Automagic Forum

What is the more battery saving choice?
I know that I can do a Periodic Timer trigger then a Phone Cell GSM condition to know that I'm in a certain area of interest every given time.
But what is the difference if I use the Phone Cell GSM trigger instead?

What is better?

Sorry for my english.

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Hi,

It's very difficult to answer this question since this is not documented in Android and depends on the device in use.
I would usually try the trigger first since it will execute the flow as soon as the cell change is detected. The trigger should not use much battery at all when no checkboxes in the options are required. Some devices require to periodically turn the screen on to detect the cell change.
When using the condition and a Periodic Timer try to call the flow as infrequently as possible (>15m) or even use a Periodic Timer Inexact.

Regards,
Martin

I'll try to follow your suggestions.
For now I've 2 main flows that checks for gsm connected or disconnected (with triggers) (one excludes the other). Then I've another flow enabled only when I'm in a cell gsm area of interest that checks for "known wifi zones" with periodic timer and wifi available condition.

I hope this is the right way.

I hope very soon to post all the flows to know if I'm doing well... I like to do things by myself but here I need to know if it is the most (battery) optimized way to use Automagic for my specific needs.

Thank you so much. Long life to Automagic!

Another question:

Martin wrote:... I would usually try the trigger first... The trigger should not use much battery at all...

This approach has to be considered to all triggers (before using "Periodic Timer" trigger and a condition) or is valid for this specific "Phone Cell GSM" trigger only?

It depends on the trigger type and the flow you are creating. Many or even most triggers like login attempt, battery level, display state, incoming call, sms received etc. rely on events sent by the system and will use no or almost no battery by itself. Using a periodic timer with a high frequency and a condition to check the display state would consume much more battery than using a trigger display state.
The sensor triggers like shake, light sensor, compass on the other hand can use quite a bit of battery power depending on device. If your device properly supports the sensor condition, for example pressure sensor, and you only need to check the pressure sensor once an hour it's better to use a periodic timer and a condition.