Hey guys, first off, I have searched for no less than 2 hours for an answer to this question, and while there are lots of discussions, none of them seem to replicate what I am seeing.
Can anyone confirm this, and does anyone have a fix?
GPS will not lock a single satelite in Airplane Mode. I'm in American Samoa without cell coverage, and using the GPS Status app to test. Here's my findings:
First, I turn off Airplane mode, turn on WiFi (connected), turn on GPS. I do not get a cell signal. I open GPS Status, GPS locks onto the first satelite within a minute, and locks position in 10 seconds after that. I turn Airplane mode on which turns WiFi off. Interestingly enough, GPS is not turned off. I turn GP Soff, and then turn it back on (have read suggestions to do so, and have also tried not switching it at all). I then turn Wifi on and verify connection. I open GPS Status, and let it sit for up to an hour outdoors, not a single satelite ever appears. I turn Airplane mode off, and within a minute I have a locked location.
So, two questions, is it possible to get GPS to work when in Airplane mode, or is it possible to disable the cell radio some other way (possibly keeping GPS enabled)?
Here's my stats:
Phone: Moto Razr Maxx
Rooted: Yup
Carrier: Verizon
Sys Version: 6.12.181.XT912.Verizon.en.US
Android Version: 2.3.6
Baseband: CMDA_N_04.07.01R LTEDC_U_07.1F.00
Purchased about a month ago
Playing around a bit more, I noticed that when I have airplane mode off, and GPS on, and GPS Status open, if I quickly hit the home button, turn Airplane mode on, and go back into GPS Status, a lock remains for about 3-5 seconds, and then satelites slowly start disappearing until there's none left. Airplane mode is definitely disabling GPS on my phone.
Anyone? Bueller.... Bueller... Bueller...
I can post video if you don't believe me...
I have read that the GPS needs a data connection to make a lock. I don't remember where I read that, but I had the same problem when I was in Europe trying to use my phone primarily as a GPS device with cached maps. There was maybe once or twice that it actually locked, out of many many many many attempts.
I have airplane mode on, wifi and blutooth off, then turn on gps, I get gps lock on my Droid Razr with stock gingerbread for a short period then lose all satellites. It appears that you can't use gps with airplane mode on.
bump i have been wondering about this also. airlines often expressly allow gps. after all, gps RECEIVES, it doesn't transmit.
droidmo said:
I have read that the GPS needs a data connection to make a lock. I don't remember where I read that, but I had the same problem when I was in Europe trying to use my phone primarily as a GPS device with cached maps. There was maybe once or twice that it actually locked, out of many many many many attempts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually GPS doesn't need data connection to make a lock. But with data connection it helps make lock much faster.. that's the features called A-GPS (Assisted-GPS), google around about A-GPS for more detailed info how it works.
I always turn off my data connection every time i use my razr for navigation. I only turn data connection sometimes to make the GPS locked and after i got a lock i always turn off the data connection (I'm not on data plan) and even i didn't turn on my data connection I still can get a lock as long as i am outdoor. So far i never had razr GPS lock problems. This phone's GPS never disappoint me.
My guess is maybe it's some kinda bug on the airplane mode or maybe that's intentionally for some safety reasons.
Same here. I did:
- open maps, locate my position. ok.
- turn off wifi and data
- go back to maps, position ok.
- longpress power, turrn on airplane
- gps starts blinking, position lost
- turn off airplane, but data remains off
- gps position found in 2 seconds
(also tried with "GPS Test" app - same result)
I have MAXX AsiaRetail stock 2.3.6
Sent from my XT910 using XDA
Thanks guys, nice to know it's not just me! Just to clarify some other posts, GPS works with or without a data connection as long as airplane mode is off.
So, seeing as though airplane mode kills GPS, does anyone know of a way to disable the cell radio (to save battery life) without turning on airplane mode?
And just to comfort those who worry about flying, I'm just using the phone for directions and what not (American Samoa doesn't have street addresses believe it or not, and 2 houses past the third palm tree doesn't cut it ). I download the directions while at the hotel on wifi, then go about my way, but if I can't use GPS in airplane mode, it kills the battery searching for a cell tower.
kreez said:
So far i never had razr GPS lock problems. This phone's GPS never disappoint me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't agree more, while in the states with cell reception, this phone's GPS is fantastic! Unfortunately, if you have to keep airplane mode off to have it work, it's useless in the back country, or 3rd world countries. Maybe today's ICS release will fix the bug!
I don't think it's a bug. My droid X did the same thing.
risslerp said:
I don't think it's a bug. My droid X did the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes, feature not bug. :cyclops:
Moved To Q&A
Please Post questions in the Q&A section
On my Razr Maxx I also have no gps in airplane mode. I'm running the official 4.04.
I'm going to guess this is because the droid radio chip has gps integrated along with the cellular radios. Here's my evidence:
Turning off the radio with the LTE OnOff app (it just opens the radio service menu, same as dialing the service number), and pressing "Turn radio off": Gps Test would never see any satellites and would never get a gps lock.
Setting the "preferred network type" to "GSM only" (this has no service in Seattle with Verizon): Gps Test immediately sees satellites and I get a gps lock.
I wish there was an option to turn off all the cellular radios but to leave the gps radio on. I use my razr maxx hiking with offline topo maps and OruxMaps, and it lasts about 8 hours recording tracks every 1 minute.
Possible solution?
My findings are that when using my Razr Maxx still on 2.3.6 stock settings, If I run the GPS Test application with GPS, 3G data and cellular on (airplane mode off) it acquires my location accurate of 10 feet, using 8-12 satellites in approximately 10 or so seconds. If I exit, toggle Airplane mode on, relaunch GPS Test, it will acquire my location in the same time, accuracy and with again 8-12 satellites. But If I exit, toggle GPS off and then Airplane mode on, Toggle GPS on, relaunch GPS Test, it will not be able to locate any satellites.
Now, with that said, if I go into my data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/ directory and open the settings.db file, in the "system" entry, I do not have gps listed in either the "airplane_mode_radios" or the "airplane_mode_toggleable_radios" values. I do have "cell,bluetooth,wifi" under the airplane_mode_radios value, and "bluetooth,wifi" under the airplane_mode_toggleable_radios value.
I do not know how this looks in ICS for the Razr (4.0.4). I also do not know if gps is even able to be included here. Just a theory.
I might be on to something that may work and you will need to be rooted.
I warn you, that I have not tried modifying this myself, so I cannot verify it will work. Do not try this if you aren't comfortable with attempting it without it being verified to work first.
What I'm thinking is to use an app like Root Explorer and navigate into the data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/ directory. Open and edit the settings.db file with an app like SQLite editor. Then open the "system" database entry. Check to see if on around lines 21 and 22 there are entries named "airplane_mode_radios" and "airplane_mode_toggleable_radios". Once located, check to see if their values include gps among the other available radios. If the airplane_mode_radios value includes gps, then long press, tap edit field, remove it and save. If gps is not listed under the airplane_mode_toggleable_radios then long press, edit field, add gps and save. Exit and reboot.
I think with doing this, it should not turn GPS off when airplane mode is toggled on and it should allow you to toggle GPS on and off while airplane mode is on.
If anyone else knows of an easier or proven way to do this then let us know.
If you know this will not work, correct me and let me know.
Ryco26 said:
My findings are that when using my Razr Maxx still on 2.3.6 stock settings, If I run the GPS Test application with GPS, 3G data and cellular on (airplane mode off) it acquires my location accurate of 10 feet, using 8-12 satellites in approximately 10 or so seconds. If I exit, toggle Airplane mode on, relaunch GPS Test, it will acquire my location in the same time, accuracy and with again 8-12 satellites. But If I exit, toggle GPS off and then Airplane mode on, Toggle GPS on, relaunch GPS Test, it will not be able to locate any satellites.
Now, with that said, if I go into my data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/ directory and open the settings.db file, in the "system" entry, I do not have gps listed in either the "airplane_mode_radios" or the "airplane_mode_toggleable_radios" values. I do have "cell,bluetooth,wifi" under the airplane_mode_radios value, and "bluetooth,wifi" under the airplane_mode_toggleable_radios value.
I do not know how this looks in ICS for the Razr (4.0.4). I also do not know if gps is even able to be included here. Just a theory.
I might be on to something that may work and you will need to be rooted.
I warn you, that I have not tried modifying this myself, so I cannot verify it will work. Do not try this if you aren't comfortable with attempting it without it being verified to work first.
What I'm thinking is to use an app like Root Explorer and navigate into the data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/ directory. Open and edit the settings.db file with an app like SQLite editor. Then open the "system" database entry. Check to see if on around lines 21 and 22 there are entries named "airplane_mode_radios" and "airplane_mode_toggleable_radios". Once located, check to see if their values include gps among the other available radios. If the airplane_mode_radios value includes gps, then long press, tap edit field, remove it and save. If gps is not listed under the airplane_mode_toggleable_radios then long press, edit field, add gps and save. Exit and reboot.
I think with doing this, it should not turn GPS off when airplane mode is toggled on and it should allow you to toggle GPS on and off while airplane mode is on.
If anyone else knows of an easier or proven way to do this then let us know.
If you know this will not work, correct me and let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to confirm that I'm having the same issue of having no GPS connectivity when in airplane mode even though the GPS has been toggled on. Numerous other forums have stated that this is a hardware issue with Motorola phones. I'm curious if the above quoted solution has worked for anybody.
Thank you!
This is the response that I got from Motorola after asking the general question about having GPS turned on when airplane mode is on:
"When airplane mode is enabled, this will automatically disable all wireless and radio communication on the device including the GPS receiver. Because the phone, in order to determine location, takes readings from both GPS satellites and nearby cellular base stations (towers), with the help of a location server on the network. In other words, the phone relies on the network for help in determining location. Although the phone does receive GPS signals directly from the satellites, it can't determine actual location without help from the cell network."
Therefore, you can't use the GPS radio by itself.
hantav said:
This is the response that I got from Motorola after asking the general question about having GPS turned on when airplane mode is on:
"When airplane mode is enabled, this will automatically disable all wireless and radio communication on the device including the GPS receiver. Because the phone, in order to determine location, takes readings from both GPS satellites and nearby cellular base stations (towers), with the help of a location server on the network. In other words, the phone relies on the network for help in determining location. Although the phone does receive GPS signals directly from the satellites, it can't determine actual location without help from the cell network."
Therefore, you can't use the GPS radio by itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the GPS still works fine when I am far away from any cell towers of any kind...
I think whoever responded to you was trying to justify airplane mode turning off GPS. There must be a way to force it to stay on.
It has certainly frustrated me that I can't use airplane mode to save battery while using GPS.
I'm by no means an expert on this issue but I think the GPS and cellular radios are physically connected (on the same chip??) inside most Motorola phones. So even though you might not be near a cellular tower, and if airplane mode if off, you should be able to get a GPS signal. But if airplane mode is on, then both the cellular and GPS radios will be turned off.
Basically, the interwebs is pointing to a hardware issue rather then an a software issue. However, I hope a software solution is available.
MrCavity said:
But the GPS still works fine when I am far away from any cell towers of any kind...
I think whoever responded to you was trying to justify airplane mode turning off GPS. There must be a way to force it to stay on.
It has certainly frustrated me that I can't use airplane mode to save battery while using GPS.
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Click to collapse
I'd give $20 for a software solution to this problem. I am an avid hiker. Using a cell phone in Airplane Mode you get 4x, 5x, 6x the battery life. If I can use GPS while in Airplane Mode, I can hike a very long time, but if I'm forced to leave the cell radio on merely to use GPS, the battery won't last a full day's hike. It is ridiculous that we can't (yet) use GPS in Airplane Mode. I have been using ViewRanger offline navigation app for years. I download to the phone before I leave home all of the topo maps that I need for a hike, so I have no need for data when I'm hiking.
Did anyone ever try editing the systems.db file in data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/ directory? I can't tell that the guy that wrote that post ever tried it himself.
EDIT: I found here documentation of these two settings.
AIRPLANE_MODE_RADIOS -- A comma separated list of radios that need to be disabled when airplane mode is on.
AIRPLANE_MODE_TOGGLEABLE_RADIOS -- A comma separated list of radios that should to be disabled when airplane mode is on, but can be manually reenabled by the user.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My XT912 is rooted and I have System set to read-write. I tried to use SQLite to edit the value of AIRPLANE_MODE_TOGGLEABLE_RADIOS in the System table of /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/System.db to change it from "bluetooth,wifi,nfc" to "bluetooth,wifi,nfc,gps" but even though I have write permissions to the file, when I tried, I received this error:
Update Failed - Error Code 5. Database is locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went searching for how to edit settings.db and found this thread and this other thread, but I don't fully understand the instructions.
Bottom Line: if this is truly a hardware problem, then editing this file won't fix the problem (but likely won't cause any harm either), but if this is merely a software problem, then this may finally give us GPS use while in Airplane Mode.
For those that have had issues with battery drain like I did, I may have finally found the solution.
After much research and reading many threads I found that the culprit was google play services. Specifically it was Google (I believe on Now) always trying to figure out location.
It always does a quick wifi check to try and figure out what's what. However due to a bug that has been in the coding since launch of KitKat (hurry up and fix it google) it fails and will just continue to try and try and try.
Solutions I found were to turn off location access on phone or edit Google Play Services Permission, specifically disable stay awake permission.
Turning off location, google now access to location, or both resulted in temporary fixes and I believe google still tried to figure it's location via wifi despite being told not to.
Long story short...if having just wifi location doesn't work.. and having location off doesn't work...
Then why not switch mode to high accuracy in which GPS is left on!
Google uses GPS for location, it works in one try, everyone is happy!
Long story short, if you have KitKat and are experiencing high battery drain with you phone constantly awake when off.
Switch your location settings to High Accuracy. Phone is smart enough to not use GPS when not needed.
It worked for me and it might work for you too!:good:
(Hopefully this fixes it for good)
Kolma said:
For those that have had issues with battery drain like I did, I may have finally found the solution.
After much research and reading many threads I found that the culprit was google play services. Specifically it was Google (I believe on Now) always trying to figure out location.
It always does a quick wifi check to try and figure out what's what. However due to a bug that has been in the coding since launch of KitKat (hurry up and fix it google) it fails and will just continue to try and try and try.
Solutions I found were to turn off location access on phone or edit Google Play Services Permission, specifically disable stay awake permission.
Turning off location, google now access to location, or both resulted in temporary fixes and I believe google still tried to figure it's location via wifi despite being told not to.
Long story short...if having just wifi location doesn't work.. and having location off doesn't work...
Then why not switch mode to high accuracy in which GPS is left on!
Google uses GPS for location, it works in one try, everyone is happy!
Long story short, if you have KitKat and are experiencing high battery drain with you phone constantly awake when off.
Switch your location settings to High Accuracy. Phone is smart enough to not use GPS when not needed.
It worked for me and it might work for you too!:good:
(Hopefully this fixes it for good)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its working bro......cheers......:good: great ........
So usually I just keep GPS off to save battery. What your saying is to keep GPS on with high accuracy may actually improve battery life over keeping GPS off altogether?
Sent from my Virgin Mobile CDMA HTC Desire 601 zara_cl
what about device sensor's setting?
hi all
is there anyone here already try AppOpsXposed? http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/xposed-appopsxposed-appops-4-3-t2564865
it's work at My desire 601 kitkat 4.4.2 without root
this apps can disable hidden system location and other thing but not sure work or not but so far my battery getting better now...
I have the same problem but the solution doesn't work.
I think you fixed the problem by charged the phone and not with switch gps (see your graph).
My solution now is only reboot.
hansvongrobel said:
I have the same problem but the solution doesn't work.
I think you fixed the problem by charged the phone and not with switch gps (see your graph).
My solution now is only reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have GPS switched on. it just doesn't keep it running google play services will turn it on as needed instead of trying to get location from wifi and locking up even when told not to.
Different people have had luck with different solutions and this was mine.
Here are my results from today, the first small block of awake is from me Listening to music for about an hour on 4G.
Not sure what the second block is, might have been apps that updated or the bug returning for a couple minutes. (battery was at 45% at time of pic)
Thanks for this! I'm going to have my wife give it a try!