[Help Wanted]: Battery Drain & showsBackgroundLocationIndicator Flag

[alihasan21987]

Required Reading

• Confirmed

Plugin Version

4.16.5

Mobile operating-system(s)

• iOS
• Android

What do you require assistance about?

I have set the showsBackgroundLocationIndicator flag to true in my iOS application. However, this has resulted in significant battery drain on iOS devices.

• I need to understand the specific reason why setting this flag to true is necessary, particularly for iOS version 18.
• Why does this flag cause higher battery consumption on iOS, and is there a way to optimize or mitigate this issue?

[Optional] Plugin Code and/or Config

BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
    debug: false,
    locationAuthorizationRequest: 'Always',
    showsBackgroundLocationIndicator: true,
    logLevel: BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_VERBOSE,
    desiredAccuracy: desiredAccuracy
      ? desiredAccuracy
      : BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_HIGH,
    deferTime: 0,
    startOnBoot: true,
    enableHeadless: true,
    preventSuspend: false,
    stopOnTerminate: false,
    elasticityMultiplier: 1,
    foregroundService: true,
    disableElasticity: false,
    enableTimestampMeta: false,
    disableStopDetection: false,
    geofenceModeHighAccuracy: true,
    useSignificantChangesOnly: false,
    disableAutoSyncOnCellular: false,
    disableMotionActivityUpdates: false,
    distanceFilter: distanceFilter ?? 9,
    disableLocationAuthorizationAlert: false,
    activityType: BackgroundGeolocation.ACTIVITY_TYPE_OTHER,
    locationAuthorizationAlert: {
      titleWhenOff: t('title_when_off'),
      cancelButton: t('location_auth_alert_cancel'),
      titleWhenNotEnabled: t('title_when_not_enabled'),
      settingsButton: t('location_auth_alert_settings'),
      instructions: t('location_auth_alert_instructions'),
    },
    stopTimeout: 5,
    desiredOdometerAccuracy: 10,
    backgroundPermissionRationale: {
      title: 'Allow "App" to use your location?',
      message:
        'Please select "Change to Always Allow" below so App can access your location even when you are not using the app.',
      positiveAction: 'Change to "Always Allow"',
      negativeAction: 'Cancel',
    },
  })

[Optional] Relevant log output

[christocracy]

Why does this flag cause higher battery consumption on iOS, and is there a way to optimize or mitigate this issue?

It doesn’t. You’re being superstitious.

[alihasan21987]

Hi Chris. thanks. Can you let us know the specific reason why setting this flag to true is necessary, particularly for iOS version 18. life360 works without showing this icon so we are wondering why this should be on?

[christocracy]

https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/726945