The Magazine

Foursquare updates Android app to 2012.05.02; doesn’t appear to fix GPS issues

23

By on May 3rd, 2012

For the past several months, foursquare’s Android app has been plagued by problems related to GPS. Users have complained in the Google Play store, on Twitter, and in our comments that the app registers them in the wrong location, often leading to “you’re too far away” messages for users standing right inside a venue. Foursquare released an update last night that seems like it’s trying to prove they’re locating you properly, but users continue to report it has the same problems as before.

The latest update offers an “updated check in flow” and “a map at the top of the screen shows the location reported by the device.” The map — similar to the one shown in Simple Check-in — simply shows where foursquare thinks you’re located right above the list of venues.

Users continue to report problems with the app, however, especially its GPS performance. One reviewer on the Google Play store says of the most recent version:

I traveled from LA to San Diego. When I arrived, I checked in to San Diego & received “NO points” because I was too far away to check in. Allthwhile attaching a pic of the Downtown San Diego skyline. Remember when all you had to do was tap the Explore button and you’d get a list of everything near you? I miss the ease of use this app used to have. Refresh is a button with no function whatsoever. The only way to reset the location is to uninstall the app and reinstall it. BE SURE to get the spelling right! You could be standing inside the venue & if you spell it wrong, search will return that it’s not nearby or does not exist. If they could re-integrate GPS into this app, that would be AWESOME. Please bring that feature back! NEGATIVE 5 Stars! …

This mirrors complaints we’ve seen for the past few months. I don’t own an Android phone, but I’ve witnessed the issue on friends’ phones. It’s a real problem, but continues to go unaddressed by foursquare.

Other users dislike the new version for other reasons:

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/ack154/statuses/198018656200962050"]

It appears foursquare is in need of a major overhaul to their Android app. Judging by the number of negative reviews, I can’t imagine many new Android users are sticking around for long.

Have you experienced the GPS issues? Does this update fix them on your phone?

/Thanks to @jst1986 for the screenshot above and to everyone else who sent one in!

  • http://zhephree.com Geoff

    I haven’t had any GPS issues (once or twice it has me a mile or 2 away and a refresh fixes it. That’s just normal GPS wonkiness and not a foursquare issue), but I am really disappointed that the long-press was removed. It was perfect for daily check-ins like work and home where I don’t need to see tips or the mayor.

    Also still bummed that on the check=in screen that word suggestions from the keyboard STILL cover the check-in button, requiring me to hit back after typing a shout.

    • Chris Thompson

      The GPS issues seem to affect some people, while other have no problem at all. It’s a really strange one.

      • http://www.allankintz.com ack154

        My experience tells me it is a device and/or ROM issue. My GPS and foursquare were shit when I was on the stock (Gingerbread) ROM. Even when I went to an updated GB ROM (2.3.6 from 2.3.4) it was still crap. I’ve been using a new ICS ROM based on the international version of my phone and lately the GPS and foursquare have been awesome.

      • http://zhephree.com Geoff

        As a foursquare app developer, I can tell you that it’s no fault of foursquare’s. My webOS foursquare app has the same type of negative reviews. All relating to the GPS. There are a lot of factors.

        1) For your GPS to get an accurate position it needs a minimum of three satellites to triangulate your position. The more satellites it finds up in space, the more precise it can pinpoint your location. If it can only find 3 satellites, well, it might not be so accurate.

        2) Most people don’t realize that satellites are a little like your TV remote — they need line-of-sight to the receiver to work. If you’re inside of a building, there’s a good chance your phone wont be able to get a good number of satellite connections and it’ll throw you off. Or, perhaps because of your angle near a window, it picks up a satellite kind of far away and throws off the triangulation.

        3) Tall buildings when you’re outside obstruct your phone’s “view” of the satellites too. If you’re downtown in your city, you’re probably sandwiched by 20+ story buildings, blocking the “view”.

        4) Your phone’s hardware plays a BIG part. The GPS receiver in webOS devices was notoriously terrible and as a result, it gave back crappy results, no matter how clear of a “view” it has to the sky. Android is unique in that there are hundreds of different Android devices made by countless different manufacturers. Some build good phones with good hardware, some build crappy phones with crappy hardware.

        I’ve got a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and never have GPS issues. It’s a very recent flagship phone, so I’d imagine Samsung put a quality receiver in there and placed it in a good spot in the device. Older Android phones, or phones that aren’t major releases probably don’t have quality hardware in them (hence your $1 on contract! sales), so no matter what you or the software does, you’re screwed.

        5) Wi-fi. If you have Google Location Services turned on, your phone uses nearby wifi access points to determine your location. Essentially, Google has a giant database of wifi access points names and their locations and can use that to triangulate your position when GPS fails. What’s great about this is that you don’t actually have to be connected to a wifi network — the phone just looks around for nearby access points and then queries Google (via your 3G or 4G connection) with the names of those access points and what cell towers you’re on and it takes and educated guess as to where you are.

        If you leave your wifi on all the time, this will help get you somewhat near your location if your GPS fails. And if you’re connected to a wifi network, you’ll get better results. When I check in to my house, I’m on wifi and it always finds me at 39 feet away. Every time. If you don’t have your wifi on, then when your GPS fails to give an accurate reading, your phone has no fallback (except for cell tower triangulation which isn’t always accurate either AND some carriers prohibit 3rd party developers from accessing that data… ahem… Verizon).

        So, it’s quite possible that foursquare may never fix the GPS issues because, it’d be near impossible. Another result of Android being on so many devices.

      • http://www.allankintz.com ack154

        @Geoff

        Crappy thing is you can scream all of that until you’re blue in the face. Most of us are well aware of most of that stuff but getting other people to realize it and calm down just doesn’t happen.

        Even I felt like foursquare was to blame for the longest time when I got this phone. I just thought that the Android version was crappy. I’ve seen recently that this isn’t the case and there is certainly something else at work – besides the usual indoors/line of sight/etc stuff.

      • Chris Thompson

        Geoff, the most common problem seems to be that the app often won’t recognize a new location when users move to a different place or the GPS gets a more accurate fix. Some users report having to remove/reinstall the app completely to get it to recognize a new location. Other apps seem to recognize the new location without a problem. It’s hard to see how that’s not a foursquare problem. (also, it’s clear I should’ve explained that better in the post)

      • http://robert.aitchison.org Robert Aitchison

        @Geoff it’s definitely _something_ in the foursquare code that’s doing it, using build 2011.12.24 I never ever have a problem but every time I try a new version I immediately have issues.

        What’s worse is that if you drill down into a venue to where you can see a map of the venue including a pin representing your location it’s apparent that the GPS in the phone thinks you are where you actually are but for some reason the 4sq apps distance calculation thinks you are hundreds of meters away.

  • http://www.allankintz.com ack154

    Ever since I went to an ICS ROM (I’m using SHOstock2 on XDA) on my Galaxy S2, my foursquare has been WAY better. It will actually get a GPS lock and let me refresh to load the correct venues. I could get GPS lock before, but refresh did jack shit.

    Also, the long press to skip the venue page was one of my favorite features. It let me just shorten the checkin just a little bit more.

    The switching of the search/refresh buttons is just mind boggling. Is there an actual reason that would have been done? I tried to use it this morning and ended up hitting search 3 times instead of refresh. That’s what made me switch to a backup.

    Sad actually, b/c I think that map is a brilliant idea.

  • Mike

    I’ve been playing foursquare for TWO YEARS and never ONCE have I had a GPS issue with foursquare. Aside from my INTERNAL GPS being a little goofy, telling me I’m in Norway when I’m in MD, but 3 refreshes and it’s all good. I am a super user so I get to fix all the mistakes idiot users make, you’d be surprised how many venues are created near cell phone towers. People either 1) Don’t have all GPS options on their phone enabled (not a fault of foursquare) 2) Have it off completely (no fault of foursquare) 3) Don’t know how to refresh their app (no fault of foursquare) 4) Are complete idiots (you get it now). I’ve said since day 1 — you must have common sense to use this app.

    • http://www.allankintz.com ack154

      I have a couple regular spots I check for venues exactly like that. I know that’s where the default tower location is and regularly find new venues there still.

    • Murilo

      The foursquare app have located me in South Korea and Australia which is as wrong as it can get. I’m not sure that’s my phone’s fault because foursquare is the only app that does that sort of thing.

  • http://project-insomnia.com Andrew

    Statements about crappy devices and users to dumb to know better are fine, but I have a decent device (Galaxy SII) and I’m not a fool. When every other location-aware app on my phone can figure out where I am but Foursquare insists I’m at the last place I rebooted or toggled airplane mode, there’s something wrong. To be fair, it’s better than it was a few months ago. But don’t lie to me like I’m Montel Williams. There’s a problem, and it’s time Foursquare stopped screwing around with cosmetic tweaks and really fixed it.

  • http://robert.aitchison.org Robert Aitchison

    I guess I’ll try this update to see if it has any impact on the GPS (or more specifically, the distance calculation) issues.

    Though at this point I use Simple Checkin for 90% of my checkins, I only use the official client for when I want to comment on a checkin and every time I do I’m reminded how amazingly inefficient and cumbersome the 4sq client has become.

  • http://www.benfortney.com Ben Fortney

    I’ll add my voice to the “no problem” crowd. I’m still using Gingerbread OS but it’s a bare-bones version, so I’m willing to wager it’s an Android fragmentation issue rather than a 4sq issue.

    • http://robert.aitchison.org Robert Aitchison

      If it were an OS issue you would see the same behavior regardless of what version of the Foursquare client you are using. I have the problem with any new version of the client but with my old version (2011.12.24) it’s rock solid.

  • UndergroundWire

    [i]Already dropped the latest #foursquare for Android for a backup. No more long-press to check in and search/refresh buttons switched.[/i]

    I hate that too. One of the main reasons why I preferred the Android version over the iOS version was how quickly an Android user can check in. Now that’s gone!

    • Murilo

      I love the map on top of the venues list but simply hate that they removed the long press feature.

  • Pierre J.

    The pre-checkin GPS pinpointing is simply brilliant. It works great on my HTC incredible S.
    The should add this feature on iOS devices too

  • http://www.almediapage.info/ Tom Servo

    Has anyone ever done a roll-call of affected handsets? From the comments here and the Google Play store, I get the impression it mostly affects Samsung Galaxy S handsets, which is what I have. HTC and Motorola handsets seem, as far as I can tell, unaffected.

    The Galaxy line of phones is known to have wonky GPS but it still manages to work fine in other apps I use, like Gasbuddy, various map programs and even Facebook. It’s something with the way recent 4sq apps query GPS that causes these phones to report a wrong location.

    Using Simple Check-in, this problem is almost totally eliminated, but not quite: I get occasional incorrect results with it. The difference is the refresh button *always* works, whereas it doesn’t with 4sq’s own app.

    The map in Simple Check-in has led me to believe that a fix for these handsets like mine may be as simple as putting a few seconds delay between when the phone reports a GPS lock and when the app queries the database. When my phone is searching for a GPS lock, the icon in the notification bar flashes; the map will default to the last known location -or- where it thinks the cell phone tower is (which is also wrong, usually). Then when it thinks it has a “lock” the icon stays on. But the map will jump to another wrong location momentarily before showing the actual, correct result. I think if they could add a delay to compensate for that jumpy behaviour it might eliminate some if not all of our issues. Either that or fix the refresh button.

    As for wifi, that may help the phone but in my experience it does not stop 4sq from occasionally reporting the wrong location. It also drains the battery a lot faster so I turn it off when it’s not needed. It shouldn’t be needed to get a GPS fix unless you’re inside a store or something and can’t see the constellation.

    I still stand by an earlier comment I made: either Foursquare does not understand Android well and cannot fathom a fix, or they simply do not care about us because we are second class citizens to the iOS crowd, and the app is merely here to round out their platform lineup regardless of actual functionality.

  • Rachel

    Its a foursquare issue when it’s never been an issue in earlier versions… Why does no one see that?!?!? And why the he k would you switch the search and refresh buttons? It’s just aggravating… They’re taking MAJOR steps backwards in their android versions… Guess I’ll go back to only checking in on Yelp :p

  • Josh

    I wasn’t having any issues with Foursquare until a few weeks ago. I guess this corresponded to their “update”?? I wasn’t having any problem before. But now I get the “too far away” message constantly, even when I’m not only actually at the location but my Foursquare even SHOWS me right there (100 feet away or whatever). On the other hand, I CAN check into places that are 50 miles away with Foursquare accurately showing me as 50 miles away. It makes no sense whatsoever.

  • http://www.almediapage.info/ Tom Servo

    I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to the latest version. I’ve only gotten the “you’re too far away” and zero points issue a few times, but then I’ve gotten that using Simple Check-In as well. I didn’t want to but they forced my hand when I found out we can’t add new venues with the older versions. It pops up a “you need the latest version to do this” type message. Bummer!

    I think I have a better understanding of the GPS issue, at least as far as it relates to my particular handset (Samsung Galaxy S – the Galaxy series seem to be the bulk of complainants in the Google Play market.)

    Using the map that’s in Simple Check-in (that Foursquare ripped off for this new version) I can see that the phone’s location is often wildly inaccurate at first. Sometimes it’s at the last GPS fix, sometimes at an assumed cell tower site and sometimes just off in BFE. I figure the database is being queried before the GPS gets a good lock in some cases, and popping up a list of venues that are wrong.

    It’s complicated by the occasional glitch that causes the refresh to not work. Even with wifi on, the refresh only seems to work one in 10 times for me; when it doesn’t, I have to back out of the app completely to get it to work right.

    One of the more recent Google Maps updates now delays the GPS fix for about 20 seconds, which is a bummer when I’m trying to quickly locate something nearby, but since then it almost never gives wrong locations anymore. Maybe the same could be done to Foursquare, optionally, on affected handsets?

    Right now I just use Simple Check-in for 99% of check-ins, and comment later. It’s a wonky work around but SCI works 80% of the time right off the bat and the refresh is working 90+% of the time, first time.

    Whatever the solution, I’m still convinced it’s Foursquare’s issue to fix, since Simple Check-in works for so many, and so do many other apps built on the 4sq API. Sure, wonky GPS may account for 25% or so of the issues but it sorts itself out within a minute of activation on my handset, at worst. This means other GPS-aware apps like Gasbuddy and Facebook and Maps and MapQuest and all that all work a heck of a lot better than Foursquare on a day to day basis. There’s simply no way it can ALL be our phones’ fault; the dozen or so times a day I encounter the dreaded “check status.foursquare.com” or mobile equivalent when working SU duties tells me they don’t have all their ducks in a row on their end.

  • chitgoks

    it sure is an os issue. when i upgraded to ics, my galaxy s2 cannot get location when i connect to a new wifi hotspot. i have to reboot to get it right which is annoying

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