Charge 2 connected GPS stops working if I turn phone's screen on without a data connection

[Asphodel]

I have a Charge 2 connected to a Nexus 5x running Android 8.0. If I want to track an activity where I may not have an internet connection (for example, a National Park like Bryce Canyon), I am going to have a bad day.

When I begin a tracked exercise, e.g. a run, hike, ride, or walk, I have found that I must have my phone connected to the internet. My understanding is that this is "by design", although I am not entirely convinced that I agree with the argument.

If I then travel somewhere during the activity that does not have an internet connection -- e.g. on a hike down into Bryce Canyon, or a bike ride up into the hills above my house -- one of two things will happen.

  1/ As long as I don't ever turn the screen on or unlock my phone until I get back to an area with internet connectivity, the entire activity will be successfully tracked with accurate GPS.

or:

  2/ If I turn the screen on or unlock my phone (even without the Fitbit app in focus) while I do not have a data connection, connected GPS instantly stops and cannot be turned on again, ruining the tracking for the remainder of the activity.

Is this a bug? Is this by design? Is there a way around this?

My GPS works perfectly fine without a data connection, and I can pre-cache portions of Google Maps, so it's entirely reasonable for me to open my phone to check my position on the map while in the middle of an activity while still wanting to continue recording my progress on the activity.

[Asphodel]

Does anyone else experience similar behavior, or just me? I have seen this on two separate Android phones, with multiple versions of the OS, before and after factory resets.. It seems very consistent to me, and I am able to predict precisely when it will happen.

[Goosse1962]

@Asphodel

I haven't seen the issue that you describe. However, I wonder if turning of 'All-Day Sync' and/or 'Always Connected' would help? It might be possible that the act of grabbing data from the device to send to a non-existent Internet, and getting an error, might be interrupting the GPS function.

I am interested in how you solve this. I may have this situation in a year or two.

Hope this helps and have a Terrific day!

[RobertoME]

Hello @Asphodel, good to see you around and thank you for bring this issue to our attention. also thank you @Goosse1962 for joining us on this thread.

 Internet Connection is require not specifically to work with your GPS, but it is require to upload your data and track visually your map course since the map won't be pre-cache in the Fitbit app . Also if you have your GPS phone settings in high accuracy mode, note that it will use different sources like WiFi, cellular data and GPS information to give you the most accurate location. (This may vary depending of the phone model and brand you own.)

In addition I would like to share with you this is something our team is already investigating, since there are other reports about issues with connected GPS running in the latest OS of Android (Oreo). So feel free to take a look to our latest update for a workaround here: Android Oreo GPS Issue.

Hope this helps and stay tuned for more questions.

[Asphodel]

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@Goosse1962 wrote:

I haven't seen the issue that you describe. However, I wonder if turning of 'All-Day Sync' and/or 'Always Connected' would help? It might be possible that the act of grabbing data from the device to send to a non-existent Internet, and getting an error, might be interrupting the GPS function.

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Hmm.. not impossible, but it seems to be going in the opposite direction of advice we're getting to keep the GPS working at all, namely to enable everything including the notifications widget.

[Asphodel]

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@RobertoME wrote:

Internet Connection is require not specifically to work with your GPS, but it is require to upload your data and track visually your map course since the map won't be pre-cache in the Fitbit app . Also if you have your GPS phone settings in high accuracy mode, note that it will use different sources like WiFi, cellular data and GPS information to give you the most accurate location. (This may vary depending of the phone model and brand you own.)

Just to be clear, when I refer to the map, I am talking about Google Maps, not the Fitbit app. Google Maps is more than capable of caching offline maps (I use this functionality all the time). I also know that I have a good GPS connection, because I can see my precise location on Google Maps (despite not having network connectivity) as well as see a high number of tracked GPS satellites with high SNR (e.g. from one of many GPS stats apps).

In addition I would like to share with you this is something our team is already investigating, since there are other reports about issues with connected GPS running in the latest OS of Android (Oreo). So feel free to take a look to our latest update for a workaround here: Android Oreo GPS Issue.

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 Note that I am also experiencing the GPS/Android Oreo issue, but that this is different. I experienced the issue in this post when I was on Android 7.x as well. It is far more repeatable than the GPS issue in the other thread, in that I have never seen my device stay connected when unlocking the screen without data connectivity; it always breaks instantly.

[Goosse1962]

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@Asphodel wrote:

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@Goosse1962 wrote:

I haven't seen the issue that you describe. However, I wonder if turning of 'All-Day Sync' and/or 'Always Connected' would help? It might be possible that the act of grabbing data from the device to send to a non-existent Internet, and getting an error, might be interrupting the GPS function.

---

Hmm.. not impossible, but it seems to be going in the opposite direction of advice we're getting to keep the GPS working at all, namely to enable everything including the notifications widget.

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They were just ideas of things of things that might cause unwanted Internet use in the background. And I remember reading something about one of them needing to be turned off for Nexus phones. After I turned it off, the next update turned it back on. So I left it on. The 2.60.1 update last night turned off 'All-Day Sync'.

I have started thinking that another app might be interfering. I had found some issues with earlier Android versions where too many apps were overloading my Internet bandwidth and one of them would fail. I twice now had the Fitbit app reset when Caynax Hourly Chime sounded a chime. It chimes without a reset occurring. However, two nights in a row now I have been using Fitbit when the chime sounded and immediately Fitbit reset. It still may be a coincidence, but if it happens a third time I will report it. I am sometimes surprised at what apps affect the operation of other apps.

I haven't been on 2.60.1 long. However, it looks like Fitbit running in the background and the Notification Widget stay running better. They also started up with both phone restarts. So there is hope that this issue at least may be fixed. We'll see.

Have a Terrific day!