Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Location Services Constantly 'On' in iOS 11

Sirious

Sirious

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 2, 2013
1,674
2,908
United Kingdom, London
Ever since I updated to iOS 11, there is a persistent location services icon (arrow) in the status bar. It simply does not stop tracking me! It switches between being an outline and a filled in arrow, however.

I have checked in settings, and it is "Significant Locations" that might be doing this. Every time I check, that arrow is purple, but I don't remember it always tracking my location in previous version of iOS. However, I would like to keep that on as I find it useful. I've tried turning that one off, and doesn't help too much anyway.

I have location services off (from the start) for many apps that I don't need to share my location with, but this persistent icon is something new they've done in iOS 11 and I'm worried about my battery life on my 5s. I don't want to turn off location services completely as that would defeat the purpose of maps etc.

Any ideas or reasons why they've done this?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: nikster0029
Do you have an Apple Watch?

But yes, I also have the same icon showing despite having the same settings from iOS 10 (where I set everything to only whilst using vs Always).
 
So I've noticed that the icon coincides with the new location icon shown on the Apple Watch in WatchOS 4. If you swipe up to the control center, you'll see it at the top right. So perhaps it now remains on iOS for the purpose of indicating the Apple Watch status?
 
Sirious said:
Ever since I updated to iOS 11, there is a persistent location services icon (arrow) in the status bar. It simply does not stop tracking me! I switches between being an outline and a filled in arrow, however.

I have checked in settings, and it is "Significant Locations" that might be doing this. Every time I check, that arrow is purple, but I don't remember it always tracking my location in previous version of iOS. However, I would like to keep that on as I find it useful. I've tried turning that one off, and doesn't help too much anyway.

I have location services off (from the start) for many apps that I don't need to share my location with, but this persistent icon is something new they've done in iOS 11 and I'm worried about my battery life on my 5s. I don't want to turn off location services completely as that would defeat the purpose of maps etc.

Any ideas or reasons why they've done this?
Click to expand...

Also noticed this with earlier iOS 11 betas. However the description changed in Privacy -» Location Services -» System Services. A hollow (outline) arrow prior to iOS 11 referred to geofencing but now it says "A hollow arrow indicates that an item may receive your location under certain conditions." So I think it's not constantly using the GPS, only in "certain" conditions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sundog925
I've been having the problem and it found that the settings were not properly telling me what was REALLY causing it to stay on. It turned off for me when I turned off "frequent locations".
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigMcGuire
PCtoMAC1 said:
I've been having the problem and it found that the settings were not properly telling me what was REALLY causing it to stay on. It turned off for me when I turned off "frequent locations".
Click to expand...

I take it back....that has NOT fixed the problem. :mad:
 
  • Like
Reactions: nikster0029
I’ve tried disabling mostly everything in location services including system services. I am convinced this is tied to being paired with a watch on OS4. I turned off Bluetooth and indicator goes away. Curious if those with issues also have an Apple Watch?
 
gatorworm said:
I’ve tried disabling mostly everything in location services including system services. I am convinced this is tied to being paired with a watch on OS4. I turned off Bluetooth and indicator goes away. Curious if those with issues also have an Apple Watch?
Click to expand...

Yep - Apple Watch here...it turns off when I turn BT off.
 
No Apple watch and always have the hollow arrow.

*EDIT* Just found out its routing and traffic in System Services
 
I am glad I am not the only one with this frustrating issue. I do not have Apple Watch and all of my apps are either set to never use the location or use when in use and yet I get the hollow location icon.

in iOS10 I had all the services turned on under system services, and never saw the location icon on unless I was using the app, so I do not understand why all of sudden the change how this works.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MyMacintosh
mlody said:
I am glad I am not the only one with this frustrating issue. I do not have Apple Watch and all of my apps are either set to never use the location or use when in use and yet I get the hollow location icon.

in iOS10 I had all the services turned on under system services, and never saw the location icon on unless I was using the app, so I do not understand why all of sudden the change how this works.
Click to expand...

Probably the difference of "Status Bar Icon" being On versus Off for the System Services location services. The default setting for that is 'Off', but it's possible the update turned that on for whatever reason.

Check Settings.app > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > (Scroll to bottom) Status Bar Icon
 
  • Like
Reactions: Snerch
Its 'Routing and Traffic' in System Services on mine. As soon as I disable that option it disappears.
 
I have the same issue now that iOS 11 is officially out and the problem for me is due to 3 system location services: motion calibration & distance; wi-fi networking; and compass calibration. I had to turn all three off because they would just cause the hollow arrow to stay always on (after successfully finding location with a solid arrow), making it look like permanent geofencing even though it's not. I wish it behaved like before because I can no longer use these location services if they always remain in the status bar. The worst of the three is motion calibration & distance, because as soon as I turn it back on, the hollow arrow comes back. The other two sometimes disappear, but eventually stay as the empty arrow.
 
I have this happening to me too. I’m pretty sure it’s due to the Apple Watch. Before I updated it to watchOS 4, I didn’t have this problem. I can fix it by setting Weather to “while using app”, but I don’t want that. I want the always setting.
 
It seems that in iOS 11 Apple wants to show you when something is using or has used location services. During the beta you’d get a double blue bar (like when using maps) which was really was annoying. Now it’s back to the location icon again, thankfully. Unfortunately, I’ve found that the icon itself is meaningless when it’s always on in the status bar; too much info and it gets ignored. At least it doesn’t seem to be burning battery life.
 
QuarterSwede said:
It seems that in iOS 11 Apple wants to show you when something is using or has used location services. During the beta you’d get a double blue bar (like when using maps) which was really was annoying. Now it’s back to the location icon again, thankfully. Unfortunately, I’ve found that the icon itself is meaningless when it’s always on in the status bar; too much info and it gets ignored. At least it doesn’t seem to be burning battery life.
Click to expand...
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-on-all-the-time.2069422/page-3#post-25095231
 
  • Like
Reactions: Renegade72
Sirious said:
Ever since I updated to iOS 11, there is a persistent location services icon (arrow) in the status bar. It simply does not stop tracking me! I switches between being an outline and a filled in arrow, however.

I have checked in settings, and it is "Significant Locations" that might be doing this. Every time I check, that arrow is purple, but I don't remember it always tracking my location in previous version of iOS. However, I would like to keep that on as I find it useful. I've tried turning that one off, and doesn't help too much anyway.

I have location services off (from the start) for many apps that I don't need to share my location with, but this persistent icon is something new they've done in iOS 11 and I'm worried about my battery life on my 5s. I don't want to turn off location services completely as that would defeat the purpose of maps etc.

Any ideas or reasons why they've done this?
Click to expand...


Apple Watch generates the issue. If you have upgraded to watch OS 4 then I don’t think there is any way out. After I unpaired mine things got back to normal. And yes indeed there is battery usage even if the watch is turned off. I think Apple should look into this as it makes no sense to have the watch off and still have this issue
 
GeorgeDeme said:
Apple Watch generates the issue. If you have upgraded to watch OS 4 then I don’t think there is any way out. After I unpaired mine things got back to normal. And yes indeed there is battery usage even if the watch is turned off. I think Apple should look into this as it makes no sense to have the watch off and still have this issue
Click to expand...

It's definitely not Apple Watch causing the issue. I have been using iOS 11 since the GM was available, without updating my Apple Watch to watchOS 4, and the icon has been persistently there.

Perhaps Apple has tweaked their location service algorithm or made the icon more 'true'.
 
Sirious said:
Ever since I updated to iOS 11, there is a persistent location services icon (arrow) in the status bar. It simply does not stop tracking me! I switches between being an outline and a filled in arrow, however.

I have checked in settings, and it is "Significant Locations" that might be doing this. Every time I check, that arrow is purple, but I don't remember it always tracking my location in previous version of iOS. However, I would like to keep that on as I find it useful. I've tried turning that one off, and doesn't help too much anyway.

I have location services off (from the start) for many apps that I don't need to share my location with, but this persistent icon is something new they've done in iOS 11 and I'm worried about my battery life on my 5s. I don't want to turn off location services completely as that would defeat the purpose of maps etc.

Any ideas or reasons why they've done this?
Click to expand...

I updated to iOS 11 last week, and I don't have the Locations Services arrow in my status bar. Of course, I have Location Services disabled. After any OS update I go through my Settings thoroughly because I've found Apple "helpfully" turns some things back on, and Location is the main one. After so many years with iPhones I still haven't found a single reason to ever have Location activated.

You may also have a botched install. On my iPhone 5, a botched install of iOS 8 (I think) resulted in Location Services being turned on permanently, with the on/off slider greyed out. I had to do a complete wipe and reinstall in order to get it to stop. Have you tried turning off Location Services completely to see if you can get the tracking to stop?
 
  • Like
Reactions: kazmac
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back