Location fails without Google Play [Services]

[nmschulte]

On Android, the Pinball Map app fails to locate the device, and fails to notify the user of the issue in any meaningful way.

logcat seems to note that Google Play [Services] is required, and I suspect this is the culprit. On systems like GrapheneOS, Google Play [Services] is not necessarily installed or available.

I haven't done much digging, but I believe this can work on such a system, or the error state and necessary dependencies list improved, and want to begin a conversation to that end.

This is the log messages that I've identified:

01-06 00:03:50.910 21759 21816 W GooglePlayServicesUtil: com.pbm requires the Google Play Store, but it is missing.
01-06 00:03:50.910 21759 21816 W GoogleApiManager: The service for com.google.android.gms.internal.location.zzda is not available: ConnectionResult{statusCode=SERVICE_INVALID, resolution=null, message=null}

01-06 00:03:50.973 21759 21881 W GooglePlayServicesUtil: com.pbm requires the Google Play Store, but it is missing.
01-06 00:03:50.973 21759 21881 E GooglePlayServicesUtil: GooglePlayServices not available due to error 9
01-06 00:03:50.973 21759 21881 I PlayServicesCronet: Google-Play-Services-Cronet-Provider is unavailable.
01-06 00:03:50.976 21759 21889 W GooglePlayServicesUtil: com.pbm requires the Google Play Store, but it is missing.
01-06 00:03:50.976 21759 21889 E GooglePlayServicesUtil: GooglePlayServices not available due to error 9
01-06 00:03:50.978  1363  1935 D ConnectivityService: NetReassign [no changes] [c 1] [a 2] [i 3]
01-06 00:03:50.978 21759 21879 I Mapbox  : [metrics]: Metrics collection period: 0s
01-06 00:03:50.979 21759 21759 E ThemeUtils: View class com.mapbox.maps.plugin.logo.LogoViewImpl is an AppCompat widget that can only be used with a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant).
01-06 00:03:50.984 21759 21759 E ThemeUtils: View class com.mapbox.maps.plugin.attribution.AttributionViewImpl is an AppCompat widget that can only be used with a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant).
01-06 00:03:50.997 21759 21759 W Mapbox  : [common\HTTP]: HTTP/3 will not be available: Cannot find a valid Cronet provider. In order to
01-06 00:03:50.997 21759 21759 W Mapbox  : enable HTTP/3 in the Mapbox SDKs, it's necessary that the application depends on
01-06 00:03:50.997 21759 21759 W Mapbox  : a valid Cronet provider. Valid providers include the Google Play Services
01-06 00:03:50.997 21759 21759 W Mapbox  : provider (from "com.google.android.gms:play-services-cronet"), in which case
01-06 00:03:50.997 21759 21759 W Mapbox  : Cronet will be used from Play Services, or you may choose to embed Cronet with
01-06 00:03:50.997 21759 21759 W Mapbox  : your application by depending on "org.chromium.net:cronet-embedded".

Other applications, like OsmAnd and GPSTest, function in this situation without issue.

Please help me help to improve Pinball Map; this would be much appreciated functionality. Thank you!

[RyanTG]

We might have to switch from using expo-location to something else, like react-native-geolocation-service or react-native-location. We'll explore more tomorrow.

[RyanTG]

This seems to be the best option for a geolocation package that has the option to not use Google Play Services. If includes this configuration:

locationProvider?: 'playServices' | 'android' | 'auto';

The workflow seems to be:

• Request permission if not already granted
• RNConfiguration somewhere
• Request location

It's not a drop-in replacement of what we have now. I'm not sure if I, for one, could pull this off. But maybe others can. PR welcome!