Galaxy S20 series owners report major GPS lock-on issues - Android

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra packs a ton of features, although it does come with a crazy price tag. Samsung’s high-end device wasn’t without issue though, as reviewers reported focus issues that were subsequently fixed via a firmware update.

Now, it looks like another rather ugly issue is rearing its head as Galaxy S20 series users report issues with locking on to GPS for navigation (h/t: XDA-Developers).

Users on Twitter, Reddit, and the official Samsung forums have all reported that their phones struggle to get a GPS lock-on, with some saying it either never locks on or takes five to 15 minutes to get a fix. We’ve also seen one user claim they couldn’t get a lock-on after an hour of driving.

But what about the ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE GPS issues on the S20 Ultra? 9/10 times I open Waze/Google Maps I get “GPS unreachable” or “GPS signal lost” then gives me a route from where I had been HOURS previous.

— Josh (@apimpnamedgekko) March 17, 2020

Customers have reported swapping their devices out for new ones and still suffering from the issue, suggesting that it’s a wider software or hardware defect rather than one or two defective phones. Some users have also taken to disabling their 5G, using a GPS Locker app, restarting the phone, resetting network settings, and using a different SIM, with varying levels of success.

XDA notes that they haven’t spotted any complaints online about the Exynos models, adding that a staff member’s Exynos phone doesn’t suffer from this issue either. For what it’s worth, our own Dhruv Bhutani reported that his Exynos device didn’t have a problem either. This isn’t definitive proof that the problem is restricted to Snapdragon variants though.

Samsung hasn’t issued a statement on this matter yet, but it’s clearly a problem no matter which way you cut it.

Have you experienced this GPS issue on your Galaxy S20 series device? Give us all the details (i.e. model, region) below!

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