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Location Services has been randomly showing up

AlphaVictor87

AlphaVictor87

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2011
797
27
Saint Louis, MO
So i've gone through all my location services that i want on and made sure the things i want are either on or off.

It seems that almost every time i unlock my phone i see that little location services arrow in the status bar. I have all my apps closed, and i go into settings > privacy > location services. Theres nothing marked as "used recently" with a purple arrow. and this is only seconds after i unlock my phone and see the arrow.

Has anyone else been seeing this? i'm mainly worried because obviously that uses data and my new job is super weird about connecting to their wi-fi.

Apparently if i connect, my phone is technically "their" property or some crap like that.
 
AlphaVictor87 said:
So i've gone through all my location services that i want on and made sure the things i want are either on or off.

It seems that almost every time i unlock my phone i see that little location services arrow in the status bar. I have all my apps closed, and i go into settings > privacy > location services. Theres nothing marked as "used recently" with a purple arrow. and this is only seconds after i unlock my phone and see the arrow.

Has anyone else been seeing this? i'm mainly worried because obviously that uses data and my new job is super weird about connecting to their wi-fi.

Apparently if i connect, my phone is technically "their" property or some crap like that.
Click to expand...

I wish you could tap on that location arrow and immediately see what apps are using your location right then.

It's probably something from the system rather than an app. Do you have any location-based reminders set?
 
rorschach said:
I wish you could tap on that location arrow and immediately see what apps are using your location right then.

It's probably something from the system rather than an app. Do you have any location-based reminders set?
Click to expand...

I agree about seeing what is using it that would be great. And no i don't have any reminders at all.

SON OF A *****!!! went to unlock my phone and there was that little freaking arrow again!

I just hope whatever it is, its not eating up tons of data, i'm just going to have to be on the lookout for how much i use this month, i'm on a 2GB allowance with my plan.
 
AlphaVictor87 said:
I agree about seeing what is using it that would be great. And no i don't have any reminders at all.

SON OF A *****!!! went to unlock my phone and there was that little freaking arrow again!

I just hope whatever it is, its not eating up tons of data, i'm just going to have to be on the lookout for how much i use this month, i'm on a 2GB allowance with my plan.
Click to expand...

Oh wait. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services [very bottom]

Things like setting the time zone, location-based iAds, Genius for Apps, Wi-Fi network scanning all use location services. It's probably one of those.
 
rorschach said:
Oh wait. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services [very bottom]

Things like setting the time zone, location-based iAds, Genius for Apps, Wi-Fi network scanning all use location services. It's probably one of those.
Click to expand...

Boom i didn't even think about that, i'll have to check those next time i see it and see if its one of those.

I'll update this post if thats the case!
 
AlphaVictor87 said:
That is on, but no one has access. Not even my wife knows my password. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well strangely enough it is happening to me now. As soon as I unlock iPhone the location services indicator comes on for about 3-5 seconds then goes away.

The only thing I did recently was play around with Passbook. I think that is it in my case. (Even if I force quit passbook it doesn't stop the indicator showing on just about every unlock.)



Michael

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AlphaVictor87 said:
Boom i didn't even think about that, i'll have to check those next time i see it and see if its one of those.

I'll update this post if thats the case!
Click to expand...

I checked there right away and nothing was purple. A couple of things were gray but that only means last 24 hours.



Mike

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OK for me it was Passbook. Disabled location services for it and no more indicator when unlocking.




Mike
 
Maybe the arrow in this case is just showing that the system is getting a location fix on unlock, which seems like a reasonable thing, rather than waiting until you need locations services.

Regards,
Tom
 
This is nearly always passbook.

For some reason they chose to implement that by continually checking location instead of just using a geofence.
 
UPDATE: So i saw it happen about 3 times this morning and was quick enough to see what it was FINALLY!!!

It was Genius for Apps under system services.

anyone know what this does? can't find anything
 
I think this sounds like what people are reporting for Passbook passes set to show in lock screen based on store locations.

Instead of using geofence to check every few minutes in the background, they check for a few seconds every time you turn on your screen.
 
bripab007 said:
I think this sounds like what people are reporting for Passbook passes set to show in lock screen based on store locations.

Instead of using geofence to check every few minutes in the background, they check for a few seconds every time you turn on your screen.
Click to expand...

This is what causes the issue for me. I delete my Passes and the icon goes away. I have noticed a little bit of battery drain but it isn't horrible on the 4S. I think a geofence would be better than constantly checking but ehh....not sure how that would help if it still has to check location right?
 
Alrighty then, well i haven't used passbook and i think i may still be a bit confused how to use it.

But of all the Passbook enabled apps, i don't see a use for it right now, so i just turned off that location setting.

Thanks for the help guys! Love this community.
 
mtreys said:
This is what causes the issue for me. I delete my Passes and the icon goes away. I have noticed a little bit of battery drain but it isn't horrible on the 4S. I think a geofence would be better than constantly checking but ehh....not sure how that would help if it still has to check location right?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't a geofence use far more battery power than simply getting a quick location fix once when unlocked? When I have a location-based reminder set the GPS stays on till the reminder is cleared. To me that is constantly checking versus a few seconds when unlocking.

How would a geofence even work if the device didn't know its location constantly?




Mike
 
Tinmania said:
Wouldn't a geofence use far more battery power than simply getting a quick location fix once when unlocked? When I have a location-based reminder set the GPS stays on till the reminder is cleared. To me that is constantly checking versus a few seconds when unlocking.

How would a geofence even work if the device didn't know its location constantly?




Mike
Click to expand...
IIRC geo-fencing uses cell-towers for rough location. When you move out of the designated set of cell towers it fires up the GPS and checks your location, falling back to the geo-fence if you are not at the place where the alert is supposed to fire.
 
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