6 ms·

> Some random bad design: if you turn off location services, which I do because of the marginal battery life, Maps will just sit around waiting for a location--

> Some random bad design: if you turn off location services, which I do because of the marginal battery life, Maps will just sit around waiting for a location--it won't tell you to turn it on in the preferences. I turn off location services (not because of the impact on battery life[0] but because I don't want to send my location to Google 24/7). Every time I open Google Maps and try to find the current location, I get a popup telling me to turn on location services[1]. [0] Neither GPS nor Google location services has a noticeable impact on battery life - the thing that will have a noticeable impact on battery life is when an app holds a lock on the GPS/location services (which actually has nothing to do with whether location services are on, since they can lock locations services even when they're off - an easy example of a culprit here is Foursquare's main app). [1] https://imgur.com/pGh3TUE https://imgur.com/pGh3TUE

rayiner 12y ago
If you don't hit the locate button but instead just get directions from "my location" you won't get the popup.
- chimeracoder 12y ago
  Yes, I do: https://i.imgur.com/srw0gMj.png https://i.imgur.com/srw0gMj.png
  - rayiner 12y ago
    Well I don't: http://imgur.com/nbpMiDp http://imgur.com/nbpMiDp I have location turned off using the quick setting.
    - chimeracoder 12y ago
      You have turned off location services (coarse location) but not GPS (fine location). As a technology, GPS gives better accuracy and precision, but at the cost of possibly taking longer to provide a reading, and they generally require a clear view of the sky because of how they work[0]. Google's location services have varying accuracy and precision (usually good, but sometimes way off), but return a reading almost immediately. The reason that the UI is prompting you to wait instead of prompting you to turn on location services is because you don't need to turn on location services - you just need to wait until the GPS gets a solid reading (which could take either seconds or minutes, depending on where you are, whether you're inside or outside, etc.) By default, Android turns on both together, and the assumption across the OS is that you're using both, because there's very little downside to doing so. I can see why that UI might be confusing to you, but if you're turning off coarse location services while leaving on the GPS, you're not really using the device the way it's intended (nor the way that it defaults to being used), so I can see why the UI isn't tailored for that use case. For what it's worth, in your case, I'm puzzled by why you would want to leave GPS on but location services off. You mention battery life, but since the former is the one that is a larger draw on the battery (and as I mentioned before, neither one is a major draw on the battery as much as the lock is), you'd probably be much happier leaving both on all the time (or to leave location services on but turn the GPS off[1]). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS#Basic_concept_of_GPS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS#Basic_concept_of_GPS [1] For most mobile applications, GPS is actually overkill and the coarse location services will probably suffice. The only time I've ever needed the precision that the GPS provides is when I need turn-by-turn directions.
redacted 12y ago
I know this is not an option for a lot of people - it requires root access to the device - but there is an Xposed module which disables the popups for location services [0]. I use it with Tasker to selectively enable and disable location services, but it may help you. [0] http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.mohammadag.disablelocationconsent http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.mohammadag.disablelocatio...

rayiner 12y ago

If you don't hit the locate button but instead just get directions from "my location" you won't get the popup.

chimeracoder 12y ago
Yes, I do: https://i.imgur.com/srw0gMj.png https://i.imgur.com/srw0gMj.png
- rayiner 12y ago
  Well I don't: http://imgur.com/nbpMiDp http://imgur.com/nbpMiDp I have location turned off using the quick setting.
  - chimeracoder 12y ago
    You have turned off location services (coarse location) but not GPS (fine location). As a technology, GPS gives better accuracy and precision, but at the cost of possibly taking longer to provide a reading, and they generally require a clear view of the sky because of how they work[0]. Google's location services have varying accuracy and precision (usually good, but sometimes way off), but return a reading almost immediately. The reason that the UI is prompting you to wait instead of prompting you to turn on location services is because you don't need to turn on location services - you just need to wait until the GPS gets a solid reading (which could take either seconds or minutes, depending on where you are, whether you're inside or outside, etc.) By default, Android turns on both together, and the assumption across the OS is that you're using both, because there's very little downside to doing so. I can see why that UI might be confusing to you, but if you're turning off coarse location services while leaving on the GPS, you're not really using the device the way it's intended (nor the way that it defaults to being used), so I can see why the UI isn't tailored for that use case. For what it's worth, in your case, I'm puzzled by why you would want to leave GPS on but location services off. You mention battery life, but since the former is the one that is a larger draw on the battery (and as I mentioned before, neither one is a major draw on the battery as much as the lock is), you'd probably be much happier leaving both on all the time (or to leave location services on but turn the GPS off[1]). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS#Basic_concept_of_GPS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS#Basic_concept_of_GPS [1] For most mobile applications, GPS is actually overkill and the coarse location services will probably suffice. The only time I've ever needed the precision that the GPS provides is when I need turn-by-turn directions.

redacted 12y ago

I know this is not an option for a lot of people - it requires root access to the device - but there is an Xposed module which disables the popups for location services [0]. I use it with Tasker to selectively enable and disable location services, but it may help you. [0] http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.mohammadag.disablelocationconsent http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.mohammadag.disablelocatio...