Different behaviour between Android devices

[drtomato]

Your Environment

• Plugin version: 4.4.5
• Platform: Android
• Device OS version: 11 Go and 11
• Device manufacturer / model: Alcatel 1 2021 and Samsung Galaxy S4
• Capacitor info (npx cap doctor) 💊 Capacitor Doctor 💊

Latest Dependencies:

@capacitor/cli: 3.4.3 @capacitor/core: 3.4.3 @capacitor/android: 3.4.3 @capacitor/ios: 3.4.3

Installed Dependencies:

@capacitor/cli: 3.1.1 @capacitor/core: 3.1.1 @capacitor/android: 3.1.1 @capacitor/ios: 3.1.1

[success] iOS looking great! 👌 [success] Android looking great! 👌

• Plugin config provided to #ready:

       const state = await BackgroundGeolocation.ready({
          debug: false,
          logLevel: BackgroundGeolocation.LOG_LEVEL_WARNING,
          desiredAccuracy: BackgroundGeolocation.DESIRED_ACCURACY_HIGH,
          distanceFilter: 10,
          stopOnTerminate: false,
          startOnBoot: true,
          disableMotionActivityUpdates: true,
  
          // (Android 11+) Configure the dialog presented to the user when Always location permission is requested.
          // https://transistorsoft.github.io/cordova-background-geolocation/interfaces/_cordova_background_geolocation_.config.html
          // https://transistorsoft.medium.com/new-google-play-console-guidelines-for-sensitive-app-permissions-d9d2f4911353
          backgroundPermissionRationale: {
             title: await this.translator.translate('bgPermissionRationaleTitle'),
             message: await this.translator.translate('bgPermissionRationaleMessage'),
             positiveAction: await this.translator.translate('bgPermissionRationalePositiveAction'),
             negativeAction: await this.translator.translate('bgPermissionRationaleNegativeAction')
          },
          locationAuthorizationAlert: {
             titleWhenNotEnabled: await this.translator.translate('locationAuthAlertTitleNotEnabled'),
             titleWhenOff: await this.translator.translate('locationAuthAlertTitleOff'),
             instructions: await this.translator.translate('locationAuthAlertInstructions'),
             cancelButton: await this.translator.translate('locationAuthAlertCancel'),
             settingsButton: await this.translator.translate('locationAuthAlertSettings')
          }
       })
       if (!state.enabled) {
          await BackgroundGeolocation.start()
          await BackgroundGeolocation.startGeofences()
       }

Expected Behavior

onLocation should be called with new locations when moving

Actual Behavior

onLocation is not called (see full description below)

Context

I am using the plugin successfully on iOS with a map-based app that I am developing (Ionic/Angular/Capacitor). Now I am migrating to Android (which is a new experience to me, I am not 100% familiar with all the tools yet) and have a few questions. I am currently testing on the Pixel 4 (API 30, Android 11) and Pixel 5 (API 31, Android 12) emulators in Android Studio and on three physical devices; a Samsung Galaxy S10e (API 31, Android 12), a Samsung Galaxy S4 (originally Android 5, upgraded to the LineageOS ROM (API 30, Android 11)) and an Alcatel 1 2021 (Android 11 Go).

The Galaxy S10e works fine, similar to the iOS versions I have tested on, but the two others fail:

The Alcatel 1 is a really low-end device and is running a sneak Android version called Android 11 Go. Here I only get the current location the first time. After that, I never get onLocation updates and therefore my current location on the map never changes no matter how far I move. The exception is when a geofence is triggered, then the current location is updated to the triggering location. Google Map has no problem showing my location continuously so I guess there is nothing wrong with the device itself. But the exact same code that works on iOS and on the S10e does not work on this device and I would like to understand why. I believe that the device has accelerometers and other sensors (but who knows, it was the cheapest Android phone I could find…) but maybe the problem is that the plugin, for whatever reason, does not detect changes in movement? From the logs it appears that the plugin is loaded and initiated properly. My question is whether it has been confirmed that the plugin works on Android 11 Go?

The S4 is too old to run my app with its original Android version, which is why I upgraded it to a custom ROM Android 11 version called LineageOS. My device may not be fully supported (or I failed to configure it properly) since I get an error dialog saying that Google Play services are not supported on the device ()but only when I run my app, all other apps work). This error seems to be picked up by the BackgroundGeolocation plugin (error code 408). My question is whether Google Play services are actually necessary for the plugin to work? My attempts to fix the Google Play services error have failed sofar and I know that other people have had similar problems with other apps that refuse to run for the same reason.

P.S. I am experimenting with the 'disableMotionActivityUpdates' setting now. Back with more info later...

P.P.S. I have installed the Cordova BG Geolocation demo on the devices. This should help me understand the plugin's behavior better with regard to the different settings. I will post relevant info here later.

Debug logs

Logs

``` PASTE_YOUR_LOGS_HERE ```

[christocracy]

• The plugin's behaviour cannot be fully experienced in an emulator since the plugin relies upon motion APIs to automatically trigger location tracking when the device is detected to be moving. The motion APIs do not work in emulators.

My question is whether it has been confirmed that the plugin works on Android 11 Go?

I don't know anything about Android 11 Go. This plugin is developed according to published Android documentation and relies upon APIs provided by Google Play Services, particularly the Fused Location Provider API and Activity Recognition API.

My question is whether Google Play services are actually necessary for the plugin to work?

Yes.

P.S. I am experimenting with the 'disableMotionActivityUpdates' setting now.

The plugin uses a "stationary geofence" as a fallback for detecting when device is moving when Motion API is disabled. This requires the device move about 200 meters before location-tracking is engaged. Geofence triggering in the Android emulator often does not work.

[christocracy]

Also see https://dontkillmyapp.com for tracking problems with particular Android devices.

[drtomato]

Thanks Chris!

• Note to self: always run the Cordova BG Geolocation demo app before submitting bug reports or asking questions... :)
• I can confirm that your demo app works perfectly on the Alcatel 1 2021 running Android 11 Go. So the problems I have experienced are down to me... (but it's still weird that the same settings works in my app both on iOS and on the Samsung S10e with Android 12). Running both the demo app and my app concurrently on the device showed an interesting difference in behavior: the top bar app icon that indicates that location tracking is active is visible for the demo app when the device is moving. When moving stops, the icon goes away but comes back when the moving starts again. This is as expected, given how the plugin works. For my app, the icon is shown initially (but actually not the proper icon which is normally shown when the app submits local notifications, just a white square) but it then goes away and never comes back even when moving. So this tells me that the location tracking fails for my app after the initial call. Either because of my configuration or maybe (this is a long shot) because the strange icon causes problems after it has been displayed. I discovered the hard way the requirements on notification icons (SVG with single white color, transparent background) and maybe I didn't get everything right for some reason... So I will try two things: 1) Getting the icon right, 2) Using the exact same configuration as the demo app (and BTW, the app worked regardless of the 'disableMotionActivityUpdates' setting which is good since I'd prefer not having to ask the user for that permission). I will also need to learn how to get logs out from the device, as I wrote earlier this environment is quite new to me...
• The demo app does not work on the Galaxy S4 with LineageOS which is only to be expected since there is something wrong with the Google Play service on that device.

[drtomato]

OK, I solved the problem. I attach info here in the hope that it might be useful to someone else:

• It is clear from the docs that the plugin has to be initiated before any other operations are attempted and this is what I thought I had done. However, it turned out that the Angular service that I am using to access the plugin could sometimes be accessed by other services before the plugin initialization had actually been completed. So the code was incorrect also before and it was just pure luck with timing that things worked on more performant devices than the Alcatel 1 2021.

• I fixed the problem by running the plugin initialization as part of the Angular startup sequence (APP_PROVIDER) to ensure that the plugin is ready for use before any other service attempts to use it. Now everything works like a breeze.