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App which shows what is using GPS, wireless etc?

O

olerass

Lurker
Hi all. Im the happy owner of a HTC Desire with android 2.1 and until lately it has been a pleasure.
A few hours ago the GPs symbol in the status bar popped up and its been there since. Usually the icon disappears after I close the app which uses it but this time it just seem to have come out of nowhere (didnt use any app at the time) and it doesnt go away. It is animating so it seems like the GPS is really being used.
Since I don't know which apps are using it I can't just turn it off either.

Is there an app on the market which displays what programs are currently using GPS, wireless and so on?
 
I don't have an app to suggest but make sure your browser isn't sitting on the Google homepage or any other page that uses your location.
 
Welcome to the forum! :D

I just wanted to add that some background services may cause your GPS to remain active even when you're not watching the app; for instance running/biking and other trail-recording apps.
Also, a lot of the apps that display ads also query your location (or rather, it's the ad-plugin that does it), but these should certainly not run while off-screen.

Have you been recently using any app that could conceivably make use of location?
 
The other thing is the fact that many phones have automatic geo-location in them (I forget the exact name) that allows emergency services to quickly find you if you're in an accident. I believe you can turn this off in the phone's SETTINGS. My wife's Eris has this feature, and as a result, her GPS is constantly on.
 
I checked that the browser isn't sitting at a page that uses GPS. That wasn't it.

I did install a lot of applications and games today but none of them seem to be running in the background, and on all that had the option I used the "Quit" or "Exit" menu in the application to ensure it did not run in the background.

The funny thing is that when I reboot the phone and don't use any apps it doesn't access the GPS even once. This may indicate that it isn't an "emergency service thing", because then I would think it should start using the GPS again.
So to me that suggests it must be an application which when used doesn't stop using the GPS again. Problem is I don't know which and even though I tried starting and stopping all apps the problem doesn't seem to appear right after any of the apps are started/closed so it is difficult telling which is the culprit.
One solution might be to reset the phone and install all apps again one by one but I'd rather not do that if another option exists.

If an app doesn't exists which can show you what apps are using the devices that would be a handy one indeed.
 
Is the camera open?

To possibly narrow down other possible culprits, go to settings>apps>manage apps and filter by running apps.

One by one , click on the apps and IF the app has access to Location then Force Stop it and see if the GPS icon goes away.

Keep in mind that stopping critical processes may cause the phone to crash, freeze etc, so I would start with less vital processes and go from there.

Not elegant, but might help track doen the app causing the problem.
 
Services run in the background, apps usually go into suspension when not active. So I would suggest starting with Settings > Applications > Running Services to see if there are any suspicious services running. Or you could just toggle the GPS on/off when needed to be safe.
 
download spare parts. theres an option in the batter usage options where you can select GPS usage. it'll tell you what is accessing GPS. its probably facebook.
 
rick311 said:
download spare parts. theres an option in the batter usage options where you can select GPS usage. it'll tell you what is accessing GPS. its probably facebook.
Click to expand...

Bingo!
I opened 'Settings|Application manager|Running' and started stopping services. After the facebook service was stopped, the GPS icon disappeared.

There is a way to turn off the location service in Facebook application - that's what I did.
 
sllava said:
Bingo!
I opened 'Settings|Application manager|Running' and started stopping services. After the facebook service was stopped, the GPS icon disappeared.

There is a way to turn off the location service in Facebook application - that's what I did.
Click to expand...
If you are rooted, you can download LBE Privacy Guard. It will allow you to pick and choose which apps can access certain parts of your phone. You can block facebook from accessing call logs, sms, mms, GPS etc...
 
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