Wish I Could Set Up This Smart Action

[RicKaysen]

I leave the GPS radio turned off to conserve the battery. I just don't use Navigation very often. When I do, it would be nice if opening up the Nav app would automatically turn on GPS and turn it off when closed. And, yes, I do feel lazy.

 

[DocsDad]

I leave the GPS radio turned off to conserve the battery. I just don't use Navigation very often. When I do, it would be nice if opening up the Nav app would automatically turn on GPS and turn it off when closed. And, yes, I do feel lazy.

Unless you have an "app" that is using GPS for location running in the background, I believe just turning off the Nav app drops GPS. It will not drain battery on its own.

Can I get a confirmation or correction on this from someone out there?

 

[Trash Can]

Unless you have an "app" that is using GPS for location running in the background, I believe just turning off the Nav app drops GPS. It will not drain battery on its own.

Can I get a confirmation or correction on this from someone out there?

Yes, this is correct. The GPS is only on and active when needed by an app (nav, maps, etc).

 

[Zandar]

Honestly, I found that I didn't save any appreciable battery with the GPS antenna turned off. All it did was make it take forever to get a lock those few times I turned it back on for navigation or maps. Just leave it on, in my opinion.

Sliced from my RAZR

 

[JohnnytheK]

Yeah, I agree keep GPS on, off doesn't save any battery.

 

[Armeo]

I'm not a 100% sure about this, but GPS might be used by some apps that use location services during background updates. For example, a weather app/widget. I keep mine off anyway, and turn it on whenever required, even though I have location services turned off for most of my apps (I just keep it fixed as my home city as I rarely travel).

As far as using a smart action for it is concerned, there's no trigger for applications. But if you navigate only when driving and use a car dock or a bluetooth device while driving, you could have it as a trigger to turn the GPS on. That way you won't have GPS on all the time, but if you ever need it while driving, you'll find it on.

 

[RicKaysen]

It's good to know GPS doen't impact battery life very much, but when it's checked in settings, I assume it's on whether an app is using it or not.

 

[Crf450r420]

My other phones I left GPS on and used in many cases to activate other options that drain battery with Tasker. Like turning on and of wifi based on when I'm in a location where I know I have GPS. Never found GPS to use that much power, I of course turned the GPS check on tasker to every 10 mins.