Help! GPS is draining battery like crazy

[muttondagger]

My understanding from reading prior postings is that enabling GPS will drain the battery only when in use. Unfortunately, some application is constantly using my GPS - the satellite icon is flashing all the time - and I don't know what it is or how to stop it. For now I have disabled GPS, but I'd be very grateful if someone can suggest how I can fix this issue.

 

[DuqDan83]

I've had my Droid for a few weeks now. No problems with the GPS staying on until yesterday. I've had real difficulty identifying what program is triggering it. I think I have determined that it is Beautiful Widgets. I downloaded an update yesterday for the program, and ever since then it has been staying on. By going to settings, about phone and battery use I found that beautiful widgets had used 45% of my battery compared to other programs. When I forced quit, the GPS icon went away.

Very frustrating. Anyone else?

 

[hookbill]

I've had my Droid for a few weeks now. No problems with the GPS staying on until yesterday. I've had real difficulty identifying what program is triggering it. I think I have determined that it is Beautiful Widgets. I downloaded an update yesterday for the program, and ever since then it has been staying on. By going to settings, about phone and battery use I found that beautiful widgets had used 45% of my battery compared to other programs. When I forced quit, the GPS icon went away.

Very frustrating. Anyone else?

I'm using Beautiful Widgets and I don't have any issues with GPS. I got the update too the other day. No problems.

 

[muttondagger]

I don't have Beautiful Widgets. The only thing I can think that would be using my GPS is GoogleMaps, but I can't see any settings in there that might address the issue.

 

[ShowTime]

My understanding from reading prior postings is that enabling GPS will drain the battery only when in use. Unfortunately, some application is constantly using my GPS - the satellite icon is flashing all the time - and I don't know what it is or how to stop it. For now I have disabled GPS, but I'd be very grateful if someone can suggest how I can fix this issue.

List your apps for us if you can. You might have one that's known to be a GPS hog.

 

[Droidfish]

I have google.com as my homepage(default) and lately gps has been getting stuck on when I close my browser. When I reopen my browser it immediately shuts off. I know google uses your location for smart searching.

Hope this helps you guys, it sounds like you have the same problem I've had lately.

 

[ShowTime]

I have google.com as my homepage(default) and lately gps has been getting stuck on when I close my browser. When I reopen my browser it immediately shuts off. I know google uses your location for smart searching.

Hope this helps you guys, it sounds like you have the same problem I've had lately.

This happens when you don't let the Google homepage fully load before closing it. There is an incredibly easy fix for this. On the Google homescreen, click Settings at the bottom (between iGoogle and Help), scroll to the bottom and under "Allow use of device location?" select No. It will no longer use GPS to try and find your location every time you go to that screen and you no longer have to worry about closing the screen too early and the GPS getting stuck on. Furthermore, it has no bearing on reducing the effectiveness of your Google searches. I've had it set this way for over a month with no ill effects, and I just tried several to confirm. With it set at No, my Google results were exactly the same as with it at Yes (I got basic homepage results first, followed by local results, local locations, map view of closest locations, etc)

note: I do still have "enable location" checked under my general browser settings though. (On the homepage, hit menu, more, settings, scroll about 2/3rds of the way down).