• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help GPS showing wrong direction

J

JohnJSal

Android Expert
The blue dot in Google Maps shows I'm moving in the correct direction, but the arrow indicating... what? Direction? Facing? It points in almost the opposite direction. Why is this?

Is there a way I can check if it's my phone, or just Maps?

Thanks.
 
Go into the settings and where the usb debugging is the next question say allow mocking you need to un check .
 
It's the mag compass that's off. This phone seems to have a crappy mag compass. You can calibrate it using an app like GPS Status.

You can also go into the Factory Test App to see if your sensor is working ok. It does a self test and tells you if something is wrong. See this thread: http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/754460-factory-test-app-0-0-a.html

My first phone had a mag sensor that was terrible and would loose calibration quickly. It also failed one of the mag sensor tests all the time. I lived with it until my phone developed an unrelated problem and now I have a new "refurb" phone. It exhibits the same issues with regards to the mag sensor. Most people don't notice because they don't reference the mag heading in Maps.

I calibrate it and it's fine for about an hour and then it drifts off. Very annoying.
 
Do you have an S-View cover?
If you do, then take this off, as this greatly interferes with the device's compass.
 
The compass is so inaccurate as to be entirely useless, or at least it is on my phone.

I have tried compass apps and they all seem to point in entirely random directions. Indeed, just by tilting the phone I can make it swing through 360 degress. The compass on my S2 was tolerable the but one on my S4 seems to be utterly crap. It's a shame as a working compass would be very useful to me.
 
Rxpert83 said:
The arrow on "you" is supposed to show which direction you're facing.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what it's supposed to do. When I did the same thing with the phone later that same day it wasn't always pointing north. What I did when I originally posted was turned the phone without moving. The arrow continued to point the same direction--north. Then later, spinning the phone gave almost random results. Does seem like whatever it is, it's pointless.
 
I started facing this similar issue after updating my moto g to lollipop. my pointer is fixed at a particular direction.. I think it's always pointing north and doesn't changes. has anyone found a solution for this issue?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom