Location Services key to saving battery life

[hokiepokie07]

I keep location service on all the time. I usually get about 2 days of use. When I could cut it off it would be the same.

If it was tracking you constantly your batter would barely last a day. Think of it when you use maps or something, it drains it pretty quickly.

 

[Dominat0r]

funny, i posted this last night but...yes...location services eats ALOT of battery.

i actually tested location services last night as a friend and i were talking about GPS in sleep mode.

Using SBSettings, i normally keep location services off until i need it. I charged my phone to 90% and yanked the plug. Normally with my phone in sleep mode i use about 1-2% at the most. When i woke up this morning, my phone was at 78%. This was about 7 hours time in stand by, only turned on this morning to check the time.

Of course, this is how accurate Battery Control is, however, its for certain noticeable battery drain with location services turned on.

In fact, turning it off has been the best single change ive done to increase battery life.

 

[BMac702]

Location Services does not turn on unless your using it. Although sometimes maps runs in the background and uses up location services. The real battery saver is this: unless the convo is less than 30 seconds, turn off 3G for every phone call. Youd be surprised how little your battery drains on edge on a call

 

[jason221]

Location Services being turned on doesn't seem to make a large difference in battery life for me, but I don't have any usage/percentage stats to back that up.

I am at a loss, though. After 1 hr, 3 min of usage, my percentage says 89%. However, my percentage according to Free Memory is 86%.

???

 

[-aggie-]

Location Services being turned on doesn't seem to make a large difference in battery life for me, but I don't have any usage/percentage stats to back that up.

I am at a loss, though. After 1 hr, 3 min of usage, my percentage says 89%. However, my percentage according to Free Memory is 86%.

???

Please stop looking at battery % for your own sanity. It's not that accurate, and 3% difference is not enough to worry about.

 

[jason221]

Please stop looking at battery % for your own sanity. It's not that accurate, and 3% difference is not enough to worry about.

My cousin's 3Gs percentage is the same as his free memory app, though. I'm just confused as to why mine is off. It's the official 3Gs toggle, didn't install anything to enable it.

 

[_Refurbished_]

I'm pretty sure if you have Location Services "On", it reduces battery life regardless of whether you use applications w/ GPS. The antenna gets turned "on".

If it didn't help, why give the option to turn it off? It's not like turning off Location Services will avoid annoying popup messages, so what would be the reason otherwise?

In fact, this is one of the biggest flaws in the iPhone OS. GPS should be enabled or disabled. You should be able to hit a slider that "gives up privacy" or "protects you". You shouldn't be prompted by each application, that's a Microsoft protection method.... If anything, Apple should make it off by default and let you enable it based on each application in the specific application setting. I'm getting a little bit off topic, but I hope Apple does something to address this annoyance in a future software update.

 

[thelatinist]

I'm pretty sure if you have Location Services "On", it reduces battery life regardless of whether you use applications w/ GPS. The antenna gets turned "on".

If it didn't help, why give the option to turn it off? It's not like turning off Location Services will avoid annoying popup messages, so what would be the reason otherwise?

GPS antennas can't get turned "on." They are completely passive pieces of metal. They do not broadcast, all they do is pick up beacon signals from the GPS satellites. It is the GPS-enabled apps which can get turned on and which use the battery, presumeably for contacting the aGPS servers, performing tower triangulation, and performing the calculations required to determine your location.

As has been said numerous times, the option to turn Location Services off allows you to use location-enabled apps without using system resources (and therefore battery) for Location Services. If you have location services on for instance, Maps will drain your battery far faster than if it is turned off.

 

[hsk]

For me, by far the biggest drain on battery is phone calls. An hour phone call can knock 20% off pretty easily.

 

[_Refurbished_]

GPS antennas can't get turned "on." They are completely passive pieces of metal. They do not broadcast, all they do is pick up beacon signals from the GPS satellites. It is the GPS-enabled apps which can get turned on and which use the battery, presumeably for contacting the aGPS servers, performing tower triangulation, and performing the calculations required to determine your location.

As has been said numerous times, the option to turn Location Services off allows you to use location-enabled apps without using system resources (and therefore battery) for Location Services. If you have location services on for instance, Maps will drain your battery far faster than if it is turned off.

I understood it was posted numerous times, no need to be redundant. Last year I read the opposite, so I could be misinformed...which is why I stated I was "pretty sure" and not "sure". I am interested to get an Official ruling on this as I will need to alter my Battery Guide if the information I received was false.

You have a link to back up your claims?

 

[thelatinist]

You have a link to back up your claims?

You want a link to explain how antennae work?