Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
Using Android Auto is often a crazy rollercoaster ride, as bugs that show up out of nowhere are perhaps the nightmare that everybody is afraid of.
Google Maps users have been struggling with a GPS signal problem since at least January, and Google first attempted to resolve it with a dedicated update in February. The bug-fixing patch that Google started rolling out in early February doesn’t seem to bring things back to normal for everybody.
The issue caused the GPS signal in Google Maps to be lost when the app was running on Android Auto, and the first challenge the community was to deal with was finding the culprit. Without a GPS signal, Google Maps was useless, as the navigation app couldn’t figure out the location of users and then provide route guidance to a destination.
Given the struggle that happened on Android Auto, it wasn’t clear if Google was indeed the culprit or not. Google started an investigation in late January, and Google Maps 11.66, which shipped in early February, was meant to squash the bug.
The rollout of the update is still underway, but the feedback provided by users who received the new version already continues to be mixed.
Several users confirmed that installing the latest version of Google Maps indeed fixes the GPS problem on Android Auto, but many others claim this is not the case. The issue persists even after installing Google Maps 11.66, with the application still losing the GPS signal when Android Auto is running.
In every case, disconnecting Android Auto and running Google Maps on the mobile device brings Google Maps back to a working state.
At this point, it’s not yet clear if Google is still working on a fix, but users themselves are already looking for solutions to restore navigation capabilities in their cars.
Without an official fix from Google, some are jumping ship and switching to alternative navigation apps. Someone explains that Waze and HERE WeGo are both running properly on their devices, so moving to one of them is a temporary solution until Google fixes Google Maps.
The worst thing is perhaps the confusion that still seems to plague the Google Maps user base. Google has indeed shipped a patch, but given it doesn’t solve the problem for everybody, it’s pretty clear that the company needs to further look into these reports. Without telling users if the investigation continues, Google gives them a good reason to install an alternative app.
If you haven’t received the latest version of Google Maps just yet, you can install it manually by sideloading the APK file. To do this, you need to download version 11.66 on your device and then install the application on the device by launching the APK installer and granting permissions for third-party sources.
The issue caused the GPS signal in Google Maps to be lost when the app was running on Android Auto, and the first challenge the community was to deal with was finding the culprit. Without a GPS signal, Google Maps was useless, as the navigation app couldn’t figure out the location of users and then provide route guidance to a destination.
Given the struggle that happened on Android Auto, it wasn’t clear if Google was indeed the culprit or not. Google started an investigation in late January, and Google Maps 11.66, which shipped in early February, was meant to squash the bug.
The rollout of the update is still underway, but the feedback provided by users who received the new version already continues to be mixed.
Several users confirmed that installing the latest version of Google Maps indeed fixes the GPS problem on Android Auto, but many others claim this is not the case. The issue persists even after installing Google Maps 11.66, with the application still losing the GPS signal when Android Auto is running.
In every case, disconnecting Android Auto and running Google Maps on the mobile device brings Google Maps back to a working state.
At this point, it’s not yet clear if Google is still working on a fix, but users themselves are already looking for solutions to restore navigation capabilities in their cars.
Without an official fix from Google, some are jumping ship and switching to alternative navigation apps. Someone explains that Waze and HERE WeGo are both running properly on their devices, so moving to one of them is a temporary solution until Google fixes Google Maps.
The worst thing is perhaps the confusion that still seems to plague the Google Maps user base. Google has indeed shipped a patch, but given it doesn’t solve the problem for everybody, it’s pretty clear that the company needs to further look into these reports. Without telling users if the investigation continues, Google gives them a good reason to install an alternative app.
If you haven’t received the latest version of Google Maps just yet, you can install it manually by sideloading the APK file. To do this, you need to download version 11.66 on your device and then install the application on the device by launching the APK installer and granting permissions for third-party sources.
Google News