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why can't I turn off location/gps from the power control widget?

G

gale65

Android Enthusiast
I used to be able to toggle it off and on (totally off) via the power control widget. Now i can only toggle between gps and network location services and I have to go into the settings/location to turn it all the way off. Is there a way to do it the old way? :confused:
 
I agree. My old Gingerbread phone had toggle on/off for mute and GPS, and KitKat 4.4.2 has neither in the pull down options. One of my few complaints.

I have to hit the power button now to mute the phone, which I do often, and I have to go into settings to toggle GPS. I'd like a faster way to do both.
 
Google restricted access for apps/widgets to change settings like GPS directly (security issue) in kitkat
If you have root, you can still do that
 
I have root but the stock ROM. I'm guessing there is a custom app or widget that do these toggles? I'll check into it.
 
If you are rooted, widgets like power toggles (link) will give you all these capabilities. I'm sure there are many more such apps - but this is the one that I use.
(stock ROM is just fine)
(You will need to permit power toggles to have superuser access when prompted of course)
 
thank you-I installed Power Toggles and set it up.

eta: even when I turn it on via power toggles it says "device only" in the location modes even if I had it set to regular accurate GPS before. I'm not sure how that mode when on the go using navigation so I'll try it out next time I'm out and about. If I have to change the mode anyway there's no point in using the widget for that although I like having other options that it offers.
 
gale65 said:
thank you-I installed Power Toggles and set it up.

eta: even when I turn it on via power toggles it says "device only" in the location modes even if I had it set to regular accurate GPS before. I'm not sure how that mode when on the go using navigation so I'll try it out next time I'm out and about. If I have to change the mode anyway there's no point in using the widget for that although I like having other options that it offers.
Click to expand...

Power toggles does switch between Battery saving and high accuracy - I just tried it.

What I have done is actually set up a tasker profile that will switch to "High accuracy" GPS mode when I launch Google Maps, and will switch to "Battery saving: when I exit Google Maps.
Even without this tasker profile, when you launch maps (don't have to be in "Navigation" when you are out and about), Maps will prompt you to enable GPS when you launch it. You just need to remember to exit to battery saving mode after you are done.
 
hmm mine is not doing that. If it's on it's on device only. If I tap it again it's just off. Then when I tap on, it's on device only again. Is there a setting I'm missing?
 
gale65 said:
hmm mine is not doing that. If it's on it's on device only. If I tap it again it's just off. Then when I tap on, it's on device only again. Is there a setting I'm missing?
Click to expand...

Try to set GPS to high accuracy manually, and then, tap the widget. Does it switch to battery saving? (go to location settings to verify). Then, tap it again, and see if it switches to high accuracy.
 
jj14x said:
Try to set GPS to high accuracy manually, and then, tap the widget. Does it switch to battery saving? (go to location settings to verify). Then, tap it again, and see if it switches to high accuracy.
Click to expand...
That does work but my goal is to toggle between off and on. Is the battery use in the battery saving mode negligible? I'll leave it on for a while and see what my battery monitor says.

In my old phone I had location settings on (through mobile networks) and all of a sudden I was losing battery in record time due to 'google play services'. I did some searching and some suggested turning off location services (is that the same as battery saving??) and that worked.

thanks for the help. :)
 
Yes, the battery drain in the battery saving mode is negligible.

You can turn off location services, but then you won't get the location based reminders in google now and the other apps/services etc.
Try battery saving mode - I'm sure you won't ever see location services related batter usage.
 
ok thanks. The only location services I ever used was in the weather app and i could do without it in that unless I'm far from home and need to know local weather (which only happens during vacation). I don't care about it in other apps other than maps of course-which I don't use every day so I only turn on gps when I'm using it.
 
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