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I need my Wear OS sailing App to provide GPS updates when no phone is connected. Unfortunately despite specifying the App as standalone the GPS updates stop as soon as the Bluetooth link to the phone is lost.

The documentation indicates independent apps require standalone to be set to true. The following is the automatically generated setting in the Manifest file

          <!--
               Set to true if your app is Standalone, that is, it does not require the handheld
               app to run.
        -->
        <meta-data
            android:name="com.google.android.wearable.standalone"
            android:value="true" />

I have not changed the default setting

Is anyone aware of other settings needed to allow Watch GPS updates even when the linked phone is not connected?

More Details

Android documentation recommends "location aware apps should use the Fused Location Provider" which is what I am using as you can review here

I was wondering if the phone was providing an internet connection. To test this I turned off the phone cellular and WiFi connections (leaving the Bluetooth connection to the Watch turned on). The watch app successfully obtained GPS location updates. However when I turned off Bluetooth the GPS updates immediately stopped. This suggests the problem is not related to internet connectivity.

When the project is created the Gradle defaults to Compile SDK 31 - I have tried reducing this to 30 but the problem remained.

The App is being run on a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 which runs Wear OS 3 (Android 11).

RatherBeSailing
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    since 4 months has past since your question and there is a new wear os on the galaxy watch -> do you have any new observations? i need to use gps without a phone as well and the fusedlocationprovider should be able to locate a position through wifi or cell-tower (i use the LTE version of the watch) BUT: i can only get a position if i'm outside or in my flat directly under the roof. if the watch isn't able to get a satellite fix the FLP returns null. this is quite annoying. – Veit Apr 02 '22 at 08:42
  • @Veit two points : New version made no difference. Turn off Bluetooth and then go outside and give the watch at least 5 minutes to acquire GPS sync. The Samsung Watch4 does not support assisted GPS so must perform a cold sync each time. It is frustrating because with AGPS sync is typically acquired in well under 1 minute (e.g. all Garmin watches and even those offered by Ticwatch). – RatherBeSailing Apr 02 '22 at 23:38
  • in the meantime i implemented a little "wifi-location-provider" myself (which simply takes two scanned wifi, sends the mac adresses to a google-map location endpoint and returns a accurate location) just to find out: it seems to work fine now. i removed my wifi-scanner and i get a location even indoor. do you have other observations? – Veit Mar 11 '23 at 09:19
  • @veet what a clever solution! Latest insights is DO NOT USE FusedLocation provider if the link between the phone and watch is intermittent. The latest version of Android has disabled an App's ability to turn Bluetooth on/off, rendering the above solution unworkable (clarification the App requires HighAccuracy location updates). Hence the App has been rewritten to use the old LocationProvider. PS I can't use your clever solution because there is no WiFi coverage in most sailing areas! – RatherBeSailing Mar 11 '23 at 23:24

0 Answers0