GPS location very unstable

[usero03FRi4GjC]

Just got my S24 Ultra and started to use. The GPS is very important to us as we travel and hike very often. Also, we take many photos and geotag them so we can see where we've been. First thing I notice is that my location is jumping around in Google Maps! My location isn't even close to my home, and it looks like I'm in other people's yards and bouncing all over the place. The precise location NEVER locks! This also initially happened with my galaxy S22U, but was eventually fixed.

I used the GPSTest utility to look at the gps data and the satellite acquisition is poor. Most of the L5 satellites are missing and Beidou satellites are far and few between. The gps accuracy and speed are jumping all over the place. My S22U accuracy was fixed at 8.4ft and speed close to zero, since not moving. My S24U accuracy is bouncing all over but typically around 33ft, and my speed can reach 10mph! This is completely frustrating. Anyone else having this issue, or did I get a bad phone? Zoom in down to the outline of your home to see this problem on Google Maps. 

By the way, I tested the the gps location accuracy using the Samsung phone diagnostics and it said "normal". Normal compared to what? Samsung, I hope you're seeing this, and please fix asap. I will be returning this phone if this basic necessity can't be fixed, unfortunately.😞

[DarkenMoon]

Just got the March update, let's see if it fixes it. I haven't had other fixes work for me yet. It's still occasionally not accurate and not locking on to certain frequencies.

[usero03FRi4GjC]

Let us know how it goes? After restarting my phone the gps now works, but for how long?

[DarkenMoon]

It's just as bad as before, if not worse now! Russian and European satellites keep appearing and disappearing, most of the Chinese satellites aren't showing up, and the L5 on the American GPS satellites is barely showing up, if at all! As I'm typing this, my error has gone up to 50ft! What an absolute joke.

[usero03FRi4GjC]

I'm really sorry to hear that! What's interesting about your data is that the E H/V Acc looks like mine when it's working but the Speed number should be zero or very close. This morning my GPS was not working and I decided to Reset the phone and somehow it's been working ever since. I don't trust the GPS in this phone and expect it to fail soon despite it working all day! One thing I do notice is that at least one Galileo satellite (blue) shows up immediately when it is working. I also notice that when the GPS is working all the Glonass satellites also show up immediately but then they disappear shortly after all the Chinese satellites appear. I wish I could record the progression of acquisition and post it. Another reason my phone may be working is that it's new, and was exchanged since I was within the return windows. I don't know if an exchange is an option for you but there may actually have been a manufacturing issue for some batch of phones that were shipped to customers? I read, on a different thread about a batch of phones that had (I believe) camera issues and Samsung had to exchange phones with the issue. At this point I'm not sure what there is to do accept exchange the phone or opt for a different android phone? I'm still not sure what I'll do but will watch it for a few days and decide if the Pixel 8 is an option? This issue really has been a clusterf___. 😞

[MobileMcPhoneface]

I haven't received the March update yet and sadly, mine is still tracking GPS inaccurately on a random/often basis. The GPS bits can't have changed very much from S23+ so my hope is that it is a software bug/issue.

It is quite unsettling to have issues of this nature on a >$1k "flagship" device regardless...

I submitted the following via Samsung Members app "Others" error report:

"GPS position location is often reporting grossly inaccurate data on my new S24+ phone with Cyclemeter cycling/hiking/running app that I have used for more than a decade. 

Sometimes GPS tracking records road and trail contours accurately and others, it will only track occasional way points and report far lower total mileage with a jumble of straight lines, showing no contours. Others whom I ride with have no issues and I've ridden the same local trails in the area for decades.

My previous S23+ had no GPS issues whatsoever nor had my prior Google Pixel 8 Pro, OnePlus 8T or Pixel 4a mobile phones.

I've recalibrated Google GPS (figure 8), opened a support ticket and reset all settings to no avail.

The 1st attachment shows the gross inaccuracy (reported 8 miles total and my wife, running the same app reported over 16 miles with accurate GPS data).

The 2nd attachment is a previous ride, when the S24+ GPS was working properly."

[usero03FRi4GjC]

Due to a mostly poorly functioning gps I was within return policy and requested an exchange on my S24U phone. At first, the gps appeared to be working flawlessly. After installing the first update it appeared that the GPS was once again not stable and the accuracy poor wirh constant random movement. I then installed the second update ( which I didn't know existed) and it appeared that my GPS was again stable! I thought that Samsung had figured this GPS issue out and our problems were over, but I was wrong. To get my phone completely up to date I had to now update all my apps, and all appeared good with the GPS. However, later in the day I observed once again an unstable GPS. On random checks, using GPSTest, I rarely see my GPS working correctly. Satellites are constantly popping up and then going away, and the L5 band is mostly not showing up. It's easy to see this issue when zoomed into Google Maps and seeing the location constantly drift around. The HW version of the new phone is 1.0, and is the same as my first S24U. Trying a new phone turned out to be a complete waste of my time, and the activation turned out to be a mess as they sent me the phone with my wife's phone number instead of mine. My level of frustration is very high and I'm not sure this issue will be acknowledged or fixed by Samsung. I have about 3 weeks to decide if I want to keep the phone or get an S23U. My wife's phone has this same issue but she doesn't care as we use my phone for all things GPS related. Since I started this thread I was hopeful that Samsung would fix the issue, as was done for my S22U, on the first update. However, I hesitate to keep this phone, especially for the 7 years that they will be providing updates. I really don't want to risk keeping a lemon for that long as this may be a HW issue that can't be fixed with FW. 😞

[usero03FRi4GjC]

I'm not sure that some people realize just how bad the GPS is on the S24 series smartphones, so I attached a photo from a Gaia track where the phone is stationary! The actual distance is much longer than that shown as Gaia had difficulty accumulating distance on a stationary device for that length of time. To be clear, at no time was the gps actually close to where I was in my home. Also note that my speed at that moment was like I was in full sprinting mode! For reference, I tested my old Samsung S8+ tablet and it only accumulated 7ft in 5 minutes, and NO satellites dropped out and the speed was stuck at 0mph. I have now seen this issue on three S24U smartphones, and no updates have fixed it. If it were a simple fix then I believe Damsung would have done something, as it's an embarrassingly bad issue for a $1300 phone, especially in 2024! I believe this issue is on every phone but most people aren't aware and simply set it and forget it. You can't miss this issue if you actually look closely and see the dot moving when your not! It really looks like I'll try out the pixeI and I think I'm done with Samsung. Good luck to you all and hopefully it works out for you.

[usero03FRi4GjC]

It turns out that I have restarted my phone, while the gps wasn't working correctly, and it worked properly after the reboot. So, I used my Gaia app to plot the track for about 5 minutes, like I did for the previous example of it NOT working. As you can see from the attached screenshot, the results are radically different! I was also thinking, it appears the GPS performance is randomly flipping between Precise mode and approximate mode. I have checked several times and I enable Precise mode for all apps, so maybe the software isn't always applying the selection?

[MobileMcPhoneface]

One thing I notice in One UI 6.1 that may be a factor: you can no longer set Location permission on an app to "Allow all the time" (as is the case with Maps).

The radio button selections for other apps are: 

Allow only while using the app

Ask every time

Don't allow

Plus, the Use precise location slider. 

Some of my GPS tracking with the Cyclemeter app on this phone has been accurate (both in deep woods and along paths and city/suburb side streets).

I just installed the March update (unlocked S24+ on T-Mobile MVNO network).

We'll see if it does any better on a 30+ mile pedal around a major metro area this afternoon. 

[usero03FRi4GjC]

Interesting, I didn't notice that change with the One UI 6.1 update. I wonder how that affects the GPS? Glad to hear your Cyclemeter app is working for you! My new phone seems to be improved as the GPS worked well all day yesterday. Unfortunately, it wasn't working again this morning. However, after three restarts of my phone the GPS is again working properly! I really think that this is a software issue that could be resolved since it's capable of working properly , but Samsung has to acknowledge it first. Although I like the phone in general, I may just opt to try the Pixel 8 Pro. I'm just not sure how many times Verizon will let me exchange phones within their 30-day return window without banning me from doing it again?