Add ability to disable airplane mode for livetrack ping (re-enable when request completes)
I am planning a trip for later this year where battery life will need to be conserved as much as possible. I'm planning on using Locus Map for offline GPS maps, but it would also be nice to be able to ping my livetrack server with my location (every hour or so). The problem is, If I'm not in airplane mode, my phone drains battery muy rapido when airplane mode is off. It would be a cool feature to have the ability to let the live tracking pings temporarily turn airplane mode off, make the ping, then turn it back on. It would look something like:
Edit live tracking, a checkbox setting exists that says something along the lines of "Allow temporary disablement of airplane mode, if enabled, while ping requested"
In live tracking, check to see if airplane mode is enabled
If yes, temporarily turn it off, send the request once connection is made (within a reasonable timeframe, maybe a setting in the edit live tracking section as well), then re-enable airplane mode.
I know there was another thread that requested you add the ability to completely disable airplane mode when locus started, and I agree that that should be something the user does, but this is a specific battery saving feature that would be nice to have, and can only be done if Locus Map implements it.
I like this idea 
Nice idea...
But I suppose Root devices (4.2+) are needed for this command.
+edit
If you have a Root device or -4.2, this regular on / off airplanemode can be realized by another application. Any smart profile manager.
Other solutions
- Use Garmin
- PowerBank
Nice idea...
But I suppose Root devices (4.2+) are needed for this command.
+edit
If you have a Root device or -4.2, this regular on / off airplanemode can be realized by another application. Any smart profile manager.
Other solutions
- Use Garmin
- PowerBank
Hello,
I will decline this idea, because Condor is right and this feature would require a rooted phone in order to work, so we will not support this kind of thing directly in Locus Map.
That said for anyone interested in this feature and with rooted phone this should be doable with Tasker app or any similar app for Android task automation. With Tasker (and rooted phone) you could manipulate the airplane mode and leave Live Tracking running in the background. To save the battery even more you could also use Tasker to turn the Live Tracking on and off using Locus Action tasks.
Best Regards
Milan
Hello,
I will decline this idea, because Condor is right and this feature would require a rooted phone in order to work, so we will not support this kind of thing directly in Locus Map.
That said for anyone interested in this feature and with rooted phone this should be doable with Tasker app or any similar app for Android task automation. With Tasker (and rooted phone) you could manipulate the airplane mode and leave Live Tracking running in the background. To save the battery even more you could also use Tasker to turn the Live Tracking on and off using Locus Action tasks.
Best Regards
Milan
Or try to managage background app internet activity because if locus is the only service which is consuming internet you wont have any battery issues. I did just make a battery lifetime test with GPS, 3G Internet, 70% Screen Brightness, Screen On all the time and Locus Livetracking update every 60s
My Phone did least 10 Hours with 2600mAh
And keep in mind airplane mode switching will drain your battery alot. especially if you have bad service: phone will search up to 5 minutes for service and does use maximum radio power during that operation. I would guess that you 30 minutes offline time to counter an expensive search for mobile service.
If you want to disable something frequently with automation tools, disable mobile data instead of turning radio (mobile services) off, this could be more efficient then repeated mobile service logins.
Or try to managage background app internet activity because if locus is the only service which is consuming internet you wont have any battery issues. I did just make a battery lifetime test with GPS, 3G Internet, 70% Screen Brightness, Screen On all the time and Locus Livetracking update every 60s
My Phone did least 10 Hours with 2600mAh
And keep in mind airplane mode switching will drain your battery alot. especially if you have bad service: phone will search up to 5 minutes for service and does use maximum radio power during that operation. I would guess that you 30 minutes offline time to counter an expensive search for mobile service.
If you want to disable something frequently with automation tools, disable mobile data instead of turning radio (mobile services) off, this could be more efficient then repeated mobile service logins.
I suppose downgrading to 3G is always an option. I most likely won't have very good reception where I am going, however, and if my phone isn't in airplane mode it will burn battery constantly trying to connect to the network. It's not the end of the world. I'll probably end up just manually enabling network, pinging the livetrack server, and then turning airplane mode back on afterward when I want to update my location (which will be fairly infrequently, more like waypoints that are made available for others in case of emergency). I'll have a battery bank as well, but it's going to be a week long trip hiking, so hoping to make that battery bank last as long as possible.
Interesting that there would be a difference between disabling mobile data and enabling airplane mode, although after a quick search it makes sense, since it is still connected to the radio towers (allowing calls/texts, just not data). I'll look into that option as well.
I suppose downgrading to 3G is always an option. I most likely won't have very good reception where I am going, however, and if my phone isn't in airplane mode it will burn battery constantly trying to connect to the network. It's not the end of the world. I'll probably end up just manually enabling network, pinging the livetrack server, and then turning airplane mode back on afterward when I want to update my location (which will be fairly infrequently, more like waypoints that are made available for others in case of emergency). I'll have a battery bank as well, but it's going to be a week long trip hiking, so hoping to make that battery bank last as long as possible.
Interesting that there would be a difference between disabling mobile data and enabling airplane mode, although after a quick search it makes sense, since it is still connected to the radio towers (allowing calls/texts, just not data). I'll look into that option as well.
The main thing I did experience this week during testing is that the power draw didn't come from inactive connections. The power draw comes from your active app or if you don't have anything open, it comes from all the apps which do poll every 1-5 minutes. Your phone modem is constantly busy if you have just enough apps installed. That is the reason why disabling mobile data will give you already the main benefit.
It will be much worse if you have a bad connection because everything got repeated because of lost packages and your modem will use maximum amount of current to improve signal strength in bad conditions.
I guess you won’t have much benefit from disabling LTE, I could achieve same results on LTE. LTE is only bad for large amount of data because it will use more power than 3G for same amount of data. But for small data sets like background polling it won’t make much difference.
For my taste I use tasker to automate things like this. And if you care about power consumption we did already share some tasker profiles to trigger low and high screen brightness modes. I guess screen brightness is the 2nd high consumer after mobile internet or even the top consumer if you crank it up to 100%
The main thing I did experience this week during testing is that the power draw didn't come from inactive connections. The power draw comes from your active app or if you don't have anything open, it comes from all the apps which do poll every 1-5 minutes. Your phone modem is constantly busy if you have just enough apps installed. That is the reason why disabling mobile data will give you already the main benefit.
It will be much worse if you have a bad connection because everything got repeated because of lost packages and your modem will use maximum amount of current to improve signal strength in bad conditions.
I guess you won’t have much benefit from disabling LTE, I could achieve same results on LTE. LTE is only bad for large amount of data because it will use more power than 3G for same amount of data. But for small data sets like background polling it won’t make much difference.
For my taste I use tasker to automate things like this. And if you care about power consumption we did already share some tasker profiles to trigger low and high screen brightness modes. I guess screen brightness is the 2nd high consumer after mobile internet or even the top consumer if you crank it up to 100%
Based on your description of where you are going, your automatic posting would not help. High probability at this time will not be a data connection.
Manually sending in an area with the expected connection is probably the only reliable option.
It is good to know the frequency and mode available in the area. Set the mobile to this network. It also saves the battery.
I wish a lot of adventures, experience and a happy return home.
Based on your description of where you are going, your automatic posting would not help. High probability at this time will not be a data connection.
Manually sending in an area with the expected connection is probably the only reliable option.
It is good to know the frequency and mode available in the area. Set the mobile to this network. It also saves the battery.
I wish a lot of adventures, experience and a happy return home.
It would even possible to analyse signal strenght with tasker as trigger, but this would may be alot of effort for only a small benefit ;)
It would even possible to analyse signal strenght with tasker as trigger, but this would may be alot of effort for only a small benefit ;)
A lot of effort for a small benefit!? Sounds like fun! I'll give tasker a look and see what I come up with. The analysis of signal strength sounds like an interesting option. That would make it completely automated if I could determine automatically when to send based on whether or not I actually have reception (vs having to do it manually while trekking)
A lot of effort for a small benefit!? Sounds like fun! I'll give tasker a look and see what I come up with. The analysis of signal strength sounds like an interesting option. That would make it completely automated if I could determine automatically when to send based on whether or not I actually have reception (vs having to do it manually while trekking)
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