Articles on: Activity Tracking

Fix GPS tracking on Android phones

Fix missing, inaccurate, or interrupted GPS tracking in Qpaws | ANDROID

If your tracked route is missing, inaccurate, or stops partway through an activity, the cause is almost always Android's location permissions or battery-saving settings – not your phone's GPS hardware.

Most problems are solved by Steps 1 to 3 (location permission and battery settings).

Start there if you just want the quick fix.

1. Restart your phone

A quick restart clears temporary GPS glitches and costs nothing.

Worth doing first.

2. Allow location access all the time

This is the single most important setting.

Go to: Settings → Apps → Qpaws → Permissions → Location

Set:

Location access: On
Permission: Allow all the time
Precise location: On (if shown)

If permission is set to "Allow only while using the app," Android stops recording GPS as soon as the screen turns off or Qpaws moves to the background — which is exactly when your route goes missing.

**"Allow all the time" — does this mean Qpaws tracks me 24/7?**No. We understand the wording sounds alarming, but it's an Android label, not a description of what Qpaws does.Qpaws only reads your location while you have an activity running. When you're not tracking, the app isn't following you – there's no background location logging, and nothing is recorded unless you've pressed start.The reason Android still asks for "Allow all the time" is technical: an activity often continues with the screen locked or the app in the background (your phone's in your pocket while you run). The "while using the app" setting tells Android to cut location the moment the screen turns off – so your route would stop recording mid-activity, even though you are still using Qpaws. "Allow all the time" simply lets tracking keep running for the activity you started.You stay in control: location is only used between the moment you press start and the moment you stop.

3. Remove battery restrictions for Qpaws

Android limits background apps to save battery, and this is what kills tracking mid-activity.

Go to: Settings → Apps → Qpaws → Battery

Set: Unrestricted

(On some phones this is worded as "Don't optimize" or "No restrictions.")

If the above steps don't fix it, please continue with the following:

4. Make sure location is on and accurate

Go to: Settings → Location

Turn Location on
Under Location services, enable Google Location Accuracy (also called "Improve Location Accuracy")

The exact wording varies between Android versions, so the labels may look slightly different on your phone.

5. Manufacturer-specific settings

Many manufacturers add their own battery savers on top of standard Android. These are the most common cause of tracking that stops in the background.

Samsung (most common)

Samsung's Sleeping apps feature is the top cause of interrupted tracking.

Settings → Apps → Qpaws → Battery → Unrestricted
Settings → Battery → Background usage limits
Make sure Qpaws is not listed under Sleeping apps or Deep sleeping apps
Add Qpaws to Never sleeping apps

Step 4 is the reliable fix — it tells Samsung to leave Qpaws running.

Xiaomi / Redmi / POCO

Settings → Apps → Manage apps → Qpaws

Enable Autostart
Set battery saver to No restrictions

OnePlus

Settings → Battery → Battery optimization → Qpaws → Don't optimize

Huawei

Add Qpaws to Protected apps and turn off battery optimization for it.

Motorola, Sony, LG, HTC, and others

Turn off battery optimization for Qpaws and allow unrestricted background activity.

6. Test outdoors

GPS is weak indoors, between tall buildings, and under dense tree cover.

Start tracking outside
Wait a few seconds for the GPS icon to appear
Begin your activity only once it has a fix

7. Keep Qpaws and Android updated

Make sure both the Qpaws app and your Android system software are on the latest version.

Still having issues?

Screenshots of the recorded route (if available)

Updated on: 01/06/2026

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!