Survey123 location services continue to run in background?

Question

Hi, a while back, I don't remember how long ago, Survey123 did not use Location Services while in the background (i.e. when you tap the home button on an iPhone and left Survey123 in the background). Currently in the new update, when you leave it in the background it states that Location Services are running and there is a blue icon on the top notification bar next to the WiFi signal and battery percentage icons.

I tried looking into settings and there is no setting to turn off Location Services running in the background. This is causing significant battery drain for our users, especially those that are not tech-savvy enough to notice the blue icon and leave the location services running even though they are completely done with taking our survey.

Again I state that this was not the case in the past, where Survey123 only used location services while actively in the forefront of the device. Is there a fix for this? I do not see this setting anywhere on iOS devices. I've read in previous posts that the app is optimized to not drain the battery but that is simply not the case as while I type this post out it has lost another percentage while I did not use the device at all.

NickPannu · Answer

Using IPhone SE, iOS v15.1, Survey123 v3.13.234.

I have also noticed this issue, and am just about to roll out a survey which will require people to use it multiple times a day. If they don't kill Survey123 between uses, I expect most of them to have flat batteries by the end of the day. It uses about 60% of my battery in a day, when I don't touch the phone at all after opening Survey123.

This could be a potential safety hazard as the devices can be used used for communicating location and status.

BenWan · Answer

Wow, interesting...yeah we haven't used our survey since about 2019 and we are just starting again so I notice it now. I can't believe that this has not yet been fixed, especially if as mentioned that it may be an easy fix. A lot of our users just don't notice these types of things. Our survey also takes at least an hour to fill out and so I've already heard several people tell me that it just devours their battery. Thanks for your reply, and hopefully someone on the ESRI team can see this and provide a solution.

dougbrowning · Answer

Actually this has been a issue since at least 2019.   You are prob just noticing now due to a Android update that tells you.  See this post where people have even sent the team the code to fix it.  Collector and Field Maps do not do this.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/survey123-uses-location-services-in-background/m-p/805514

Also  https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-questions/location-services-not-honoring-selection/m-p/1019700

and here an idea to at least be able to toggle it on and off  https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-survey123-ideas/gps-mode-option-for-continues-or-only-when-using-a/idi-p/1013479

I have also spoken directly to the team about it.  No idea why it is not addressed yet seems like an easy one and way more important than a lot of things.

For us it is a huge deal since our forms take hours to fill out.  The GPS jus eats battery in the background all day long.  It is really reducing how long a tablet will last.

Please consider it.  Thanks