Hello,
I have a few GPS devices that report to Traccar server via GSM 2G network position 24/7 just fine, they are green all the time. I am planning to mix the network and use smartphones with the hidden version of Traccar Client to report location on the same server. Before installing the app on several Android phones I thought I may test how well it works. My requirement was, as with dedicated GPS devices, to report location continuously, once every minute. Since phones may additionally have LTE and/or Wi-Fi connectivity, location would be available even when GPS signal is not accessible which should be even better.
However running the client app on smartphones turned out to be quite a challenge so far. As opposed to the simple GPS devices, the OS on phone fights to protect privacy, battery life, mobile data, etc which for some apps is a degradation of service.
Here is the case I am facing now. I have a couple of Samsung J3 Luna Pro phones running Android 6.0.1. In my attempt to be minimalist on those phones, I didnt associate any Google account, and I am not using Google Play for apps. The phones run fine on LTE and Wi-Fi and GPS device is able to get a fix when phone is outside a building. I installed the latest Traccar Client (5.15 hidden) from apk file and everything was fine initially. After a while however I noticed that location would not be reported anymore when GPS signal is unavailable. I switched back and forth the phone's setting for location to make sure network provider is accessible, I modified the app location accuracy on all positions, nothing helped. Ah yes - I "checked the troubleshooting guide" too. After I exchanged a few emails with Anton I realized that maybe I didnt check some permissions for Android/Google about location, privacy, etc when I installed the phone in the first place. So I hard rebooted the phone and apparently that was the reason. After I accepted all that I was prompted to accept, the phone was reporting position from network provider, as expected. I was happy.
Unfortunately that did't last for long. Only hours, or maybe a day later the app decided by itself not to report non-GPS location anymore to the server, although the Status log was showing "Location Update". The situation came back to normal when I was turining Wi-Fi or mobile data on and off, so the phone "woke up" and reported location again. Only for a few hours though because soon enough the app was in idle status again. The things got worse progressively to the point that app does not report location anymore to the server when GPS signal is unavailable. Android location is on "High Accuracy" or "Battery Saving" and app location is on "Medium" or "Low", Wi-Fi is available, LTE is available but the app does not report location to server. And I don't think is app's fault. Google Maps was installed on the phone and when I try to use it, this app is unable to locate current position, that being an indication the location netwonk provider is not available.
I also compared version 5.15 with 5.10, with both I have the same problem.
Now I am at the point that I believe this phone may have some issues, or perhaps Google Play must be installed first, or something like that. I compare this behavior with another phone (Galaxy S6 w/Android 7) that has tons of apps plus Traccar client. On this other phone Traccar client app works just fine, as expected, continuosly, reporting network/GPS location to the server without any glitch.
Sorry for this long story, I was just trying to explain in details all attempts made to use this app on a brand new phone.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Chip
Hello,
I have a few GPS devices that report to Traccar server via GSM 2G network position 24/7 just fine, they are green all the time. I am planning to mix the network and use smartphones with the hidden version of Traccar Client to report location on the same server. Before installing the app on several Android phones I thought I may test how well it works. My requirement was, as with dedicated GPS devices, to report location continuously, once every minute. Since phones may additionally have LTE and/or Wi-Fi connectivity, location would be available even when GPS signal is not accessible which should be even better.
However running the client app on smartphones turned out to be quite a challenge so far. As opposed to the simple GPS devices, the OS on phone fights to protect privacy, battery life, mobile data, etc which for some apps is a degradation of service.
Here is the case I am facing now. I have a couple of Samsung J3 Luna Pro phones running Android 6.0.1. In my attempt to be minimalist on those phones, I didnt associate any Google account, and I am not using Google Play for apps. The phones run fine on LTE and Wi-Fi and GPS device is able to get a fix when phone is outside a building. I installed the latest Traccar Client (5.15 hidden) from apk file and everything was fine initially. After a while however I noticed that location would not be reported anymore when GPS signal is unavailable. I switched back and forth the phone's setting for location to make sure network provider is accessible, I modified the app location accuracy on all positions, nothing helped. Ah yes - I "checked the troubleshooting guide" too. After I exchanged a few emails with Anton I realized that maybe I didnt check some permissions for Android/Google about location, privacy, etc when I installed the phone in the first place. So I hard rebooted the phone and apparently that was the reason. After I accepted all that I was prompted to accept, the phone was reporting position from network provider, as expected. I was happy.
Unfortunately that did't last for long. Only hours, or maybe a day later the app decided by itself not to report non-GPS location anymore to the server, although the Status log was showing "Location Update". The situation came back to normal when I was turining Wi-Fi or mobile data on and off, so the phone "woke up" and reported location again. Only for a few hours though because soon enough the app was in idle status again. The things got worse progressively to the point that app does not report location anymore to the server when GPS signal is unavailable. Android location is on "High Accuracy" or "Battery Saving" and app location is on "Medium" or "Low", Wi-Fi is available, LTE is available but the app does not report location to server. And I don't think is app's fault. Google Maps was installed on the phone and when I try to use it, this app is unable to locate current position, that being an indication the location netwonk provider is not available.
I also compared version 5.15 with 5.10, with both I have the same problem.
Now I am at the point that I believe this phone may have some issues, or perhaps Google Play must be installed first, or something like that. I compare this behavior with another phone (Galaxy S6 w/Android 7) that has tons of apps plus Traccar client. On this other phone Traccar client app works just fine, as expected, continuosly, reporting network/GPS location to the server without any glitch.
Sorry for this long story, I was just trying to explain in details all attempts made to use this app on a brand new phone.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Chip