Some Samsung Galaxy S24 and S25 owners are finding themselves puzzled by a persistent location issue following recent software updates. Reports from users on Reddit, Samsung’s community forums, and other platforms suggest that after the One UI 7 update on the S24 series and the April update on the S25 series, their phones seem to be accessing location services far more frequently than usual, sometimes constantly.
Users describe seeing the location icon pop up in the status bar almost every time they unlock their phone, or noticing in their settings that “Phone services” or Google Play Services are pinging their location every few minutes. This unexpected activity has understandably raised concerns, primarily about potential battery drain. Many feel their phone’s battery life has worsened since the update coincided with this location behavior.
Common troubleshooting steps like restarting the phone, clearing the cache partition, or even uninstalling and reinstalling updates for Google Play Services haven’t reliably solved the problem for many. Some have tried disabling specific location settings like Google Location Accuracy or even turning off location permissions for apps like SmartThings, only to find the location access eventually resumes its frequent checks.
Judging by the amount of reports popping up online, this does seem to be a widespread bug. Some suggest reporting it via the Samsung Members app with hopes that the company might take note and patch the bug soon.
Adding to the confusion, at least one user, ‘biaschop’, mentioned receiving a reply from Samsung support suggesting the behavior might be linked to regulations in the USA. However, users quickly questioned this explanation. As ‘Tiny_Maintenance_732’ pointed out, “Yes. And where were these regulations in one ui 6. I feel like because of the location battery is draining like hell.”
For now, users are left experimenting with workarounds, like turning off location services entirely when not needed or putting specific apps suspected of triggering the checks into deep sleep. However, a definitive fix seems elusive, leaving many hoping Samsung addresses the persistent location pings in a future software update.
Featured image credit: Axiomkid / XDA forums
Dwayne Cubbins
898 Posts
For nearly a decade, I've been deciphering the complexities of the tech world, with a particular passion for helping users navigate the ever-changing tech landscape. From crafting in-depth guides that unlock your phone's hidden potential to uncovering and explaining the latest bugs and glitches, I make sure you get the most out of your devices. And yes, you might occasionally find me ranting about some truly frustrating tech mishaps.
Jimmy G. 28-04-2025
My S24+ (Verizon, Android 15) just updated to One UI 7.0 four days ago on April 24th and this exact problem started for me immediately after the update. The location icon up in the notification bar appears and disappears constantly (as of right now, the icon is appearing and disappearing about 3 times every minute on average). There have been no other changes made to the phone since the update and this has never happened prior to the update. Ordinarily I wouldn't care that much if it wasn't negatively impacting phone performance, but there is absolutely a very noticeable increase in battery usage/drainage ever since the update for the same routine use of the phone. That is the part that is the most concerning, annoying and aggravating to me. I already tried all of the tips and advice that has been circulating around all the usual internet outlets and none of them did anything to to even reduce the frequency, much less eliminate the location icon constantly appearing and disappearing. If it is a bug that needs fixing, it needs to be done immediately and hopefully will. I just got this phone about 5 months ago and the last thing I want is for the battery to get beaten up prematurely and have it not last as long later down the road as a result of this. I'm at a loss on what to do or try anymore, so I'm kind of just hoping at this point that maybe another update will push through soon that addresses the issue. Based on what I've seen searching around, it looks like it is a known issue of considerable size and impact at this point so hopefully that will motivate Samsung to give this issue top priority attention. Hopefully....
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