GPS/Location not working for Android apps

Bug Reports
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#1

REPRODUCIBILITY: 100%
BUILD ID = OS VERSION : 4.3.0.12 and previous 4.2 versions
HARDWARE :XA2
UI LANGUAGE: English
REGRESSION: Yes

DESCRIPTION:

GPS/Location functionality not working with Android apps.

I have experienced this issue with Here WeGo, Magic Earth, and Sportstracker.

With Here WeGo and Magic Earth the app freezes after a few seconds. If the Location permission is turned off from within Android Apps Settings then the app will open and run properly (though without any GPS/Location information) allowing you to pinch and zoom, move around the maps, select routes and find travel times, road conditions etc.

In the case of Sportstracker the app freezes or just continually waits for a GPS signal.

Once the Android app freezes Android App Support needs to be restarted before any Android apps will function.

I use GPS Info to ascertain that I have a valid GPS signal so I know the issue isn’t related to poor GPS coverage.

Native apps like Pure Maps and Laufhelden can access the Location and run as they are intended to.

PRECONDITIONS:

Nil

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

  1. Open any Android app that relies on a GPS signal

EXPECTED RESULT:

Get navigation guidance or be able to track sporting activities.

ACTUAL RESULT:

Android apps requiring GPS/Location services freeze and until that app is closed and Android App Support is re-started no other Android app will work

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Nil

8 Likes
[Release notes] Suomenlinna 4.3.0
Position does not update in Magic Earth
#2

Hello,
Doesn’t happen to me (XA2 Plus Dual Sim, 4.3.0.12)

#3

Thank you for responding. I had considered that perhaps there was corruption of my Android support but had no way to prove or disprove that easily. There’s also the possibility that only some devices are affected.

I’m also have the WLAN reconnection issue with Android apps which may or may not affect all devices either.

I don’t know if either of these two problems are related.

May I ask what Android apps are you using that require Location.

#4

HereWeGo, Waze, MagicEarth

#5

Are you having any issues with Android apps not re-connecting to the internet via WLAN when you phone comes back into WLAN coverage?

1 Like
#6

Happens with me, too. Abetterrouteplanner, EnBW mobility+, Shell Recharge, Moovility…

1 Like
#7

Internet reconnecting between wifi and cell shall be fixed with 4.3.

#8

This problem does not belong to a thread having “Location” in the header. Let’s not mix things up. It is challenging to find significant posts even then. Thank you.

2 Likes
#9

I’m sorry for introducing the WLAN reconnection issue to this thread. My only reason for doing so was to find out if there was a co-relation between the two issues because, for me, they both started at the same time.

I saw this as a way to gather more information as a means to help resolve the issue.

#10

Yes, I understand. Whether the lack of internet connection via WLAN is related to the lack of location data is a new idea (to me). Although not obvious, it is worth checking.

Btw, I use OsmAnd maps app a lot and have not seen issues with it. But I will check if something odd happens when I return to home WLAN from a dog walk the next time.

#11

Yup, I’m having this issue on a Sony Xperia XA2 (single SIM), freshly flashed to latest Sailfish using the v16 Sony binaries. The issue does seem to be a combination of problems, and I am able to work-around with the following steps:

  • Make sure your Android navigation apps have the location permission, then kill them so they’re not running.
  • First, we’ll get Internet working in an Android app. This can sometimes be problematic, and I don’t know why. Toggling between WiFi and Cellular data seems to wake things up.
  • Keep Internet working. I found a free “ping” app in Apptoid to make sure the Android network stack doesn’t fall back to its funky state.
  • Next warm up GPS. Make sure you have “High-accuracy positioning” turned on. Now use Hello GPS from the Jolla Store and keep the phone in clear view of the sky, then wait… it can take a long time, but just let it get a fix. It seems to get faster on subsequent attempts.
  • Now start up an Android navigation app like Waze or Here Maps, and everything should work!

If the phone goes to sleep for awhile, Android networking will sleep, apps will crash and the GPS fix will need to be re-established. This is all a pain, and clearly more work needs to be done to keep this smooth, but I’m coming from another Linux Mobile OS where we didn’t even have this much working, so I’m happy with these work-around steps for now.

1 Like
#12

The problem is that the XA2 generally has problems with GPS.
I suspect that it is due to the Android binary blobs. It is not communicated well and correctly between these layers. The binaries V16 or V17b are still Android 8. and why, for example, the 5 GHZ Wlan problem is not fixed, I do not understand.
The same applies to the communication with the GPS module. If I find satellites with a bad signal with GPS Info, they are displayed with a very good signal after a restart of the phone. and still the fix takes quite a long time. so I exclude a hardware error for now.

Jolla would have to take another hand here and solve these problems.

#13

I have same problem with all GPS applications but not with GPSinfo and MessWerk (XA2 Plus Dual Sim, 4.3.0.12). Location is freezing on one places.

#14

GPS with MagicEarth doesn’t work properly on my XA2, neither on my XA2 plus.
Some here concluded that it is due to the hardware. If that is the cause, then what about the 10 II and the coming 10 III ?

#15

I don’t think it’s hardware.

The XA2 takes a long time to get a lock on but works OK when it gets a lock on.

I think the problem is the XA2 GPS “forgets” the GPS almanac data (that other devices “remember”) from when it is last used and has to re-acquire this data before it can get a lock on.

However, like you I’m also interested to know what the status is with the 10iii etc.

#16

The same happens to me too on Xperia XA 2 Ultra. Please, look on this issue soon, this is almost the only must have app I have on my phone. And having unreliable maps when driving is really not pleasant experience.

This is happening on Magic Earth and OSM AND+ for me.

#17

Same Problem here with Xperia II

1 Like
#18

Same issue for me.
OS 4.3 Xperia XA2

additionnal investigation :GPS info app shows satellites used / satellites seen 0/24…
it seems it is not possible to use the data…

#19

That means it gets data from 0 of the 24 available satellites. So that wouldn’t be much joy.

BTW:
Gps works fine on my xperia10 II dual sim using 4.3.012 as long as I’m not inside the house.

#20

To revive an old topic.

I have recently bought a Xperia 10iii and installed Sailfish. I ran it for several days on Android 11 to check everything worked prior to flashing Sailfish.

The GPS works very well on HERE WeGo. Lock on is fast, unlike on my XA2.

However I have two other apps that use GPS, Sportstracker and AvPlan (aviation flight planning app). Neither of these apps seem to be able to get a GPS location. I don’t think it would make a difference but I am temporarily running the phone without a sim.

Any ideas on why I might have this problem and how I might overcome it? Would installing GApps or similar help?

It seems odd that HERE WeGo works but the other apps won’t

I would happily swap to Kuri for the tracking app except it isn’t possible to upload Kuri to Sportstracker. (if @ elBoberido reads this, I’m happy to help with getting the SportsTracker upload working.)

Thanks for any ideas.