Verizon wifi auto on is the only thing I can find to do what you want.

 

Detected by what? If the wifi isn't on, the phone can't detect your network.

 

You can set a GPS location and have it turn wifi on when you are at that location.

 

It can get a general area detection with cell towers.

 

This is how Verizon wifi on works.

 

I was trying to get the OP to say what HE actually meant, but thanks for playing.

For the OP, if you are looking for something that triggers the wifi when you are near your house we can help you out with that. If you mean something different, give us more detail about what you are looking to do.

 

No, in order for it to detect wifi networks, the wifi has to be turned on. i think it actually using the cell towers to figure out your location, so you wouldn't need you have the gps on constantly. (not that the GPS would be on constantly. If you enable the GPS, it only turns on when it if fixing your location, so the GPS only gets turned on for a couple of seconds every few hours.)

Honestly, you can just try leaving your wifi on, and seeing how your battery life changes. If there are no wifi networks around, it doesn't draw that much power. You could also install a toggle on the home screen to turn the wifi on/off. You could also set up a smart action to trigger the wifi based on your location or at a specific time. But those triggers aren't the most reliable.

 

You can download this app to shut the 4g off if it gives you problems, I need to use it at home since it bounces back and forth.

http:// https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.andirc.lteonfoff

 

Related question:

Any way to get WiFi to shut off when I leave the house?

The details: I want WiFi on in my house, and only in my house. I've set up a Smart Action to turn on WiFi when I'm at my house, and it does this beautifully.

It used to turn WiFi off when I left the house (the Smart Action's trigger no longer existed), but it seems to do this only sporadically now. (So when I'm driving down the street, it is helpfully telling me that there are WiFi networks available, and I really don't need that.)

I have another Smart Action trigger when I put my phone in the car dock, so I tried modifying that Smart Action to turn WiFi off when the phone is in the car dock. The problem with this is that, when I get in (or out of) my car in the garage, the phone is both "at home" and "in car dock," so it is simultaneously being told to turn Wi-Fi on and turn it off, and it doesn't really know what to do. (I expect its little brain to explode like a robot faced with paradox on Star Trek.)

The Wi-Fi should turn off on its own when I leave the house, as its trigger no longer exists, but it doesn't seem to want to do this any more. Ideas?

 

I use an app called Y5 Battery Saver. Not sure exactly how it works, possibly with cell tower location services. Once you install the app, you just turn it on and have it connect to Wifi the first time and then it remembers the location automatically. Does not use GPS. So, once it's set up, I walk in the door at home and it turns Wifi on automatically and when I leave my house, it turns it off and switches to 3G/4G LTE. You can set it up to remember multiple locations...home, work, etc. I tried using the SmartActions app, but it had too large of an area where it kept Wifi on which created conflicts with other SmartActions that I had set up. Y5 Battery Saver was much more precise.

 

I don't know if the statements made here about the state of wi-if and detection are actually correct. I believe there is a setting that you can turn on OR turn off wi-if detection that doesn't actually need wi-if to be "turned on". This setting is responsible for the alerts you see saying a wi-if connection is available. Smart Actions use to do what the OP is searching for, but with the release of ICS, Smart Actions isn't so "smart" anymore.

I tried using Tasker to perform these steps, but Tasker is a PITA. Now, I'm using Automateit and it works like a charm. As soon as I step into my home, Automateit detects my home network and turns wi-if on and connects to my network. It also toggles off Mobile Data. When I step out, wi-if is turned off and mobile data is turned on. All this happens in seconds.

 

I don't think I've had wi-fi or GPS turned off since I got the phone in January. Honestly, I've never found a reason to bother.

 

I use Wifi Manager. It turns my wifi on and off at remembered locations.