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Galaxy S4 GPS Signal Lost

I travel a lot. Recently (within the past month or so) my Galaxy S4 has been losing its GPS signal frequently. With the different cities that I visit, I need a reliable GPS to navigate the new environs. To hear "GPS Signal Lost" is quite disconcerting. I explored assistance with Samsung, and they immediately wanted to do a factory reset on the phone. There has got to be another solution. Has anybody else experienced this problem? Any solutions that can be tried before a factory reset? I don't know if it is a phone, carrier or app issue. I'm using the Navigation app that came with the phone (I believe it is connected with Google maps). I has worked flawlessly up until the past month or so.

Comments

joonhyuk

Do you have your GPS settings to High Accuracy? Also if WifFi on as well? Having those two things may help sustain your signal better.

Raffi_B

Im also having the same problem. I'VE tried changing the settings to HI and turned on the wifi. But it hasnt helped.

BonitaMike

Suddenly, late last year the GPS on my Galaxy S4 failed completely. "GPS Status and Toolbox" sees no satellites, nor does anything else that uses GPS. I've found a bunch of solutions including turning "Location" on and off in "Settings->More," tightening the screws under the back cover, pretty much everything I could find from goggling and I see that safe mode and a full reset do not help. Occurring after an operating system upgrade was shown to NOT be the problem. One person said to disable "Google Now." I never heard of Google Now and it isn't on my phone anyway unless it is "Now Cards" under Google+, but that was never enabled.

So what's going on? Is this a hardware failure? What can I do to get it working again. HELP. NEED MY GPS.

Verizon_Support

BonitaMike,

I know how important GPS is! Let's see what we can find out about your device. Is your GPS failing each time you open Maps or is it randomly? Do you have your Location settings on High Accuracy? I know you stated you read Safe Mode may not help, but please test in Safe mode to check if there are any improvements; http://vz.to/1l9iig4

TrevorC_VZW

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BonitaMike

Location Setting has always been set to “High Accuracy” and “Location” has always be turned on. It used to use GPS automatically when an application like Maps, GPS Status, NavFree need GPS the satellite symbol (icon?) used to come on at the top of the phone and all worked well. All have been on the phone for well over a year. Two or three months ago, that all stopped and I never saw the GPS symbol again…

…Until yesterday when I was messing around with it. I was in Google MAPs and tried it again and of course it did not use GPS in spite of the settings you mentioned being properly set. I turned location off and back on and “agreed.” I saw the GPS symbol again and GPS worked in MAPS for a while lasting for a couple minutes to over an hour and then quit. I had the same results with “GPS Status.” I also noticed that when I switched out of a program that uses GPS and went into another (using GPS or not) GPS would not come up in the second program if needed and not come up when returning to the first program, but the location off-on would make it work for a while. I just discovered that THIS "TRICK" ONLY WORKS WHEN I HAVE A WIFI LINK! When I am on the road and need GPS the most and try cycling "Location" off and on, I get the satellite symbol with an "x" indicating that it is not locating a satellite.

Even with a WiFi connection, It seems like whenever the GPS is stopped being used by an App it never comes back on and it doesn’t matter what app it is. Since this started only a few months ago, I wonder if it is the byproduct of an operating system update – maybe some sort of power saving “feature.”

In Safe mode, it appears that GPS also doesn’t come on even when turning location off and on, but it is hard to tell, since the GPS symbol doesn’t come on at all and the other Apps that use GPS aren’t available to test with.

Thanks!

Verizon_Support

Great details BonitaMike! I know how important it is to have a reliable GPS connection when you need to use maps or other applications! Let's get some additional clues. Did you notice this GPS issue starting after installing a particular application or software update? What is your current software version please http://vz.to/1wEdaR0 include Baseband version and Build number. Please enable WiFi and test, no need to have a WiFi network connection.

AntonioC_VZW Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VZWSupport

dblackshear

my GPS stopped working around the december timeframe as well. i have done all the recommended steps, including the factory reset, and nothing worked. i mainly use the GPS in googleMaps for navigation. it will find my location, but error with the "gps signal lost" notification within minutes of trying to navigate somewhere.

i was hoping the lollipop update would fix this issue, but it has not. how do i go about getting a phone that has GPS that works?

Dave-in-Decatur

I had this same problem, and it drove me nuts. But I haven't had it for several months, and I think it got fixed with a Google Maps update. I don't think the problem was ever in the phone; Google screwed up something in Maps that had been working right, and eventually got around to fixing it (in my opinion). Check to make sure you have the latest update to Maps, and that might (might) fix it.

dblackshear

my googleMaps was up to date, but i decided to uninstall/reinstall anyway.

issue persists.

paul_i_archer

I am in the same situation. Updated to Lollipop and now my S4 GPS doesn't work. I've tried rebooting, wiping the cache, upgrading GoogleMaps, power cycling, changing the location settings, etc. Any suggestions?

Verizon_Support

Hi Dblackshear,

We want your GPS to work properly at all times! Lets get this resolved. How long after the factory reset did you load your third party applications back to the device? Does your GPS work in any other applications?

Thanks,
PamelaF_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

dblackshear

the gps does not work in other applications. i've tried it in mapmyrun and googlemaps. it will find my location, but as soon as i need to use it for navigation i get the "gps signal lost" error. i confirmed that i had the most up to date version of both googlemaps and mapmyrun. i even uninstalled/reinstalled both apps on kittkatt and now lollipop.

i've booted into safemode, and it does the same thing in googlemaps.

paul_i_archer

I am also in the same boat and have tried all the same ideas. GPS doesn't work for anything - weather, maps, Waze, GPS Test, etc.

Dave-in-Decatur

This isn't a fix, but when I was having this problem on my S4 (which ultimately disappeared as mysteriously as it had come), I usually found that if I had set a destination in Google Maps and started navigating, and then got the "GPS signal lost" message, I could just restart (not reset) the phone, and then I would then have GPS for the rest of that trip. Then of course do it all again on the next navigated trip.

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