We have all been there: a meeting starts, and suddenly your phone rings. I built Muffle to automate silent profiles, but the biggest hurdle wasn't the UI—it was making sure the app didn't destroy the user's battery while monitoring GPS coordinates.
The Trap of Continuous Location Updates
Early prototypes used LocationManager with frequent updates. This is the fastest way to get your app uninstalled. Keeping the GPS radio active in the background forces the device to wake the CPU constantly, leading to significant battery drain. To solve this, I moved away from active polling and shifted to the GeofencingClient API.
Leveraging GeofencingClient for Passive Monitoring
Instead of calculating distance from a point every few seconds, I transitioned to system-level geofencing. By defining circular regions around locations like the office or a mosque, the OS handles the monitoring at the hardware abstraction layer.
