What should you do if your location isn’t available or the app keeps losing it? 

A few years ago, we wrote here about problems caused by poor GNSS data or data discrepancies. Today, we’ll focus on what to do when Locus Map can’t determine your location at all or loses it, especially when you turn off your phone’s screen.

Locus Map, as an app for map orientation and outdoor navigation, naturally relies on location data provided by your smartphone. The phone determines your location primarily using a GNSS chip, which calculates it from satellite data—today, in addition to the U.S. GPS system, it commonly uses the European Galileo, Russian GLONASS, or Chinese BeiDou systems. In areas where satellite signal reception is weak—in urban areas, inside buildings, or in deep valleys—the phone estimates your location based on nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi networks, as well as data from other sensors, such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer. If Locus Map does not have access to this data, it cannot display your location on the map. 

Under normal circumstances, Locus Map determines your location immediately after the app starts. If Locus Map does not have access to location data, this will not happen. In that case, follow these steps:

Enable access to GNSS data in Locus Map

Tap the GNSS indicator—if it’s white, location services are turned off within the app:

Tap the skyplot or the button below it:

If the phone’s GNSS is turned on, Locus Map will display your location within a few seconds. Once the location is locked in, the GNSS indicator lights up green.

Turn on GNSS on your phone

If the GNSS indicator is orange and the map centering and rotation button displays a red settings circle, the app will notify you that the GNSS module on your phone is turned off. 

Go to your phone’s settings (usually by swiping down from the top) and turn on location services:

Allow Locus Map to access your location

It’s possible that after installing the app, you overlooked the permission to access your precise location, or you accidentally tapped the wrong option. In that case, the GNSS indicator will turn white again. When you tap it or the app’s centering button, a notification will appear stating that location access is disallowed:

In that case, go to your phone’s settings, then to the Apps & Permissions section (on some phones, simply press and hold the Locus Map icon, then tap “App Info”). We recommend enabling access to your precise location “all the time”—this will help you avoid any potential location issues when Locus Map is running in the background.

Great! Locus Map will now determine your location immediately after launching, and you can set out on a hike or bike ride. Turn on track recording or voice navigation, and turn off the screen to conserve battery life. Sometimes, however, Locus Map loses its location again until you turn the screen back on. Instead of a detailed track record, you’ll see only straight lines on the map connecting the places where you had the screen turned on. That can really ruin your good mood after a trip.

The culprit is a problem that apps have been dealing with since around Android version 6, known as “battery optimization”. This feature tries to squeeze the most out of the phone’s battery, but unfortunately, it often comes at the expense of the usability of apps running in the background. 

Exclude Locus Map from battery optimization

Battery optimization settings vary slightly by manufacturer. On most phones, simply press and hold the app icon, then go to “App Info” to access the battery saver settings. There, remove Locus Map from the restrictions:

Unfortunately, many manufacturers have implemented various “tweaks” that make it difficult to prevent Locus Map from being killed by the system. A great source of information on how to do this is the website Dontkillmyapp.com, where you can find specific instructions for each brand.

Locus Map can detect when it has not been excluded from optimization, which could cause it to malfunction. It displays a warning directly in the track recording panel:

Click the question mark and then “Turn Off” to go directly to the battery saver settings.

More Tips

The “Fused location” feature, part of Google’s services, integrates data from GNSS, mobile networks, Wi-Fi, and motion sensors. On some phones, this feature may malfunction when Locus Map is running in the background during track recording or navigation. If this happens, you can disable the feature in Locus settings:

The last option to prevent the system from closing the app is to run Locus Map as a service—the operating system then treats the app differently and doesn’t assign it such a low priority when conserving battery power. You can find this option in the Locus settings:

Well, if the built-in GNSS isn’t enough for you, Locus Map offers the option to connect an external unit via Bluetooth or USB. However, that goes beyond typical use cases for hiking or biking, for which the measures mentioned above should be sufficient.