Maps and Latitude - how can I make sure its not draining my battery?

[DCLawyer68]

Are there settings I can choose so it doesn't automatically turn on?

 

[vosg]

What you call 'turn on' is just caching, it does not necessarily mean that these apps are doing anything.

 

[takeshi]

How have you determined that it's draining your battery?

Now, your GPS receiver, on the other hand, will definitely drain your battery if it's active. Simply turning it on won't really have any impact.

 

[Darkseas]

How can I make sure it's not draining my battery?

Settings>About Phone>Battery Usage

Are there settings I can choose so it doesn't automatically turn on?

In Latitude, reject the ability to share your location the first time you open it. If you never open it, it won't share.

Also, If you're really concerned, make sure under

Settings>Location and Privacy

you have neither GPS nor wireless networks checked. This will degrade some apps' ability to provide you data, e.g. weather apps, but you can almost always enter a zip code manually to provide the location for which you want the data.

In my experience, it's not the app that burns up battery, but rather the use of GPS or 3G/4G to download location/data -- and as Takeshi said, above, only if the GPS is active.

 

[itsallgood]

On my Atrix, I make sure GPS is only on when I need it. I have each app set to close in my task manager, when the phone goes to sleep. Only down side to this is that, when I wake my phone, I have to open the apps again. No biggy though.