How To Fix GPS Not Working Properly On Galaxy Z Fold 4

Is it taking too long for your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 to get your location? This could be due to a weak GPS signal brought about by a number for factors which include software bug, settings issue, or even lack of GPS signal in the area.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is a premium Android device that is best known for its foldable display form factor. It’s one of the most powerful Android devices you can get right now and with its huge 7.6-inch AMOLED display when unfolded you can multitask with ease. Some of its best features include its use of a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip, 4400 mAh battery, and has a storage of up to 1TB.

Why does my Samsung Galaxy device keep losing GPS signal?

GPS (Global Positioning System) by the way is a radio navigation system that allows your phone to communicate with a satellite in order to provide location and time information. One of the issues that you might encounter with your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is when it takes a long time for it get a GPS signal. When this happens certain apps that use location information such as Google Maps can’t function properly since it won’t be able to get your current location.

Here’s what you can do to fix the GPS is not working problem on your phone.

Solution 1: Soft reset your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

One of the most common causes of a Samsung device not immediately getting a GPS signal is a software glitch. To fix this you just need to do a soft reset. This refreshes your phone’s operating system and will remove any corrupted data that could be causing the problem.

This process will reboot the operating system of the phone and reload all of its services. Your personal data, files, and apps will remain unchanged.

Soft reset Samsung Galaxy Z FOLD 4

• Simultaneously press and hold the Power key and Volume down button on the right edge for approximately 15 seconds.
• Release the buttons when the Samsung logo appears.

Once your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 starts try to check if the GPS issue still occurs.

Solution 2: Check for the latest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 software updates

One of the reasons why your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 will have a problem with GPS signals is because of a bug in its current software version.

You need to manually check for any new system updates available for your Samsung device and apply them immediately. It’s best to manually check for the latest version regularly as sometimes the automatic update feature is delayed.

• Go to your phone Settings.
• Scroll down and tap on Software update.
• Tap Download and install.

With the new software update installed on your phone, try checking if the GPS navigation is now working.

Solution 3: Try moving outdoors to improve GPS antenna reception

Since your phone will be getting the GPS signals from the satellite then the signal is going to be strong outdoors when compared indoors. Even though your phone GPS will work inside a building it works best outdoors with an open view of the sky so the GPS antenna can get a signal from the satellites.

Solution 4: Improve location detection accuracy

Try to improve the location detection accuracy of your phone to get a stable and faster GPS lock.

• Open the Settings app.
• Find then tap Location.
• While in the Location menu, you will see app permissions and location services. Beneath is the list of apps that have recent location requests or access. Tap Location services to proceed.
• Navigate to the Improve accuracy section.
• Tap to turn the Wi-Fi scanning toggle on.
• Tap to turn the Bluetooth scanning toggle on.

You should also make sure that location services or GPS location service is turned on. This allows apps such as Google Maps to access your phone’s location.

• Open the Settings app.
• Find then tap Location.
• Turn on the Location switch.

Solution 5: Update Google Network Location Provider

Your phone location information is generally checked through a GPS signal and Google Network Location Provider (NLP) is used to improve location accuracy indoors where GPS signal is not detected when checking the location. Here’s what you need to do to improve Google Location Accuracy.

• Go to Settings.
• Tap Location.
• Tap Google Location Accuracy and switch on.

Solution 6: Start the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 in Safe Mode

There are instances when an app you installed will cause your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 to have GPS problems. To check if an app you downloaded is the culprit will need to start your phone in Safe Mode. When your phone starts in this mode only the pre-installed apps will be allowed to run making troubleshooting app related issues easy to do.

Safe Mode

• Turn the device off.
• Press and hold the Side key past the model’s name screen appearing on the screen.
• When SAMSUNG appears on the screen, release the Side key.
• Immediately after releasing the Side key, press and hold the Volume down key.
• Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
• When Safe mode appears in the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume down key.

If your phone does not experience any GPS issues in this mode, then the problem is most likely caused by a specific app you installed. You should uninstall apps that might be causing this issue. The likely suspect is the most recently installed app before the issue occurred.

After uninstalling the app, you can exit from safe mode.

Exit Safe Mode

• Press and hold the Side key.
• Tap Restart > Restart.
• The device will restart in standard mode, and you can resume normal use.

Solution 7: Perform a hardware test using the Samsung Members app

If a hardware component in your phone is faulty then this can be what’s causing the GPS issue. In order to check if your phone hardware is functioning properly, you can use the Samsung Members app.

To perform a hardware test

• Open Samsung Members.
• Tap on Get help.
• Under Diagnostics tap on Start.
• Choose all possible selections.
• Tap Start to run the test.

If the test fails, then you need to contact the nearest Samsung service center in your area.

Solution 8: Perform a factory reset on your Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

If the issue persists, then you should consider doing a factory reset on your Galaxy Z Fold 4. The factory reset will erase your phone data and bring it back to its default factory settings. Any corrupted data stored in the system which could be causing this problem will be completely removed.

Before proceeding with this step, you need to back up your phone files.

Factory reset Samsung Galaxy Z Fold

• Turn off your Samsung Galaxy device.
• Simultaneously press and hold the Volume up and side buttons until the device vibrates and the Android Recovery screen appears then release all buttons. Allow up to 30 seconds for the recovery screen to appear.
• From the Android Recovery screen, select Wipe data/factory reset. You can use the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the side key to select.
• Select Factory data reset. Allow several seconds for the factory data reset to complete.
• Select Reboot system now. Allow several minutes for the reboot process to complete.
• Set up your Android phone.

After the factory reset has completed do not install any apps in your phone. Try checking first if the network issue is fixed.

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