Setting up location on a Xiaomi smartphone, basic functions and capabilities

Search for satellites
Shutdown
Inclusion
Finding a smartphone
Problems
Error correction

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.

Option 1: MIUI Settings

Initially, for example, if the user has recently used a Xiaomi smartphone and the geolocation functions on it have not been activated, turning on and configuring GPS, as well as other hardware and software modules that provide location determination, is carried out through the MIUI OS settings.

Open the list of operating system and device settings sections by clicking on the “Settings” shortcut on the MIYUAI desktop.

Next, either scroll through the list of categories of OS parameters that opens, find the “Location” item and tap on it,
or enter Location in the Settings search field, tap the Magnifier button on the virtual keyboard, and then navigate to the target section from the list of system-suggested results.

Activate the switch to the right of the first option in the list on the screen that opens - “Location access”.
In fact, turning on the GPS module of a Xiaomi smartphone can be considered complete - as soon as the device is in an open space, detects satellites broadcasting geolocation data and begins to receive information from them, it will automatically become possible to determine the location of the device with sufficient information to operate most applications that require such functionality accuracy.

Additionally. Almost always, the modern model of using a mobile device on Android, and Xiaomi smartphones are no exception, requires the need to determine its location without “connecting” to satellites, for example, when the smartphone is indoors. Note that such capabilities are provided by the Google ecosystem, so to implement them, it is necessary that you first log in to your “good corporation” account from the device.
Read more: How to log into Google Account on an Android device
To activate the ability to determine the coordinates of a smartphone in the absence of a GPS signal, after enabling “Location Access” on the “Location” screen in “Settings” of MIUI, tap “Google Geolocation”. Next, read the description of the activated option; touch and move the “Locate location more accurately” switch to the “On” position.

Optionally, activate or deactivate other options related to determining the geolocation of the device, then exit the “Settings” of the operating system. Now you can launch it fully, that is, almost regardless of the physical location of the smartphone, and effectively use software whose functions require geolocation information.

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:

Find the “Change” sub-item in the list;
Choose GPS;
Activate the appropriate settings. There are 3 options for searching coordinates. The optimal and most accurate method is a combination of GPS + GSM and Wi-Fi networks.

#2 How to enable developer mode

To enable “Developer Mode”, you need to go to the “About phone” section and find the item with information about the software. Find the “Build number” item, on Xiaomi phones this is the MUIU number and click on it 7 times.

Once you do this, a new “For Developers” item should appear in the main settings menu. Its location will vary depending on the manufacturer, but it should be somewhere at the bottom of the menu.

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.

Option 3: Enable GPS for individual apps

When using this or that software on a Xiaomi device you encounter problems determining your location, and also if you need to enable/disable access to the GPS module for one or another Android application operating in the MIUI environment, follow the following instructions.

Launch the About app snap-in for the software tool you're configuring. For this:
- Open MIUI “Settings”, go to “Applications” - “All applications”.
  Next, find the software in the list available from your smartphone and tap on its name.

Go to the Application Permissions section. In the list that opens and is divided into two categories – “ALLOWED” and “PROBILED” – click on the “Location” item.

By moving the radio button in the list that opens to one of the positions, select the option you require for the application and geolocation detection modules to work together:

“Allow only while using the application” – the software will gain access to geolocation only during the periods when you are working with it.

“Deny” – to disable the application’s ability to use GPS and other device location functions.

Having indicated the order and level of access you require for a particular software tool to geolocation data, exit MIUI “Settings”. From now on, in terms of determining the coordinates of the device, the application configured as a result of the above actions will work in accordance with the rules you set.

What to do if GPS stops working on Xiaomi

GPS may not work on Xiaomi for several reasons. If you did not find an error in the previous operation, let's move on to other methods of correcting the situation.

How to restore GPS functionality:

Checking connection by GPS status;
Checking application access;
Adjusting system settings;
Antenna check;
Problems with MiKey.

Since the GPS function is present in all models of the Xiaomi brand: Xiaomi Redmi 3, Xiaomi Redmi 5, Xiaomi Redmi 4x, Xiaomi Mi 5, Xiaomi Mi 8, etc., setting up and checking the above options at most may have slight differences in the page names in “ Settings" - this depends on the version of MIUI.

What NOT to do with a watch

Swim or drop. There is protection from moisture and dust, but swimming in them is prohibited, especially in salt water. This will lead to a large amount of water entering the processor, and oxidation will occur, just like in a regular phone. If the device is dropped, damage may occur, just like with a regular smartphone.

The GPS navigation function is now available in every modern smartphone. Most people need this technology almost daily. For example, drivers who do not have car navigators often use their mobile gadget as a portable navigator. Since these devices are not designed to be full-fledged navigators, their operation sometimes fails.

This is often due to incorrect software settings. For many people, GPS does not work on Xiaomi devices, namely, it shows the incorrect location. There are several ways to make your device search for satellites faster.

Checking the contacts of the GPS antenna

If you have tried all the methods, but your GPS still does not work, then you need to check the GPS antenna contacts.

Attention, this method involves disassembling the device, which may void the warranty. If you are not confident in your abilities, we do not recommend using this method. You do all actions at your own peril and risk.

This procedure should be done carefully so as not to damage the motherboard.

Remove the back cover of the phone.
Using a Phillips screwdriver, you need to unscrew the metal cover located above the battery. We remove it from the device.
On the smartphone's circuit board you will see several springs that should be cleaned with a miniature file or screwdriver. These are the antenna contacts that come into contact with the metal cover. If the contact is poor, the signal level will be low, which leads to a long search for satellites.

It is not known exactly which of them is responsible for receiving the GPS signal, so clear everything. Do the same on the metal lid from the inside.
We put the cover in place and tighten the bolts. Close the main back cover and reboot the smartphone.

One of the American users decided to go a different route; he bent the contacts so that they were in maximum contact with the antennas on the inner cover. His photo report can be seen just below (you can scroll through the photos).

Antenna location Before fix After fix

After the operations performed, our experimental device is now searching for a larger number of satellites, the signal quality has increased, and accordingly the location accuracy now has a minimum error.

Instructions

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 ones, but we recommend using regular Notepad on a PC. Open the copied file, and if you are in Russia, then replace the file data with the following:

#Russia

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.

Checking the connection

First you need to download the "GPS Test" or "GPS Status" program.

If GPS does not work on xiaomi, then this program will help us

Further actions:

In the upper left corner, in the “GPS Status” section, you can see whether the function is enabled or not;
The “In View” section shows how many satellites your gadget sees, each satellite is each column;
The “In Use” section shows how many of these satellites the smartphone uses;
The numbers located above the bars and their colors show the quality of the connection, which can be sorted as follows:

Gray color – the satellite is not used at all;
Red and orange colors, numbers from 0 to 20 – low quality, poor connection;
Yellow color, numbers from 20 to 40 – connection of average normal quality;
Green color, numbers from 40 and above - the connection is excellent, there should be no problems.

Accordingly, the data obtained must be as good as possible - the work of positioning depends on this.

Using these utilities, you can also view the built-in maps and compass. Your GPS does not work on xiaomi, then GPS Test will help you identify the problem and fix it.

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.

Possible problems with MiKey

A rather banal solution to the problem associated with a special MiKey button. Users of xiaomi redmi note 3 pro devices noticed that GPS does not work when the additional MiKey button is inserted into the headphone jack of the phone.

In fact, some devices take a very long time to connect to satellites along with a button.

As it turned out, MiKey interferes with the normal operation of the GPS antenna, so communication is established slowly.

Are you still having connection problems?

It is likely that despite following the previous steps, our Xiaomi mobile continues to experience problems with roaming networks, in which case we can configure the next section even before the trip. We go into settings and again look for SIM card and mobile networks, this time touching our SIM card which appears at the top.

In this section we have several options, but the one that interests us is called "Mobile networks", where later we will activate the option to automatically select a network . This will allow, if our purchase in other countries uses another one, our mobile phone can use it with first moment. This does not in any way affect our use in the country of origin, so we recommend that you always activate it, even if we do not intend to travel.

How to remove location history on Android

Android also allows you to disable location history recording without disabling geolocation completely.

To do this, from the “Location” section you need to go to the “Location History” section and disable this function.

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.

Improve location accuracy

First of all, you need to enable precise navigation mode on Xiaomi; to do this, go to general settings, find the line “Advanced settings” .

Click on the
"Privacy" . Enter the "Location" . In the Location , select the High Accuracy . Find the line "Search" . Turn on the options “Search for Wi-Fi networks” and “Search for Bluetooth devices” , this will help more accurately determine your coordinates.
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