Location and GPS services are one of the coolest and handiest features of a mobile device, yet, they are also one of the major issues that user typically faces with mobile devices. If you would like to know more about the reason causing these problems, this article will help you to understand them better.
Location inaccuracies
They are the reason how you are able to get to your favourite foodie-goodie as well as how the people from foodie-goodie are able to deliver them to your doorstep. Another handy feature is, that if your device is lost, you can easily find them.
Yet, sometimes, your device will show you where you are not, rather than where you are. Some of the inaccuracies are explained by the hardware a device has available. For instance, a Wi-Fi-only tablet without a GPS is only able to get the general location.
Factors causing problems
What exactly is the issue and causing the issue, depends on the kind of app trying to use these services. The photos you took might have the wrong location tagged in, or the GameStop you want to stop by might be further away from the suggested location. Sometimes the navigation app goes crazy. It might have trouble detecting the right location or show you, that you have arrived at your destination although you are a block away, and so on.
Troubleshooting strategy
So the first thing to address this issue is, you need to make sure your Wi-Fi, cellular data, and GPS is turned on and properly functioning. This happens so due to some app or the user turning off the location services.
Generally in such a case, a message on your screen or in the notification tray will be prompted you to turn on the location services. If you deliberately turned it off for some reason, such as, saving the power consumption by location service, make sure to turn it on when you need to use an app that uses this service. Typically, they will pop up a message to get them access to use the service.
Some apps may have been written such that they don’t use the location services. In that case, those apps often need to be configured manually to grant them access to use the location services. Also, consider tracking if you have a good GPS signal as well for anytime you face a GPS issue. If you have figured out the apparent reason for a location problem, think about the environmental factor. Such as if you are underground, inside a not well-ventilated room, a densely populated area with tall buildings, can hinder you from getting the right signal.
Prepare for a long fix of a GPS issue if your GPS is struggling to show you which street you are in and randomly teleport you from your place to China and back.
More complex issues
If you are sure the problem is not environmental, get ready to dive deeper. Sometimes the new update from an OS, as well as other OS issues, faulty OS configuration settings of GPS, cellular, and Wi-Fi services may hinder the location services from properly being used and functioning. The configurable elements should be double-checked when various other apps are having trouble with a location.
In case the issue lingers on, the good chance is the problem is with GPS, network hardware inside the device, or the bad code that integrates the GPS service. A look-up online will reveal a lot about it. Look up if anyone else issued a similar problem somewhere with the same device and software versions. If you come across no similar case, you need to take the device to the service centre. Even though most mobile devices have a removable network, and GPS modules inside them, often these components are not in-house user serviceable but need to be taken to the authorised service centre or technicians.