I would like to dive a little bit into the GPS system in my 2024 ES-350.
My dealer told me that if I don't turn it on, it isn't functioning, is this the case?

I just read something in the Multimedia manual about the GPS that is confusing me.
on pg. 52 it says:

"GPS will continue tracking the present position with the screen turned off."

What are they talking about exactly?

 

Even with the screen turned off it means the GPS signal is still active. Think of it as if you are using your phone, but just turning off the screen. It's still active, it can still pinpoint your position via GPS, there's just no display signal as it was turned off. Once you turn the screen back in, you will see your current/updated location.

 

I am thinking of my phone.
On my phone I can turn on/off GPS with the touch of the screen.
When the screen is on/off, if I have turned off GPS, it is off.

 

You can't stop the GPS signals from entering your car, but you do not have to have the map visible on the screen. Your car always knows where it is so that information is available to you any time you want.
You can put a DVD into your player and hit play, but if you don't power up your TV, you can't see the movie (but it's still playing).
I think "turning off the GPS" just means some other app is using the screen.

 

Well let's break this down some more.
On my phone's settings screen I have:
Wifi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, Data connection, Auto-rotate, Location (GPS), Silent, Vibrator and Battery saver.

You are trying to lead me to believe that ALL of these functions are really always on.
But that's not true.
When I am in airplane mode I cannot make a call no matter how hard I try.
When I have disabled Location (GPS) I can't use any GPS apps, no matter how hard I try.
When I have enabled Silent, I can't hear the phone sounds, no matter how hard I try.
etc.

I know I can't stop GPS TRANSMITTER signals from entering my car. I have no control over that.
But I should be able to control if RECEIVERS in my car are enabled or not.

 

You're wrong if you think turning off Location permissions on your phone shuts off the GPS electronics from continuing to operate. All setting or clearing Location permissions does is set software switches/flags that tell the phone's operating system which, if any, userland programs (i.e., apps) can or cannot have location data supplied to them. Unbeknownst to most phone users, the GPS electronics is always operating and supplying time and location data to operating system functions responsible for such things as keeping accurate local time even across moving to a different time zone and in many jurisdictions mandate compliance to supply location data for all emergency number calls (e.g., e911 in the US).

The only time a phone's GPS electronics is truly off is either when the phone has voluntarily powered off or the phone shuts down because there isn't enough power available for the phone's electronics to continue to operate.

 

Every time you stop your car, the car sends its location to someplace in the cloud. This enables the find my car feature on your Lexus app, if you have the Lexus app on your phone - a handy feature for the wanderer, the distracted and the easily confused.
That's why I say the car always knows where it is, co-ordinate-wise.

 

You are making sweeping assumptions when you say that.
You assume you know what phone I have, which model and which year.

I have an older phone.
My phone requires the GPS to be manually enabled before any GPS functions can be used by the phone/app.
How do I know this?

Two ways.
1. First, every app I use that makes use of GPS asks me to manually turn on GPS before the app will work !!!
2. Second, I have very efficient EMF/RF sensors in my head. I can actually feel when GPS is enabled on my phone.