make local search better, then the GPS will be on.
Facebook, Maps are all GPS hogs.
Just turn it off and on when you need it, the GPS on the S3 locks in seconds anyway, so its not a problem.
I recently updated from CM 4.0.4 to CM 4.2.2 (10.1.3 to be exact), and I found that my gps is ALWAYS on, no matter what I do.
What I mean by is that, when I first boot the phone, gps is off, everything is good. Then I use an app that uses GPS - most likely Google Maps, which prompts me to turn on the GPS. I do that, GPS connects just fine, Google Maps locates me using GPS, everything is good.
The problem is when I turn OFF the GPS. I turn off the GPS via notification drawer GPS button, and GPS goes off, and I exit maps. The issue is then is shown in the battery history. Even when I turn off the GPS after using it, according to battery history it was never OFF, and from that point on it would keep showing GPS as on in the battery history.
What's funny is that even though it says GPS is on in the battery history, when I go to Locations Access it is clearly shown that Access to my location is OFF, and the gps box is greyed out as well. However, battery drain seems to suggest that GPS is actually eating away my battery, since my battery drain is significantly higher. Just to check if my GPS is actually on despite saying it is off in Location Access, I try using maps, and it is clear that GPS is not working in maps.
The only way to solve this funny situation is to reboot my phone, after which it would be shown that GPS is off in the battery history. However if I turn on GPS even once, the problem happens, all over again.
I have of course checked all my apps - the only apps that access GPS are Maps, Google Now, Facebook, and GO Weather, and I've made sure that location access in these apps are off. Well, with the Location Access in the system setting off in the first place, these shouldn't be working anyway.
I tried re-flashing 10.1.3, re-flashing gapps, and factory reset, to no avail. I suspect that kernel might be an issue, since I was using an old KT kernel before I updated, and it was slightly unstable. But if that is the case, I have no idea how to fix the kernel aside from re-flashing 10.1.3.
Can anyone help me solve this problem?
The trouble is that whenever the GPS module is ON (which btw is always on, device only) and I'm outside connected to 4G and I'm in move, Google Play services scan for GPS signal every 10-15 minutes or so. I can see a notification of that. When the GPS is OFF, there's no scanning of course. It's not scanning so much when I'm connected to the WiFi at home or work where I'm not/not so much in move. Is it normal? If no, how the heck to stop that?
See screenshot from Amplify with all blocked wakelocks and services, maybe it helps. maybe some of them is ccausing it. It's draining my battery like crazy, but very irritating to see that notification and I don't feel me comfortable with that. No big deal, but anyway...
Secondly, how is GPS working for you guys? I can't use mine inside... just can't, and the device only, battery save or high accuracy mode doesn't make any difference. I need to go outside (no matter of the mode) or come close to the window or go out on balcony to find my position and be positioned on for example Google Maps, to see where I'm. Can't get it to work when I'm inside. It's seeking and can't find anything in hours. Take my weather widget as another example. If I'm inside and it's time to update the weather on it, GPS notification is triggered, but it can't find my position and just keep scanning about 2-3 minutes until it decides that the location couldn't be found and stops with no weather info on the widget. It makes this weather app completely useless. Think how many wakelocks are triggered just of it, daily. I wanna get rid of that and finally have the possibility of finding GPS signal inside. I can tell you that when I'm outside, and no matter where I'm, the position is found instantly. It takes no more than 10 second to find my position and it's correct. No trouble there at all.
Shouldn't it find my position inside when the save battery/high accuracy mode is on, using my WiFi/4G to find them, at least some of them?
I'm running Oreo 8.1 OOS 5.1.5 stock ROM with EAS kernel, rooted Magisk v17.1, v18 apk. Worth saying that I even run Greenify to shallow hibernate some apps like Reedit and finally Xposed flashed through TWRP. Attached even a picture of all my Magisk and Xposed modules, maybe some of them is well knowing of causing it. Magisk module "Enable Doze" was installed a couple days ago and it's not that.
Thank you for your help in advance.
Here are the screenshots. Forgot to include them.
I have similar/same problem. Unfortunately, no idea how to fix it.