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You charge your phone to a crisp, confident 100%. You place it gently in your pocket or purse, perhaps patting it affectionately. You drive to the grocery store, pick up a gallon of milk and some bananas, and drive home. You haven’t made a call. You haven’t checked Facebook. You haven’t even looked at a photo of your grandkid.
Yet, when you pull the phone out, it is hot to the touch and gasping for life at 12%.
It feels like a betrayal. It feels like your phone went out and ran a marathon while you were thumping cantaloupes in the produce aisle. But the culprit isn’t usually a broken battery; it’s a feature that acts like a hyperactive puppy, constantly asking, “Where are we? Are we there yet? How about now?”
This feature is Location Services. While it’s wonderful for finding the nearest coffee shop or navigating to your niece’s new house, it is also a vampire that feeds on your battery life.
The good news? You don’t have to choose between a dead phone and getting lost. You just need to tell your phone to calm down.
The Great Myth: “If I Turn It Off, 911 Can’t Find Me”
Before we start flipping switches, let’s address the elephant in the room—or rather, the satellite in the sky.
Many seniors leave every single location setting turned on, all day, every day, out of fear. The logic is sound: “If I fall or have an emergency, I want the ambulance to know exactly where I am.”
Here is the secret that phone companies and tech manuals rarely explain clearly: Emergency services have a backstage pass.
In the United States, federal regulations (specifically E911 Phase II rules) mandate that if you call 911, your wireless carrier must provide your location to emergency responders. This happens independently of whether you have allowed Facebook or the Weather Channel to know where you are. Your phone has a “break glass in case of emergency” protocol that overrides your privacy settings the moment you dial 9-1-1.
Why “Where Am I?” Costs So Much Power
To understand why your battery is dying, you have to understand what your phone is doing. When an appAn app (short for application) is a program that helps you do specific tasks on your smartphone, tab... More wants to know your location, your phone has to scream at a satellite in outer space.
Okay, technically it’s receiving signals from GPSThe Global Positioning System (GPS) is a technology that uses satellites in space to find your locat... More satellites, but the effort required is immense. It’s the digital equivalent of sprinting. If your phone is constantly checking your location, it’s constantly sprinting.
However, not all location checks are created equal. Your phone has two ways to figure out where it is:
- GPS (The Energy Hog): Precise, accurate, and drains battery like a leaky bucket. This is used for driving directions.
- Wi-FiWi-Fi, short for Wireless Fidelity, revolutionizes connectivity by enabling devices to access the in... More & BluetoothBluetooth is a technology that lets devices connect wirelessly over short distances, usually up to a... More (The Sipper): It looks at nearby Wi-Fi networks to guess where you are. It’s less accurate but uses much less power.
The problem is that many apps use the “Energy Hog” method when they don’t need to. Does your solitaire game really need to communicate with space satellites to deal a hand of cards? Absolutely not.
The Three Modes: Taking Control
For years, we thought of location settings as a light switch—either On or Off. Today, smartphones are smarter than that. They offer a “middle path” that saves your battery while keeping your maps working.
Think of it like a security clearance at the Pentagon. Not everyone gets to see the aliens; some people just handle the cafeteria menu.
1. “Always” (The Vampire)
This setting allows an app to track you even when you aren’t using it. It’s tracking you while the phone is in your pocket. It’s tracking you while you sleep.
- Who needs this? Almost nobody. Maybe a “Find My” safety app or a specialized fitness tracker.
- Who asks for it? Everyone. Social mediaSocial media refers to online platforms and websites that enable users to create, share, and interac... More apps love this setting because it helps them sell ads based on where you shop. Turn this off for 99% of your apps.
2. “While Using” (The Sweet Spot)
This is the golden ticket. The app only checks your location when you actually have the app open on your screen.
- Who needs this? GoogleGoogle is a multinational technology company known for its internet-related products and services, i... More Maps, Apple Maps, Uber, Lyft, and Weather apps.
- Why it helps: As soon as you close the app or turn off your screen, the battery drain stops.
3. “Never” (The Privacy Shield)
This cuts the app off completely.
- Who needs this? Flashlight apps, calculators, games, recipe apps, and that knitting forum you joined in 2014. None of them need to know you are in Cleveland.
How to Fix It: A Device-by-Device Guide
Ready to stop the drain? Here is how to find the hidden switches on your specific device.
For iPhone Users
Apple likes to tuck things away in neat little drawers.
- Go to Settings (the grey gear iconAn icon is a small graphical symbol used to represent an object, action, or concept in a digital int... More).
- ScrollScrolling is what you do when you move up or down on a screen to see more of a webpage, email, or do... More down to Privacy & Security.
- Tap Location Services.
- You will see a list of apps. If you see “Always” next to an app like Facebook or Angry Birds, tap it and change it to “While Using” or “Never.”
The Secret iPhone Drain: Scroll all the way to the bottom of that list and tap System Services. These are Apple’s internal tools. You’ll see things like “Compass Calibration” and “Product Improvement.” Most of these can be turned off, but leave “Emergency Calls & SOS” and “Find My iPhone” on.
For Android (Samsung, Pixel, Motorola)
AndroidAndroid is a type of operating system—like the brain of a device—that runs on many smartphones a... More gives you a lot of control, but sometimes the menus move around.
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Location.
- Tap App Permissions.
- You will see lists: “Allowed all the time,” “Allowed only while in use,” and “Not allowed.”
- If you see a shopping app or a game in the “Allowed all the time” section, tap it and banish it to “Allowed only while in use.”
For Jitterbug (Lively) Users
The Jitterbug Smart is designed to be simple, but it still runs on Android technology, which means it still hunts for satellites.
- The “5Star” Factor: If you subscribeSubscribe is an action taken by users to receive regular updates or access to content from a particu... More to the Lively Health & Safety packages, the 5Star app needs to know where you are to send help. Do not turn off location for the 5Star app.
- The Confusion: Many Jitterbug users accidentally turn off the main “Location” switch in the quick settings shade (that menu you pull down from the top). If you do this, your weather won’t update and 5Star might complain.
- The Fix: Keep the main Location switch ON. Go into your Apps list and restrict the other apps (like Chrome or Camera) that don’t need to track you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
If I change Google Maps to “While Using,” will it still talk to me while I’m driving?
Yes! “While Using” counts navigation as “using” the app, even if the screen turns off or you switch to a music app. It knows you are still on a journey.
Will “Find My Phone” still work if I turn off location for other apps?
Yes. “Find My” (on iPhone) or “Find My Device” (on Android) are separate system functions. As long as you don’t turn off the Master Location Switch, these safety features stay active.
My weather app says it needs “Always” to send me storm alerts. Is that true?
Usually, yes. If you want your phone to buzz with a tornado warning even when it’s in your pocket, the app needs to check where you are periodically. This is a trade-off: you pay a little battery life for the safety of knowing a storm is coming.
Does Bluetooth drain battery like GPS does?
Bluetooth used to be a battery hog, but modern Bluetooth (like what connects to your hearing aids or car) is very efficient. It uses a fraction of the power that GPS uses. Don’t worry about leaving Bluetooth on.
The “Set It and Forget It” Strategy
You don’t need to check these settings every day. Take five minutes right now with your morning coffee. Go through your list of apps. Be ruthless. If an app doesn’t help you navigate a car or check the weather, it has no business knowing where you are.
Once you make these changes, you might find that your phone actually survives that trip to the grocery store—and maybe even the ride home, too. You’ll have reclaimed your battery life, and perhaps more importantly, you’ll have stopped shouting at satellites when all you wanted to do was play solitaire.
