iOS has GPS-enabling "airplane mode"

[robgendreau]

I guess I haven't been paying attention, but turns out in iOS 8.3 Apple has changed the Airplane Mode to allow GPS. Not that I fly, but this means you can disable voice, etc to save power and only use the GPS function. Previously it was more of an all-or-nothing approach. I got the info from GaiaGPS:

http://tinyurl.com/o3x63n3

 

[haven]

Thanks for the information.

All iPhones include GPS. Note that your iPad may not have GPS hardware. GPS is not included in the WiFi-only models. WiFi plus cellular models have GPS, or you can use your WiFi-only model with an external GPS receiver.

 

[wADVr]

Thanks for the info! I use my GaiaGPS for backcountry hiking and have fought killing battery or using it to spot check my location. Will be interesting to see how the GaiaGPS running alone does for battery life.

 

[rayra]

it'll likely be the same problem, the constant polling / connection checking will be a heavy draw, just like leaving cell services on when out of range of your network. Now if they wrote their software to alter the frequency of location checks based on your velocity / motion - they have accelerometers too - so if you aren't moving a lot they don't check location a lot, that could conserve a lot of power / extend the runtime a great deal.