Troubleshooting GPS Issues - Android

In order to track your location accurately during a visit/walk, it is important that Time To Pet has permission to run in the background and has access to your device's location services. Most modern Android devices take a very aggressive, pro-active role in preventing applications from running in the background, which can limit our ability to track your location. This can result in sporadic route tracking and in some cases large gaps when no GPS coordinates are collected at all.

This help article will walk through some of the common debugging steps we can take to ensure Time To Pet is not being limited. As there are so many different manufacturers and versions of Android, some of these instructions will vary for your particular device. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to send us a message.

General GPS Guidelines

• It is important that your device has a clear, unobstructed view of the sky for the most accurate results.
• Avoid putting your device in a position where there is a significant obstruction to the sky, such as in a bag with thick books.
• Walks taking place in large cities with tall buildings are already at a disadvantage as these buildings significantly hamper the phone's ability to lock on to GPS satellites.
• Older and lower-end Android devices often come with less powerful GPS chips, and having an unobstructed view of the sky becomes that much more important.
• The longer it has been since your phone has used GPS, the longer it can potentially take to locate your current position the first time. 

Enable Location Permissions

To start, let's ensure we have given the Time To Pet application permission to access your location.

1. Open the Settings app
2. Find and Open Apps (Sometimes called Apps & Notifications) option.
3. Find Time To Pet and tap on it.
4. Scroll down until you see Permissions and ensure Location is enabled.

Enable High Accuracy Mode

Android devices can be configured to find your location in different modes. For best results, we want to ensure your device is set to use High Accuracy mode.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Open the Security & Location app.
3. Click on Location.
4. Click on Mode.
5. Set the mode to "High Accuracy".

Disable Power Saving & Battery Optimization

Every device manufacturer has their own terminology for this technology, and the instructions will vary slightly as well, but essentially we need to ensure that your Android device is not limiting Time To Pet in the background (when your screen is off or you have another app open, Time To Pet is considered a Background App).

Most Android Devices

These instructions will cover most new Android devices that have a nearly stock version of Android.

1. Open the Settings app
2. Find and Open Battery.

3. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select "Battery Optimization"

   

4.  If Battery Optimization is set to "Not Optimized" then you are all set.

   

5. If however it says something else we need to find Time To Pet, click on it and set it to "Don't optimize"

   

6. Finally go back to Settings > Battery and ensure that Battery Saver is disabled.

   

   
   

Samsung Devices

1. Open Settings app.

2. Open Device Maintenance > Battery app.

   

3. Scroll down to and open "Unmonitored Apps". 
4. Scroll down until you see "Add Apps" and click it.

5. Add Time To Pet as an app that is unmonitored.