GrapheneOS Network location no longer works

[techie6]

Hi,
I have a Google Pixel 8 running latest version of GrapheneOS with Sandboxed Google Play Installed on the main profile. Network location used to work fine indoors with all major apps (Google Maps, Organic Maps) until it stopped working it's been a couple of months. Now map applications simply keep scanning for location indefinitely while indoor and connected to Wi-Fi. I live in a highly dense area so it shouldn't be an issue. GPS though still works fine outdoors .

Here are my current settings:
Location -> ON
Location -> Location Services -> Wi-Fi Scanning: OFF
Location -> Location Services -> Bluetooth Scanning: OFF
Location -> Location Services -> Network Location: Graphene Apple Proxy
Location -> Location Services -> Gocoder: GrapheneOS Server
Location -> SUPL: GrapheneOS Proxy
Location -> PSDS: GrapheneOS Server
Apps Sandboxed Google Play -> Reroute location requests to the OS: ON
Apps Sandboxed Google Play -> Google Location Accuracy: OFF

Am I missing something here?

Thanks!

[thestinger]

I don't see any reason it wouldn't be working with your configuration. However, you probably want to have Wi-Fi scanning enabled so network-based location can fully work when Wi-Fi isn't enabled instead of needing to fall back to cellular. Do you have precise location enabled for these apps instead of only coarse location?

[techie6]

Yes precise location is enabled for map applications.
I tried enabling Wi-Fi scanning, but it made no difference. Location while indoor still cannot be determined.

What else could it be? I'm happy to provide logs if necessary.

[thestinger]

Could you have something blocking connecting to our servers?

[techie6]

I do have a DNS blocker, but I just verified that none of the GrapheneOS domains are being blocked. I also tested disabling it completely in the network settings, and also tested using Apple sever directly as the network location provider but still made no difference.

I don't know what else could it be..

[soupslurpr]

@techie6 Could you try sending the Network Location logs after using location indoors? You can get the logs by going to Settings > Apps, click the three dots, select show system apps, then search Network Location.

[techie6]

Here are the logs after a fresh restart and using Organic Maps/Google Maps indoors:
Network Location log 563e2d5df207.txt

Most of the attached logs seem to have been generated right after the restart, with almost no logs generated when attempting to determine network location.

[soupslurpr]

The logs don't signify anything going wrong, strange. Could you try this app from the Play Store which allows you to see the results from various location providers? On the map section, see if there's a purple circle. Press marker settings on the bottom left and disable showing the fused location provider and weighted least mean squares. Make sure showing the network location provider is enabled. Additionally, if possible, please try other environments (even outside) and see if there's any results from the network location provider.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.location.gps.gnsslogger

[techie6]

Thank you @soupslurpr for suggesting the app, I used it to test the functionality in different environments. Network location indeed worked in other places away from my home. Although I live in a busy apartment building, it seems that none of the Wi-Fi networks within my range are included in Apple's network location database, suggesting that we may all coincidentally be Android users. This is the only logical exploitation I could come up with.

[thestinger]

@techie6 Do you have cellular disabled? It has a fallback to cellular and should still work even if the Wi-Fi networks aren't included. It would just be far more inaccurate.

[techie6]

@thestinger Cellular data is enabled all the time, and network location still would only be detected outdoor, despite having a full 5G/LTE signal indoor.

UPDATE: Strangely enough after updating to 2026050701, both Wi-Fi and cellular network location started working again inside my home, even though my environment is still exactly the same. Weird.

Thank you all for your help!