Xiaomi does not see GPS satellites. How to set location on Xiaomi

What should users do who notice that GPS does not work on Xiaomi Mi5, Mi4, MI3, Plus, Redmi Note 4, 3 Pro, 3X, 3S, Note 2? Why does it happen that the navigator on Xiaomi does not work? Do-it-yourself instructions and repairs in this situation are not very effective, so we recommend contacting a service center for support.

Instructions: Since in this situation there may be several reasons for the breakdown, the options for eliminating them will also be different:

The GPS antenna is damaged and needs to be replaced.
The GPS module (chip) has been damaged by a shock or power surge.
The wiring of the module in question is faulty. It consists of a huge number of components, so only computer testing will help to detect a defective one.

Result: You can deal with the problem yourself only in option 1, but if you have 2 or 3 options, then you need to go to a service center for help.

Repair at Xiaomi Telemama service center

DIY repair

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We provide a warranty of up to 1 year.

If your device cannot be repaired at home, then bring it to our service center. The courier can help with the delivery of equipment. We fix simple faults in a matter of minutes.

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In the modern world, you can’t go anywhere without a navigation system. In everyday life, probably everyone uses GPS positioning technology in their smartphone. If a few years ago this function in a phone was very cool and unusual, now seeing GPS in some gadget is no longer something strange or fantastic. On Xiaomi smartphones, this technology works well and accurately determines not only your location, but is also responsible for fast navigation on the roads of your city. Most often, GPS is used by taxi drivers or drivers in a big city, so the malfunction of this function is not some trifle, but a complete disaster.

On the Xiaomi Mi6, Mi5 smartphone or other devices of the company, GPS “falls off” quite often, and this is one of the most common faults according to Xiaomi service centers. To repair the navigation system, you need it:

test;
check for the possibility of turning on and off;
find out possible problems;
check the antenna contacts;
understand the software part of the device.

How to turn on GPS on a Xiaomi gadget if the module does not turn on manually due to some kind of malfunction? You will learn about all this by reading our detailed article.

Connection test

To find out whether the GPS in your smartphone really does not work, you need to test the number of satellites found and the number of working satellites. For the test we will use the GPS Test application. It is free and can be downloaded from the Google Play Market. It does not require Root rights, so your Xiaomi phone warranty will not be voided. After downloading it needs to be launched. A pop-up window will pop up granting location permission. Click “Yes” so that the program can enable the Xiaomi GPS Tracker on your smartphone and start searching for satellites.

The main window displays everything in the form of a statistical chart. Green bars show the number of satellites that have the highest accuracy in transmitting your location. But here you need to look at the number of satellites used. If the number next to “In View” is 20, and next to “In Use” is 1-2, this means that the location tracker in the smartphone is not working correctly and you need to either calibrate it or clean the contacts, which we will talk about later.

Abnormal situation

If nothing is displayed at all, make sure that GPS is turned on on your device, and how to do this, let's figure it out together! Also, from the GPS test, banal attempts to turn it off and on may be suitable.

Fully functional GPS!

How to disable

It happens that Xiaomi GPS Tracker does not work properly due to some kind of software error. Simply turning the tracker off and on helps. To disable GPS on your smartphone you need to:

open the curtain or notification panel (swipe twice with your finger);

find the icon with a map mark or just the name of the GPS and click on it.

This is the easiest way to disable GPS. If there is no icon, then how to disable GPS on your smartphone? You need to click on “Change” in the curtain and in the settings menu that opens, you need to find the “GPS” shortcut and drag it to the displayed notification panel parameters. Thus, using the curtain you can turn off the navigation system.

How to turn it on

Quite an interesting question: where is GPS turned on on a Xiaomi smartphone? The answer is intuitively simple and logical: where the location determination of the gadget owner is disabled. Open the curtain and click on "GPS". At this point, the detailed instructions “How to turn on GPS” can be called complete. If, when turned on, the icon lights up and immediately turns off, this indicates possible problems with the navigation system, which we will talk about later.

Possible problems

If you do not receive GPS in your Xiaomi smartphone, you should definitely familiarize yourself with possible problems that may interfere with the search for satellites and the normal operation of the navigation system.

Problem with the software. There are some problems with the firmware or system files;
GPS is not calibrated from the software side, the servers of your country's navigation system are not entered, which is why the signal in the navigator is lost;
a problem with the hardware, namely clogged antenna contacts or a non-working GPS module.

Let's talk about the first problem. In this case, a full reset of the phone to factory settings using the device settings or Recovery mode can help. Please note that all your files and data will be deleted, so make a backup copy of them so you don't lose anything valuable or important. If this does not help, you should resort to a more radical method of fixing problems with GPS - flashing the gadget to the official global firmware MIUI 8 or 9, as well as high-quality custom firmware (LineageOS, RR, etc. - search on w3bsit3-dns.com).

The solution to the second problem will be in the next section. It involves changing the GPS servers file, but the disadvantage of the method is that you must obtain Root rights (read our instructions). After this, you can use Explorer or a special utility from the Google Play Store.

The third problem is cleaning the contacts of the GPS module or replacing the module (you need to go to a service center). If your GPS disappears, but you do not use it, then it is better not to carry out any manipulations with system files or disassemble the device, so as not to damage anything for the sake of a function that is unnecessary for you.

Changing system settings

To change system settings, you need to change the navigation system configuration file called GPS.conf. It is located in the following path: system/etc. Please note: to find this file, you need to download a custom ES Explorer and get Root rights. After this, the user will be able to open and change Android OS files.

Copy the above file to your computer as a backup and delete the old file from your machine. Reboot your gadget. You can download an additional utility, but this is not at all necessary. Of the most accessible, we note “Faster GPS”, but we recommend using the usual “Notepad” on a PC. Open the copied file, and if you are in Russia, then replace the file data with the following:

NTP_SERVER=ru.pool.ntp.org

You can find servers in your country on the Internet - they are readily available. After that, save the file and move it to the etc folder on your smartphone. Reboot your device. The GPS settings will be updated, and the navigation system itself should work correctly.

Antenna contacts

Smartphones have separate communication modules. They are usually connected to the motherboard using a coaxial cable or ribbon cable. In some smartphones they are soldered into the motherboard. The module contacts must touch the contact pads on the device body. These pads and the contacts themselves can oxidize. They need to be cleaned. To do this, disassemble your device and use a regular eraser to go over the pads and contacts. After that, check the navigation. You can also use alcohol and cotton pads. Wipe the contacts with regular rubbing alcohol to clean oxidized areas.

If the contacts are torn off, and the GPS module is not so easy to remove with ordinary hands, then take your device to a service center to reliable technicians. It is better to go to a store with a Xiaomi service center, which will repair the gadget under warranty.

GPS is a specially designed geopositioning system designed to determine your current location. With its help, you can instantly find out where exactly you are, and also create a route to the location you need, for example, through Google maps, Maps.me. The system's capabilities allow you to record your location when publishing photos on social networks. And don’t forget about such popular games implemented on the basis of augmented reality technology, because the same Pokemon Go works in conjunction with GPS.

How to find out if location is detected

You can get information about this by searching for satellites. To do this, we need the GPS Test program, which you can download in a couple of minutes from the Play Market. When you download and launch the application, you will see a window with a text message asking whether you agree to give it the rights to determine access to Xiaomi’s location. After receiving your consent, GPS Tracker is activated.

You will learn how to search for satellites from the diagram. If the program detects many satellites, but only a few are used, then the tracker probably needs to be calibrated or its contacts cleaned.

If you do not observe any satellite activity at all, then check whether your geopositioning system is turned on and try restarting your Xiaomi smartphone.

How to disable location on Xiaomi

You can fix the software error by sequentially disabling/enabling the application.

To do this, open the curtain and find the GPS icon among the list of icons.

This completes the shutdown process.

How to enable location on Xiaomi

The switching process is performed in reverse order, so there are usually no difficulties with it: lower the curtain and select the GPS icon.

What to do if the icon is not in the list? To do this you need to do the following:

How to find your device

If you have lost your smartphone or it has been stolen from you, you can find it through Mi Cloud. A prerequisite is to have a Mi account. The search for the device is carried out according to the following scheme: you need to go to “Settings”, where select “Mi-account”, and then - Mi Cloud. The final step is to select the Find Device item that you want to activate.

If you need to find a smartphone, you must visit the i.mi.com resource, which requires a Mi account login for authorization. Don't worry that the site works in Chinese: the built-in translator in the browser will be enough to understand the basic functions.

In the window that opens, on the right side there will be a “Find device” window. Information about the location of the device will be available if there is currently a connection to GPS and mobile Internet.

Pay attention to the image of the phone, with which the user can perform a number of manipulations at a distance with his smartphone. The application's capabilities allow you to find out exactly where the device is and activate a sound signal on it. You can also block the gadget or delete information from it.

Location problems

Typically, difficulties with the functioning of the system arise in 3 cases:

Due to errors in the operating system or firmware;
Due to the lack of GPS calibration, as well as the lack of server data from the navigation system of the owner’s country;
Due to the inoperability of the module itself, clogging of its contacts.

Fixing bugs in the OS

The best option is to return the device to factory settings. To do this, you can use your phone's own settings or select Recovery mode. You can save data if you first make a backup copy of it. Another way is to install global stable firmware that has no bugs.

Changing system settings

This is quite a difficult task, since you can change the GPS servers file if you obtain Root rights. To perform further actions to change the file, you need an explorer or a special utility, which can be found in the Google Play Store.

Restoring the module's functionality

If you have experience, you can try to clean the module contacts yourself, on which corrosion may occur during operation of the device. But it is best to entrust the cleaning to the service center specialists, because they have the necessary equipment, tools, and spare parts.

A positioning system, or, more simply put, GPS, is already installed by default in all smartphones, both luxury and budget. In modern realities, this is one of the most necessary options for the user, significantly facilitating orientation on the ground, be it a huge metropolis or a small village.

Xiaomi phones also use GPS, but since the shell is slightly different from the standard version of Android, users have questions about activating and deactivating the positioning service. Actually, not everything is as difficult as it seems!

Activation of GPS can be done in two ways. The fastest way is to use the notification shade and quick access menu. The second is standard activation through settings. Let's look at both of them.

Swipe down from top to bottom to lower the notification shade and access the quick menu;
Find the GPS icon and click on it to highlight it;
Within a few seconds, the system will activate GPS and you will see a geolocation icon at the top of the screen.

But there is also an additional list of options for working with GPS on your Xiaomi. If you want to customize them and adjust them to suit you, hold your finger on the icon until a panel with additional settings opens. Here you can choose exactly how the operating system will try to determine your location, for example, only through GPS or with an additional connection via GSM or Wi-Fi, which will significantly increase the speed of operation.

On your smartphone, go to Settings and go to Other.
Next, find the “Privacy” tab and click on it.
In the window that opens, find “Location”, and by clicking on it, activate the “Detect location” item, selecting high accuracy in the modes.
That's it, GPS is activated, which means you can use any programs with geolocation.

How to disable?

Constantly using location tracking will quickly drain your smartphone, so you need to turn off GPS as soon as you stop using it.

To do this, you also need to pull down the notification shade and click on the corresponding icon or go to the “Settings” of your device, as we described earlier, and set the slider to the “Disabled” state.

I don't have a GPS icon in the notification shade

If you open the notification shade, but there is no icon for working with GPS there, then you need to add it there. To do this, find the “Change” tab at the very bottom, click on it, and you will get to the switch menu. In it you can choose which icons will be available and which will not. Find GPS in the list and click on it to add. That's it, now it's in the notification shade.

What should I do if GPS does not work correctly or does not work at all?

Typically, some users have problems with their location being displayed on the map. Usually the system does not show the place where they are currently located. How to fix it?

First you need to make a test connection to understand what the reason is. For example, this could be a weak signal, or a complete GPS shutdown because the module is not working.

For these purposes we will use the GPS Status program. You can download it for free on Google Play.

Main features of the GPS Status program:

Satellite signal display;
Position of satellites in the sky;
User's current location;
Current speed, compass, altitude and other important data.

Open the application and wait for the test to finish. The screen will display a graph in the form of columns, where each column is a separate satellite that your smartphone sees. The columns have their own values, and the higher it is, the better the signal reception quality. The best quality is from 40 units. They will be displayed with a green marker. Those that are worse are yellow (from 20 to 40 units). A column with a red marker (from 0 to 20 units) is considered bad quality.

If everything is in order with you, the system finds a large number of satellites, the phone sees them perfectly, there are satellites with a good signal, then move on to the next point.

Application permissions

You need to give access to an application that works with GPS. Xiaomi has a slightly complicated operating system, which has its own limitations and a very flexible system of rights for each service and program.

Go to the “Settings” of your device and select the “Advanced” tab. Next, click on the “Battery and Performance” item, go to “Background Mode” and find the “Applications” item there. Here you need to select a program that will work with GPS and give it full access.

Working with settings

If the problem still persists and the phone displays a bunch of satellites, but does not show the exact position on the map, you can slightly change the GPS settings. Just keep in mind that this requires full root rights!

Download any Explorer application to your smartphone, for example, the same Root Explorer and go to the system directory, then to etc;
Find a configuration file there with the same name - gps.config;
Be sure to make a complete copy of this file and save it somewhere separately, so that in case of unsuccessful settings you can quickly return to the original data;
Open this file through any editor and add the following variables on a new line: #Russia NTP_SERVER=ru.pool.ntp.org
Save all changes, restart your smartphone and try to re-determine your location. In most cases, this procedure completely solved the problem with incorrect location determination.

What you didn't know about MiKey

Unfortunately, new technologies do not always help users, as in some cases they only create new problems. The situation is approximately similar with the MiKey button, which is designed to cover the headphone jack and quickly interact with the phone through combinations of presses.

Remove the extra button, reboot your Xiaomi and try again to connect to satellites and check your location on the map.

What should I do if GPS turns off after a while?

Another equally common problem is the GPS on your smartphone randomly turning off, for example, 5 or 10 minutes after activation.

How does the problem manifest itself?

For example, you launched the Navitel or 2GIS program, plotted a route and put your smartphone in your pocket or mounted it on a mount in your car. After some time, the route is interrupted because the signal from the satellites stops coming.

To solve this problem, you need to adjust the settings in the “Battery and Performance” item.

To do this, go to the “Settings” of your Xiaomi and select this item there;
Next, click on the “Battery consumption by applications” tab and find the block called “Background energy saving”;
Here you select the applications you work with for GPS and remove all restrictions on background activity;
Also, in the “Location in background” item, set the slider to “allowed” so that applications can interact with services;
Reboot your smartphone and check its functionality.

Conclusion

These are the main problems and ways to solve them for Xiaomi devices. Despite its shell with a large list of features, in general, the GPS setup is not much different from standard Android.

If, after all the described recommendations, you are still unable to set up the GPS, we advise you to take the phone to a service center and check it for possible defects. Unfortunately, such situations are not uncommon. If the phone is under warranty, be sure to take the device immediately to the store where you purchased it, so that an employee of this retail chain can register a possible breakdown and send the phone for diagnostics.

Also, to work with GPS, we recommend using only official applications from Google Play, proven by time and the experience of millions of users. These include maps from Yandex, Google, 2GIS, Navitel and other applications that specialize in this and have a huge database of satellites.

GPS is a spatial positioning system that will allow you to find out where you are if you are lost or don’t know how to get to the right place. As a rule, all modern mobile devices are equipped with this module and you can use it if desired. How to enable GPS on a Xiaomi smartphone?

Instructions

First of all, lower the notification shade, fully expand the list with quick buttons and look for the GPS item. Depending on the firmware theme, the GSP icon on Xiaomi may differ.

If the icon is missing, you need to click on the lowest right icon, which opens the settings menu for this block, find the GPS icon and add it to the quick access list.

However, this system also has some settings. To get to them, you need to hold your finger on the GPS icon for a few seconds and wait for the menu to open.

In it you should choose exactly how the system will determine the coordinates of your location:

only using GPS;
only using GSM networks and WiFi;
GPS + GSM and WiFi networks.

The latter option copes faster with searching for coordinates, since each GSM tower instantly transmits its coordinates to the mobile device and, in conjunction with the GPS module, the positioning data will be the most accurate.

What is GPS used for?

Use your smartphone as a navigator when traveling and visiting unfamiliar places using Google maps, Maps.me and others.
Share your location with friends and colleagues on social networks: Viber, WhatsApp, Instagram;
Play modern games with augmented reality technology. The most popular of these games was the arcade Pokemon Go.

How to disable GPS on Xiaomi?

In order to turn off GPS, you need to click on the corresponding shortcut icon in the notification shade. This can be useful if the navigator is not needed and the battery is low. Disabling the GPS module will slow down the energy consumption of your mobile device.