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3G Battery Improvement: Turn Off Location Services

C

chicagdan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 3, 2002
723
0
Chicago, IL
I've been getting absolutely horrific battery usage on my 3G iPhone ... 3 or 4 hours with little or no talk time and very light app usage. I toyed around with settings the last couple days and made this discovery -- the single biggest improvement in battery usage came when I turned off location services.

Massive improvement -- basically doubled my battery life. Anyone else experienced this or toyed around with settings?
 
I've wondered about this. I was hoping that Location services wouldn't take any power unless you used an app that needed them?

Are you using Google Maps, or anything that would use the Location Services?
 
I haven't done much research into this but I have turned off location services then went to Google Maps and hit the locate button, this turned the services back on right away without having to worry about going back to the preferences menu. So it seems like it doesn't hurt to leave them off until you actually need to use the GPS.
 
If you try to use an app that wants your GPS on, it will ask you to turn it on. Leave location services off! This is common sense!!! If you arent using GPS, why would you have it on!? Same with 3G... I dont leave that on unless i need it for internet.
 
bbplayer5 said:
If you try to use an app that wants your GPS on, it will ask you to turn it on. Leave location services off! This is common sense!!! If you arent using GPS, why would you have it on!? Same with 3G... I dont leave that on unless i need it for internet.
Click to expand...

That doesn't make sense.

The real question is: why does the phone leave it on if you aren't using it? Shouldn't this be automatic?
 
bbplayer5 said:
How did that not make any sense?
Click to expand...

If the current app isn't using GPS, the GPS shouldn't be powered on. You shouldn't have to flip a switch every time you are finished using it. I still question exactly what the Location Services switch does. It would be nice if Apple supplied a bit more information about it and how the GPS functions.
 
So, in summary, I need to turn off the actual features that I purchased the phone for in the first place in order to get more than 3-4 hours of use out of it? Well, at least I can sit it on the table and look at it and say to everyone....look, theres my 3G iphone but dont pick it up cause the battery might die.
 
Loonytik said:
So, in summary, I need to turn off the actual features that I purchased the phone for in the first place in order to get more than 3-4 hours of use out of it? Well, at least I can sit it on the table and look at it and say to everyone....look, theres my 3G iphone but dont pick it up cause the battery might die.
Click to expand...


You spam every thread with your nonsense. The fact that mobile phones get "bad" (more like unacceptable to the people who don't understand the technology) battery life when they are using 3G and GPS is a fact of life, and the iPhone is comparable with other phones with similar features.
 
Loonytik said:
So, in summary, I need to turn off the actual features that I purchased the phone for in the first place in order to get more than 3-4 hours of use out of it? Well, at least I can sit it on the table and look at it and say to everyone....look, theres my 3G iphone but dont pick it up cause the battery might die.
Click to expand...

I don't see any ideas coming from you. What are you going to do, personally supervise the making of a better battery and ship them to every single 3G owner immediately? No? Then give it a rest. At least some of us are trying to help.
 
Noticing the same thing. No Location, better battery life. Only problem is that once you turn it on in an app like Google Maps, it says on and does not go back off, untill you go back into the settings and turn it off.
 
cannot turn off location services. I reset the settings and location services and still cant turn off.

i cant receive phone calls or texts either after installation of 3.01. i have a iPhone 1G

any help?
 
Fuchal said:
If the current app isn't using GPS, the GPS shouldn't be powered on. You shouldn't have to flip a switch every time you are finished using it. I still question exactly what the Location Services switch does. It would be nice if Apple supplied a bit more information about it and how the GPS functions.
Click to expand...

That's akin to saying turning 3G on should leave the radio off until its needed.

Locations services turns on GPS and also automatically allows location tracking on Apps where you have permitted it.

I disagree that the GPS should shut off when not in use, what Apple needs to do is make it simpler to access those toggles. They either need to buy SBSettings, or give is a Favorites pane in the top level of the settings app..
 
Fuchal said:
That doesn't make sense.

The real question is: why does the phone leave it on if you aren't using it? Shouldn't this be automatic?
Click to expand...

With locations services on, the phone is constantly recalculating your location whether you are using apps or not. It is THE single biggest battery drain. I thought this was common knowledge though.
 
iphone.aggie said:
Supposedly, that's only if you have the Maps app open. Otherwise, it doesn't drain the battery.
Click to expand...

Turn location services on and don't go into the maps application all day. Your phone will be nearly dead by dinner. I'm assuming it is constantly recalculating, because it constantly drains the battery, and that is the only thing that would make sense.

Try it. Just make sure you have your charger handy.
 
i left my phone unplugged last night and it used only 10% battery. biggest hog i've seen is checking email every 15 minutes. i left exchange on push and set gmail, hotmail and yahoo to fetch manually and battery life is now much better.

i used to use 5% or so on the train ride home only listening to music. now it's only 1% because it's not constantly using the radio to fetch email
 
NDimichino said:
Turn location services on and don't go into the maps application all day. Your phone will be nearly dead by dinner. I'm assuming it is constantly recalculating, because it constantly drains the battery, and that is the only thing that would make sense.

Try it. Just make sure you have your charger handy.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but you have something else causing your battery drain. It's not LS being on. See this thread for more:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/771112/
 
I have never turned LS off except for some "testing". Noticed no difference. Right now my phone has been on for one hour and 30 minutes. still at 100%. I can go all day with no issues.

Something else is causing your problems.
 
I keep everything on, location services, 3G, WiFi, Push email with contacts and calendar and screen at it's default, just slightly less than half. I ended up with 3 days, 7 hours standby before I finally had to charge my 3GS. This cap was when it hit 3 days. I love my 32GB 3GS!

photo3y.jpg
 
SpaceKitty said:
I keep everything on, location services, 3G, WiFi, Push email with contacts and calendar and screen at it's default, just slightly less than half. I ended up with 3 days, 7 hours standby before I finally had to charge my 3GS. This cap was when it hit 3 days. I love my 32GB 3GS!

photo3y.jpg
Click to expand...

Means nothing.

You could be playing music all day long. 10hrs with 3 days standby with anything other than music does not seem feasible. Especially with the signal you are getting on your phone. That alone tells me your phone will be working harder to keep the signal.

Posting screen shots of these somewhat "illusive" usage/standby times is pretty much void. Phone charge is dependent on what you are doing and your quality of service.

Heck, I can get the same usage if I don't use my phone and just use it for music and some talk.
 
SpaceKitty said:
I keep everything on, location services, 3G, WiFi, Push email with contacts and calendar and screen at it's default, just slightly less than half. I ended up with 3 days, 7 hours standby before I finally had to charge my 3GS. This cap was when it hit 3 days. I love my 32GB 3GS!

photo3y.jpg
Click to expand...

How much of that usage is internet though?
 
AbSoluTc said:
Means nothing.

You could be playing music all day long. 10hrs with 3 days standby with anything other than music does not seem feasible. Especially with the signal you are getting on your phone. That alone tells me your phone will be working harder to keep the signal.

Posting screen shots of these somewhat "illusive" usage/standby times is pretty much void. Phone charge is dependent on what you are doing and your quality of service.

Heck, I can get the same usage if I don't use my phone and just use it for music and some talk.
Click to expand...

But it does prove that people shouldn't have to turn off WiFi, 3G and anything else just to get an iPhone to get through the day.
 
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