Photo: Softpedia
Samsung Galaxy S8 was a great device, there’s no doubt about that, and it was the first model in the Galaxy S lineup that abandoned the home button and embraced a full-screen design approach.
Needless to say, the Galaxy S8 no longer receives new Android versions, but on the other hand, it continues to be provided with security patches released by Samsung.
It looks like one of the most recent security updates, however, has caused more harm than good, with many users now complaining that the GPS sensor has been broken and some apps are no longer working correctly.
Google Maps is one of these apps, and users on reddit blame the June security patch released for the Galaxy S8 for the whole thing.
In most of the cases, the symptoms are pretty simple: Google Maps runs correctly at first but freezes at some point during the route, obviously starting offering inaccurate directions or just indicating that the car is stationary.
“When I'm using Google Maps it will work fine for a bit then hang up somewhere along the way which can be a problem when driving. I've cleared the cache I've deleted the app and redownloaded it and it still does it,” someone says on reddit.
If there’s something wrong with the GPS sensor, there’s a very high chance that other navigation apps, including here Google-owned Waze, are affected too. So while at first glance giving up on Google Maps might be a backup plan, all the other navigation apps should suffer from the same glitch.
There’s just a known workaround at this point, albeit it looks like it has produced mixed results for users. Some say that clearing the cache of both Google Maps and the Google app itself restores the app, while others believe that Samsung itself needs to come up with a patch since the problem affects the GPS sensor and not the navigation tools themselves.
It looks like one of the most recent security updates, however, has caused more harm than good, with many users now complaining that the GPS sensor has been broken and some apps are no longer working correctly.
Google Maps is one of these apps, and users on reddit blame the June security patch released for the Galaxy S8 for the whole thing.
In most of the cases, the symptoms are pretty simple: Google Maps runs correctly at first but freezes at some point during the route, obviously starting offering inaccurate directions or just indicating that the car is stationary.
“When I'm using Google Maps it will work fine for a bit then hang up somewhere along the way which can be a problem when driving. I've cleared the cache I've deleted the app and redownloaded it and it still does it,” someone says on reddit.
If there’s something wrong with the GPS sensor, there’s a very high chance that other navigation apps, including here Google-owned Waze, are affected too. So while at first glance giving up on Google Maps might be a backup plan, all the other navigation apps should suffer from the same glitch.
There’s just a known workaround at this point, albeit it looks like it has produced mixed results for users. Some say that clearing the cache of both Google Maps and the Google app itself restores the app, while others believe that Samsung itself needs to come up with a patch since the problem affects the GPS sensor and not the navigation tools themselves.
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