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Coming from Android, I really miss a Windows Phone (8) app that can do certain things based on where you are (preferably using the phone network antennas, not GPS). On Android, one of the best apps for this is Llama. Tasker is another app like it, but Llama is really focussed on location-based profiles.

What I'm looking for is the following:

  • determine your (approximate) position based on cellular positioning (gsm antenna)
  • switch profiles automatically when relocating (a choice of turning on/off bluetooth, gps, wifi, mobile data, and adjusting your volume)

I've searched the store and several WP blogs, but absolutely zero hits. Are WP apps not allowed to perform such functionality ?

Update: Apparently, the 8.1 update for Windows Phone will improve upon geofencing capabilities. It will also allow some sort of notification/action centre, where you can toggle wifi, bt, etc... more quickly. So it seems Microsoft is loosening it's policy regarding system restrictions in this area.

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Some things just plain aren't possible to do from an app, but it would be possible to do things based on location over time (I seem to remember one of the developer samples when 7.5 came out was a location aware task app, along with alerts, etc.) Windows Phon 8.0 further enhanced what is permitted with regards to using location information from a background task, so the fidelity of that sort of genre can only improve over time.

With regards for apps for toggling WiFi/Volume/etc. I don't believe there is anything made available to third party developers to achieve this (and for some of the things, quite rightly so). Some of the things are less relevant, too - as an example, it's little known that Windows Phone disconnects from WiFi networks when the screen locks, to save power - this then mitigates any need to regularly disable/enable WiFi connections.

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    The fact that apps are not allowed to toggle bluetooth/wifi/mobile data/gps has just now been confirmed by a friend of mine, who is an avid WP developer. It's a pity, but an understandable decision from Microsoft. Maybe, as you say, this functionality will become available to apps step by step, or integrated in WP. Thanks for the answer !
    – pleinolijf
    Jan 11, 2013 at 7:26
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    And an extra +1 (if it would be possible) for your last sentence !
    – pleinolijf
    Jan 11, 2013 at 7:27

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