GPS doesn´t work on FP Open OS

Yet, only one version of the OSOS has been released.
You can download it from here: http://code.fairphone.com/projects/fp-osos/user/fairphone-open-source-os-installation-instructions.html


I wrote above that GPS worked for me on FPOSOS with oruxmaps, however, I tried over the weekend with osmand, and it did not work.
So apparently only some apps cannot use GPS on FPOSOS.

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But above, some people say it works for them, right? And it isn’t completely app-dependent either: in my case for example, my phone just has no clue where I am whatsoever - whether I’m using Osman or SatStat doesn’t seem to matter. I changed the gps.conf according to lklaus’s instructions (NTP, XTRA and intermediate), but to no avail. Yesterday, when I was still on stock android, Google Maps predicted my location with only like a few meters error. So it’s also not a hardware issue, I guess. Or could it still be, as I probably had high accuracy enabled?

It seems like there is a whole variety of GPS functionality at play here: for some people it just works fine, for some people the workaround is effective and some are just screwed. I’ll switch back to stock android if this doesn’t get fixed, I really like to be able to use my smartphone to find my way.

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Hi,

I have a FP2 (since january) with OSOS since 3 days, and I have GPS problems too, but not exactly the same.
I use WAZE apps for GPS (and car traffic) and it works sometimes but ALWAYS under 40km/h !
When I drive more than 40 km/h my FP reboot (a soft reboot, no black screen like a real boot, just blue screen with “fairphone” logo)!! And it is very unstable, so I have to reboot again …
Play store crashes sometimes when location is activated but not everytime.
Before I installed FP OSOS, WAZE and PlayStore haven’t any problem, so It’s not a hw problem.

I have installed OpenGAPPS pico.

After reading this, I tried to modify gps.conf (NTP, XTRA and intermediate) but no result. Still the sames problems (reboot + playstore crashs), and GPS is very much slower to get the position (more than 5 min) than before the gps.conf modifications.

my gps.conf file :

#Uncommenting these urls would only enable
#the power up auto injection and force injection(test case).
#XTRA_SERVER_1=http://xtrapath1.izatcloud.net/xtra2.bin
#XTRA_SERVER_2=http://xtrapath2.izatcloud.net/xtra2.bin
#XTRA_SERVER_3=http://xtrapath3.izatcloud.net/xtra2.bin
XTRA_SERVER_1=http://xtra1.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_2=http://xtra2.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_3=http://xtra3.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
#Version check for XTRA
#DISABLE = 0
#AUTO    = 1
#XTRA2   = 2
#XTRA3   = 3
XTRA_VERSION_CHECK=0

# Error Estimate
# _SET = 1
# _CLEAR = 0
ERR_ESTIMATE=0

#Test
NTP_SERVER=time.gpsonextra.net
#Asia
# NTP_SERVER=asia.pool.ntp.org
#Europe
NTP_SERVER=1.europe.pool.ntp.org
NTP_SERVER=2.europe.pool.ntp.org
NTP_SERVER=0.europe.pool.ntp.org
#North America
# NTP_SERVER=north-america.pool.ntp.org

# DEBUG LEVELS: 0 - none, 1 - Error, 2 - Warning, 3 - Info
#               4 - Debug, 5 - Verbose
# If DEBUG_LEVEL is commented, Android's logging levels will be used
DEBUG_LEVEL = 3

# Intermediate position report, 1=enable, 0=disable
INTERMEDIATE_POS=1

# Below bit mask configures how GPS functionalities
# should be locked when user turns off GPS on Settings
# Set bit 0x1 if MO GPS functionalities are to be locked
# Set bit 0x2 if NI GPS functionalities are to be locked
# default - non is locked for backward compatibility
#GPS_LOCK = 0

# supl version 1.0
SUPL_VER=0x10000

# Emergency SUPL, 1=enable, 0=disable
SUPL_ES=1

#Choose PDN for Emergency SUPL
#1 - Use emergency PDN
#0 - Use regular SUPL PDN for Emergency SUPL
USE_EMERGENCY_PDN_FOR_EMERGENCY_SUPL=1

#SUPL_MODE is a bit mask set in config.xml per carrier by default.
#If it is uncommented here, this value will over write the value from
#config.xml.
#MSA=0X2
#MSB=0X1
#SUPL_MODE=

# GPS Capabilities bit mask
# SCHEDULING = 0x01
# MSB = 0x02
# MSA = 0x04
# ON_DEMAND_TIME = 0x10
# GEOFENCE = 0x20
# default = ON_DEMAND_TIME | MSA | MSB | SCHEDULING | GEOFENCE
CAPABILITIES=0x37

# Accuracy threshold for intermediate positions
# less accurate positions are ignored, 0 for passing all positions
# ACCURACY_THRES=5000

################################
##### AGPS server settings #####
################################

# FOR SUPL SUPPORT, set the following
# SUPL_HOST=supl.host.com or IP
# SUPL_PORT=1234

# FOR C2K PDE SUPPORT, set the following
# C2K_HOST=c2k.pde.com or IP
# C2K_PORT=1234

# Bitmask of slots that are available
# for write/install to, where 1s indicate writable,
# and the default value is 0 where no slots
# are writable. For example, AGPS_CERT_WRITABLE_MASK
# of b1000001010 makes 3 slots available
# and the remaining 7 slots unwritable.
#AGPS_CERT_WRITABLE_MASK=0

####################################
#  LTE Positioning Profile Settings
####################################
# 0: Enable RRLP on LTE(Default)
# 1: Enable LPP_User_Plane on LTE
# 2: Enable LPP_Control_Plane
# 3: Enable both LPP_User_Plane and LPP_Control_Plane
LPP_PROFILE = 3

################################
# EXTRA SETTINGS
################################
# NMEA provider (1=Modem Processor, 0=Application Processor)
NMEA_PROVIDER=0
# Mark if it is a SGLTE target (1=SGLTE, 0=nonSGLTE)
SGLTE_TARGET=0

##################################################
# Select Positioning Protocol on A-GLONASS system
##################################################
# 0x1: RRC CPlane
# 0x2: RRLP UPlane
# 0x4: LLP Uplane
A_GLONASS_POS_PROTOCOL_SELECT = bitmap 3 set

I don’t know where can I find some log files to see what append when my FP2 reboots, if someone know that, I’m interested !

I will try “XTRA_VERSION_CHECK=1” tomorrow

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Hi All
Just a little feedback.
Ok i testet several gps app’s, like osmand, sygic, oruxmaps, gps tracks… And the GPS works with OpenOS and the app’s.
I have from starting on new installation with Twrp and also xposed with using this moduls.
See picture :

Dont knew any other reason.
Have a great day!
Lg ivi

New update is live. What does this fix “Unified Location provider” mean for us?

Well, I guess it means that now location services using mobile cells and Wi-fi to get your location are supported. As they mention “Jochen”:

Unified Location provider (Thanks Jochen)

it’s very likely that they added @jochensp’s patches to integrate Unified Nlp support:

If you want to use it, you nevertheless still need to install the corresponding middleware UnifiedNlp app and a backend app:

As far as I’d understand, this is independent of GPS, so I don’t know whether GPS behaviour will change with this update.

Updated my phone and tried different backends: PlayStore crashes and my GPS still seems to be completely dead… :’(

I’m on 16.05 now, and coarse location works as well as God. TTF ca 80 seconds. Play store crashes when it can’t find the position. Learned, I cannot deny location to the store :slight_smile:

I had to restore 16.04.0 and wanted to try again. I updated OTA, but got caught in a loop initialising apps. I found a way out, thanks to @maba007 and @Spielmops :slight_smile:

  1. Updated OTA to 16.05.0 and let initialise all apps for first time
  2. Interrupted the second initialisation process by launching TWRP (pressing Off button + Volume up for some time)
  3. Wiped Dalvik Cache and Cache
  4. Flashed the Xposed Framework (as I had it already installed and it was deactivated by update)
  5. Downloaded latest OpenGAPPS installer, transferred it to phone and flashed it.
  6. Wiped Dalvik Cache and Cache again
  7. Rebooted System

Half the icons and widgets disappeared from the Home screen, but they all worked fine and all the data was still there as well.

And now the GPS works just great again, system runs smooth and the phone knows where I am! :slight_smile:

Edit and PS: Huge thanks also to @jochensp, as it seems that the GPS fix in the last update is thanks to him! Cheers pal! :slight_smile:

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Unfortunately I did not manage to get gps running.

I installed fp open os 16.05 as a fresh installation via fastboot and did not install gapps. I installed osmand and komoot to tests gps. Afterwards i installed unified with f-droid and tried some backends. I also changed the 0 to 1 in gps.conf.

Any ideas, what else i can try?

same here… there is no workaround known for this… just take a support-ticket… otherwise your GPS problem will be heavily neglected…

There are some workarounds, like changing the config file as described above.

Also support is swamped and often takes many weeks to reply so the forum is often faster to find a workaround.

The gps finally worked with 16.06.
Unfortunatelly it bricked my phone. I will give it another try in the next days.

Can you state more precisely what you mean by “finally worked”. E.g how did you come to know that it worked before it bricked?

I updated to 16.06. My OsmAnd~ is still unable to find my location in high accuracy, which means that neither the WIFI, mobile network or GPS are providing my location. SatStat shows 2 satellites and WIFI networks, though. (Will try outside of my building if I see more satellites so that GPS can get my location).
Is any of you able to find the location via WIFI or cell network? Are you only facing problems with the GPS?

I am able to acquire a signal via wifi and celltowers using UnifiedNLP (on FP Open OS 16.05). However, since GPS is not working at all, switching between “device only” and “high accuracy” seems to cause problems with last known position registered in system which leads to nonsense behaviour on high accuracy (which is in fact wifi and celltowers only for me)

Since 16.05 coarse location works for me. Osmand, satstat and a few other apps all get a location (correct one…). In 16.05 GPS did work for me (but I changed GPS.conf). Had not yet time to test gps, as in the house I can’t get a fix. Walls are too thick

Just installed 16.06. Osmand still not working with gps (I got NO openGAPPS)

With the versions 16.04 and 16.05 i had no gps.
Saturday i installed 16.06 and tested the cycling app komoot and it showed directly the correct position. After a restart of the phone i was stuck in the fairphone powered by android screen.

What I noticed and what I want you to think about:

The thread-topic contains two terms, which have not much to do with each other:

GPS and GAPPS

GPS is able to show your location via satellites, GAPPS via network. Both go together with the location-item “high accuracy”, but both work independent from each other.

The topic says “GPS doesn’t work”, so it would be better for solving the problem, if you all talk about “GPS” - that is “device only” in your settings and not mix both ways of location.

Set your phone to “device only”, go outside with it to a location under free sky and use eg. “Satstat” (F-droid). It will take up to 5 minutes at the first time to see satellites and you can follow the process with Satstat. If this app shows no satellites after that long time under free sky, then you can say: “GPS does definitely not work”.

Spielmops

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