Android device GPS on/off programmatically

From my personal experience, I am answering this,

• The hack code you shown in the your question has been stopped working from Android version 4.4. Your will fire this Exception starting from Kitkat version java.lang.SecurityException: Permission Denial: not allowed to send broadcast android.location.GPS_ENABLED_CHANGE

• The First answer's code will not work any more, it only display animated GPS icon in notification bar.

• For The security purpose Google developer has block above both methods which were previously working fine.

• Hence conclusion is that You can not programmatically start GPS On or Off.

Try this code:

/** Method to turn on GPS **/
    public void turnGPSOn(){
        try
        {

        String provider = Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(), Settings.Secure.LOCATION_PROVIDERS_ALLOWED);


        if(!provider.contains("gps")){ //if gps is disabled
            final Intent poke = new Intent();
            poke.setClassName("com.android.settings", "com.android.settings.widget.SettingsAppWidgetProvider");
            poke.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE);
            poke.setData(Uri.parse("3"));
            sendBroadcast(poke);
        }
        }
        catch (Exception e) {

        }
    }
// Method to turn off the GPS
    public void turnGPSOff(){
        String provider = Settings.Secure.getString(getContentResolver(), Settings.Secure.LOCATION_PROVIDERS_ALLOWED);

        if(provider.contains("gps")){ //if gps is enabled
            final Intent poke = new Intent();
            poke.setClassName("com.android.settings", "com.android.settings.widget.SettingsAppWidgetProvider");
            poke.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE);
            poke.setData(Uri.parse("3"));
            sendBroadcast(poke);
        }
    }

    // turning off the GPS if its in on state. to avoid the battery drain.
    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        super.onDestroy();
        turnGPSOff();`enter code here`
    }

    /**

Also add this on your manifest:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE"/>

UPDATE:

Now we can on/off GPS from our app using the default enable location dialog like Google maps.

The documentation can be found here:

Android Location Dialog

Sample code:

if (googleApiClient == null) {
        googleApiClient = new GoogleApiClient.Builder(getActivity())
                .addApi(LocationServices.API)
                .addConnectionCallbacks(this)
                .addOnConnectionFailedListener(this).build();
            googleApiClient.connect();

            LocationRequest locationRequest = LocationRequest.create();
            locationRequest.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY);
            locationRequest.setInterval(30 * 1000);
            locationRequest.setFastestInterval(5 * 1000);
            LocationSettingsRequest.Builder builder = new LocationSettingsRequest.Builder()
                    .addLocationRequest(locationRequest);

            //**************************
            builder.setAlwaysShow(true); //this is the key ingredient
            //**************************

            PendingResult<LocationSettingsResult> result =
                    LocationServices.SettingsApi.checkLocationSettings(googleApiClient, builder.build());
            result.setResultCallback(new ResultCallback<LocationSettingsResult>() {
                @Override
                public void onResult(LocationSettingsResult result) {
                    final Status status = result.getStatus();
                    final LocationSettingsStates state = result.getLocationSettingsStates();
                    switch (status.getStatusCode()) {
                        case LocationSettingsStatusCodes.SUCCESS:
                            // All location settings are satisfied. The client can initialize location
                            // requests here.
                            break;
                        case LocationSettingsStatusCodes.RESOLUTION_REQUIRED:
                            // Location settings are not satisfied. But could be fixed by showing the user
                            // a dialog.
                            try {
                                // Show the dialog by calling startResolutionForResult(),
                                // and check the result in onActivityResult().
                                status.startResolutionForResult(
                                        getActivity(), 1000);
                            } catch (IntentSender.SendIntentException e) {
                                // Ignore the error.
                            }
                            break;
                        case LocationSettingsStatusCodes.SETTINGS_CHANGE_UNAVAILABLE:
                            // Location settings are not satisfied. However, we have no way to fix the
                            // settings so we won't show the dialog.
                            break;
                    }
                }
            });           
  }

This code works on Rooted Phone

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);



        String[] cmds = {"cd /system/bin" ,"settings put secure location_providers_allowed +gps"};
        try {
            Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su");
            DataOutputStream os = new DataOutputStream(p.getOutputStream());
            for (String tmpCmd : cmds) {
                os.writeBytes(tmpCmd + "\n");
            }
            os.writeBytes("exit\n");
            os.flush();
        }
        catch (IOException e){
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    }
}