Does a disabled macro use battery?

[420]

I have a question, when i go into macrodroid settings - trigger options - cell tower trigger it says this;

Cell Tower Update Rate

The frequency of cell tower updates that occur when a cell tower trigger is configured. More frequent updates may cause higher battery drain.

But when i go to macrodroid settings - trigger options - activity recognition trigger it says this;

Activity recognition update rate

The frequency that the device will update activity recognition. More frequent updates may cause higher battery drain.

So for the activity recognition it does not mention if it only updates if an activity trigger is configured or if it's just constantly updating, this is what i would like to know..

Also, if i disable my (only) macro that uses an activity regocnition trigger, does it still keep updating every 30 seconds? I would like it to stop updating at times to not waste battery.

Sorry my post title is not very accurate, but i can no longer change it

 

[Dm114]

I have a question, when i go into macrodroid settings - trigger options - cell tower trigger it says this;

Cell Tower Update Rate

The frequency of cell tower updates that occur when a cell tower trigger is configured. More frequent updates may cause higher battery drain.

But when i go to macrodroid settings - trigger options - activity recognition trigger it says this;

Activity recognition update rate

The frequency that the device will update activity recognition. More frequent updates may cause higher battery drain.

So for the activity recognition it does not mention if it only updates if an activity trigger is configured or if it's just constantly updating, this is what i would like to know..

Also, if i disable my (only) macro that uses an activity regocnition trigger, does it still keep updating every 30 seconds? I would like it to stop updating at times to not waste battery.

Sorry my post title is not very accurate, but i can no longer change it

To answer the title of your post, I would say no. But let's @MacroDroidDev answer by himself to be 100% sure!

 

[MacroDroidDev]

If you have no macros that use any of the relevant triggers (e.g. Cell tower) then this will disable the regularly checking and there will be zero battery impact from the disabled macro.

 

[420]

If you have no macros that use any of the relevant triggers (e.g. Cell tower) then this will disable the regularly checking and there will be zero battery impact from the disabled macro.

Ok, that is very good to hear!

What if i DO have a macro with that uses an Activity recognition trigger but it is disabled though?

Does it stop regulary checking if all macro's that use the Activity recognition trigger are disabled?

Sorry it is not very clear to me..

 

[mdman2021]

Ok, that is very good to hear!

What if i DO have a macro with that uses an Activity recognition trigger but it is disabled though?

Does it stop regulary checking if all macro's that use the Activity recognition trigger are disabled?

Sorry it is not very clear to me..

@420, I think you ask a good follow-up question, but I suspect what @MacroDroidDev meant to say is, "If you have no ENABLED macros that use any of the relevant triggers...". The only way we will know is if @MacroDroidDev responds to this thread.

So to summarize, I think our questions are:
1) Suppose you have several macros that have a Geofence trigger (aka "Activity recognition trigger") which use the default MD location update rate (which I think is 30 minutes). But only one of those macros has been configured to override the default and check the phone's current location every 30 seconds. So this question is... If you DISABLE that one 30-second macro then will MD go back to only updating the phone's location every 30 minutes (the default)?

2) If several macros use the default 30-minutes location update and only one uses the 30-second override, then wouldn't the 30-minute macros benefit from MD checking every 30-seconds even though they weren't configured to do so?

3) Must all of the macros (which have a Activity recognition trigger) be disabled in order for MD to completely stop using the phone's location services to update the phone's location? (I think the answer to this question is "Yes")

Let's hope @MacroDroidDev is listening!

 

[420]

I agree with what you said (most likely that is what the MD developer meant, but it is not 100% clear), however the geofence and activity recognition trigger are not the same thing at all..

The geofence trigger requires MD to have location permission and location services have to be on for it to work aswell.

The activity recognition trigger does not require MD to have location permission and location services do not have to be enabled for this trigger to work. (it only requires physical activity permission)

 

[mdman2021]

@420, I apologize, you are correct -- MD's updating of where you are located IS NOT the same as updating which activity you are performing (if anything). The common issue is that when MD performs either of these updates (location updating -or- activity recognition) it uses battery power. And we both are seeking answers to how to extend our battery life (for a given charge).

Let's keep digging.

 

[MacroDroidDev]

If you have a particular trigger disabled then this will not cause any regular periodic checking/battery drain (Assuming there are no other macros with triggers enabled).

 

[automateallthethings]

@MacroDroidDev I have a constraint set on the single (enabled) cell tower action I have configured, but even though the condition of the constraint is false (is wifi enabled) the cell tower scans are still being done constantly.

I was under the assumption that the action would only be fired when the constraints are true?

Now scans are being done unnecessarily which I wanted to prevent ..

 

[MacroDroidDev]

A constraint cannot possibly work unless there is regular background scanning. A constraint must be evaluated instantly so it needs to know when called it the condition is true or false. Since a cell tower scan happens asynchronously and takes some time to complete it cannot wait until the constraint is evaluated to do the scan I'm afraid.

 

[automateallthethings]

A constraint cannot possibly work unless there is regular background scanning. A constraint must be evaluated instantly so it needs to know when called it the condition is true or false. Since a cell tower scan happens asynchronously and takes some time to complete it cannot wait until the constraint is evaluated to do the scan I'm afraid.

The constraint in this example is a wifi on/off which (I guess) can be evaluated instantly, or even better, be triggered since it's a wifi state trigger on its own?

When the wifi on/off constraint would be triggered and resolves to true (eg. constraint wifi off = true) the cell tower scanning (which is the actual defined trigger) could start scanning in the background?
This would mean that MacroDroid has to register not only the triggers configured by the user but the 'constraint triggers' as well, and check the dependencies once one is triggered.

But I guess it can't work like that?