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iPhone 11 location services always on

I have turned off nearly every location using app or system service and the location arrow still comes on every few minutes. Looking back at location services none of the apps or services shows the typical purple arrow. This causes rapid battery drain. The only way to save my battery is to disable all location services. I am running the latest 13.2.2 iOS.

iPhone 11

Posted on Nov 22, 2019 8:18 AM

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Posted on Dec 1, 2019 5:10 PM

Same issue! The missing purple arrow is so frustrating. But things seem to have quietened down now with not as many pings; on my third day with my 11 pro.

I’ve turned off two settings in ‘WiFi’:

1. ‘Notify’ for ask to join networks

2. ‘Notify’ for ask to join hotspots


don’t know if this has helped, but it sure beats a system reset.


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Dec 1, 2019 5:10 PM in response to danmcneece

Same issue! The missing purple arrow is so frustrating. But things seem to have quietened down now with not as many pings; on my third day with my 11 pro.

I’ve turned off two settings in ‘WiFi’:

1. ‘Notify’ for ask to join networks

2. ‘Notify’ for ask to join hotspots


don’t know if this has helped, but it sure beats a system reset.


Nov 22, 2019 9:38 AM in response to SravanKrA

I usually select 'while using' too. The problem is none of the apps show the purple arrow, like they have been used, and yet the status screen icon keeps turning on and off every few minutes showing that location services is being used. I even tried turning off 'Enable Offline Finding' from Find My iPhone. I have turned off all of the system services except SOS and find my iPhone. I have also turned off share my location and still the location services keeps turning on.


I think the frustrating part is usually a purple arrow shows up indicating which app or services was using location services, but there is nothing, just some gray arrows from the day before.

Nov 27, 2019 10:04 AM in response to danmcneece

I'm having the same issue. i have an iphone 11 pro with most recent OS.


Actually had multiple conversations w/Apple Support over Twitter and a phone call w/support where they assigned a case #. Long story short - they say this is normal...I find it hard to believe as no other iphone i've owned has had this issue nor do the 4 other people in my house. Support told me they have a known issue where location services is shut off at the master level and the icon still appears. Supposedly engineering is working on a fix.

I actually stopped in a local apple store and spoke to a sales person. Upon hearing the issue, she looked perplexed at first than stated that "iphones, when they sense they are near other iphones ping each other looking for a connection".

I know 4 other people with iPhone 11 pro - we all set phone location settings exactly as mine and only 1 other person had this issue.

I have all apps set to "never" share location except find my iphone. Location arrow with show on home screen several times a minute. Even with locations services on, all apps at "never" and find my iphone off - arrow still appears.

Also, when you look at apps that may have requested location services, there are no gray or pink arrows in the list.


I've tried hard resets, reset of network settings and resetting of privacy/location settings - none of these fixed the issue.


the only way i have found to get rid of the arrow is to shut location services off at the master or turn off the status bar icon.....very annoying issue and a battery drain.....this is the second iphone in a row i've purchased that has had issues - iPhoneX bricked within 24hrs of purchasing last year, now this.....strike 2 for apple....


I may set up a genius bar appointment but am fearful of hearing, "you need to wipe the device and start over setting up the phone".

Dec 2, 2019 5:28 AM in response to danmcneece

glad you've seen a difference.

My auto join hotspots and wifi networks have been off.....

like my earlier post, the only way i don't get the arrow is to turn off location services all together.

i will say that this past weekend, it was somewhat sporadic. yesterday, it didn't turn on once, and my battery life was what it should be. today, it started again. its really baffling to me why this is happening....i may wipe the device this weekend and start fresh....not what i want to do and waste another 3+ hours of my life setting up the phone again....

Dec 2, 2019 7:32 PM in response to jabbsz

Yesterday I thought my problems were solved. I waited 1/2 hour and GPS was not turning on. Then, I went all night and the battery only dropped 5 or 6 percent. In the morning, I checked the WiFi settings and it started all over again. Every few minutes turning on the GPS. Ahhh! Now, I'm back to turning off location services to save my battery! It did go one night without issues. I can check location services and nothing, not even the system settings, are showing the purple arrow to show what is turning on the GPS. If I want to use maps, I turn it on and back off when I'm finished. Right now I am hoping the next update to iOS will magically bring a fix to the problem.

Dec 4, 2019 4:46 PM in response to danmcneece

Great article. thank you for posting. there seems to be a few other articles out there speaking to the same topic - all hitting within the last 24hrs.

at least we all now know the reason this is happening. Not happy thou....on days when it is occurring a lot, definitely notice battery drain. thats the other thing that is baffling for me, some days it seems to happen a lot and other days it seems to occur much less frequent. also weird how its only iphone 11 pro. i hope in the next update it stops all together.

iPhone 11 location services always on

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