Location services all messed up

[sunking101]

I have been having a bit of battery drain with 8.1.2 and couldn't work out why it wasn't present when using an old iPhone 5 backup, but was when setting the phone up as new or after resetting all settings.
I seem to have got to the bottom of it though and the problem lies with location services. The new iOS8 way of doing it allows app developers more control over when their apps use device location. In the settings you will see the permissions as being always/never/whilst using the app. Sadly it is up to the developer whether they include the 'whilst using the app' setting! So some apps only have 'always' and 'never' as options. Even if you haven't used an app for weeks and it is not in the recent apps tray, of if it has never ever been opened on a particular install of iOS, it can still use location services in the background if the app location setting is set to 'always'!

There appears to be a bug in the iOS location settings too, because the grey/purple location icons do not light up next to these apps even if they have been using location services in the background. I experimented and toggled all the 'always' settings to 'never' on those apps that don't have a 'whilst using the app' setting and bingo, my battery life improved significantly. It's a shame that some of these apps are ones I consider to be keepers, such as TomTom and AroundMe. However, whilst location services is operating in this new and inappropriate manner, I will just have to toggle them on before using them and then switch them back off again.

 

[Armen]

I have been having a bit of battery drain with 8.1.2 and couldn't work out why it wasn't present when using an old iPhone 5 backup, but was when setting the phone up as new or after resetting all settings.
I seem to have got to the bottom of it though and the problem lies with location services. The new iOS8 way of doing it allows app developers more control over when their apps use device location. In the settings you will see the permissions as being always/never/whilst using the app. Sadly it is up to the developer whether they include the 'whilst using the app' setting! So some apps only have 'always' and 'never' as options. Even if you haven't used an app for weeks and it is not in the recent apps tray, of if it has never ever been opened on a particular install of iOS, it can still use location services in the background if the app location setting is set to 'always'!

There appears to be a bug in the iOS location settings too, because the grey/purple location icons do not light up next to these apps even if they have been using location services in the background. I experimented and toggled all the 'always' settings to 'never' on those apps that don't have a 'whilst using the app' setting and bingo, my battery life improved significantly. It's a shame that some of these apps are ones I consider to be keepers, such as TomTom and AroundMe. However, whilst location services is operating in this new and inappropriate manner, I will just have to toggle them on before using them and then switch them back off again.

If what you are saying is true I should be experiencing the same issues.

I have location services enabled for every app including the "always on" ones like Waze.
I have system location services all enabled except "send diagnostics information"
I have background app refresh turned on for all apps

With all this being said I get easily 8-10 hours of heavy usage and maybe 1.5 days with light to moderate usage.

If you do have a battery drain it's not coming from location services or background refresh. How is your signal strength?

 

[sunking101]

I don't know what to tell you because I have all my location services enabled for all apps including "always on" ones like Waze along with background refresh on all apps and do not see any battery issues.

With respect, if you have the whole caboodle toggled on then you'll know no different. By that I mean that my own location services are locked down very tightly. I can tell instantly that something is awry with my battery life. Also, specific apps may make more out of this 'loophole' than others. I had a system warning that my National Rail app was working in the background and it was this that alerted me to the problem as I've never, ever used that app and it hasn't been opened even once on this install of iOS.

 

[Armen]

With respect, if you have the whole caboodle toggled on then you'll know no different. By that I mean that my own location services are locked down very tightly. I can tell instantly that something is awry with my battery life. Also, specific apps may make more out of this 'loophole' than others. I had a system warning that my National Rail app was working in the background and it was this that alerted me to the problem as I've never, ever used that app and it hasn't been opened even once on this install of iOS.

Here's my take on the situation with respect right back at you.

When Apple gauges battery life on these devices I do not think they do it with location services and background app refresh turned off.

With that being said I am getting 8-10 hours of usage from my phone. If turning all of these features off would gain me an additional 10 hours or more I could understand but for a few hours here and there I personally don't think it's worth the hassle of manually turning these things on and off.

I don't live on a deserted island or in a forest where a power source is hard to come by. I have a charger at work, in my car, at home.

 

[sunking101]

Here's my take on the situation with respect right back at you.

When Apple gauges battery life on these devices I do not think they do it with location services and background app refresh turned off.

With that being said I am getting 8-10 hours of usage from my phone. If turning all of these features off would gain me an additional 10 hours or more I could understand but for a few hours here and there I personally don't think it's worth the hassle of manually turning these things on and off.

I don't live on a deserted island or in a forest where a power source is hard to come by. I have a charger at work, in my car, at home.

I too have location services switched on because I use apps that need it. However, with iOS8 it appears that certain apps (perhaps badly coded) are using location services when they shouldn't be, or at least when they need not. I see no point having an app I use rarely, if at all, adding to my battery drain. The 'whilst the app is in use' setting should be implemented with *all* apps, period, and I don't like that iOS8 allows developers to have free reign like this. Plenty of apps do indeed offer the 'whilst the app is in use' setting but a few rogue apps do not tow the line here. It is unhelpful and frustrating for me to have to switch these particular apps off completely. However, it is worth it to me for the extra 1-1.5 hours of usage time that it gives me in my particular case.

 

[Armen]

I too have location services switched on because I use apps that need it. However, with iOS8 it appears that certain apps (perhaps badly coded) are using location services when they shouldn't be, or at least when they need not. I see no point having an app I use rarely, if at all, adding to my battery drain. The 'whilst the app is in use' setting should be implemented with *all* apps, period, and I don't like that iOS8 allows developers to have free reign like this. Plenty of apps do indeed offer the 'whilst the app is in use' setting but a few rogue apps do not tow the line here. It is unhelpful and frustrating for me to have to switch these particular apps off completely. However, it is worth it to me for the extra 1-1.5 hours of usage time that it gives me in my particular case.

I found this on Reddit

"The API for requesting access to location only when the app is in use just appeared in iOS8. So any app written against iOS7 or earlier SDKs can only be set to always/never. As apps rev to the new SDK, "when in use" should appear for more apps.".

 

[sunking101]

I found this on Reddit

"The API for requesting access to location only when the app is in use just appeared in iOS8. So any app written against iOS7 or earlier SDKs can only be set to always/never. As apps rev to the new SDK, "when in use" should appear for more apps.".

Ah, good find.#