The Samsung Galaxy Nexus was one of the first devices to get the update to Jelly Bean (at least on some carriers), but that may not necessarily be a good thing. Apparently, Jelly Bean didn’t come as bug-free as we’d hoped it would, with some Galaxy Nexus users reporting a bug that messes with the phone’s GPS capabilities. The bug can make it difficult for your Galaxy Nexus to get a proper GPS fix, which could complicate things if you’re trying to get somewhere and were planning to rely on your phone’s GPS to do so.


Thankfully, there seems to be a pretty easy fix for this particular bug. Before you can fix it, though, you have to find out if you’re actually affected by it. Android Central suggests opening any app that uses the GPS to track your location, such as Google Maps. If the notification “Searching for GPS…” appears without a flashing icon and you know you have satellites in view (something that can be easily tested through apps like GPS Test), then your Galaxy Nexus has fallen victim to the bug.

In order to fix it, you simply need to go into Settings and select “Location Services.” Once you’ve done that, just uncheck and re-check “Google’s location service” and you’ll more than likely be good to go. See? We told you it was an easy fix. Affected users have confirmed that this fix works for them, so the bug doesn’t appear to be too particularly nasty in that respect. At the very least, it’s good that we’re only getting reports of an easily-fixable GPS bug when the update could have brought on bugs that are far worse.

[device id=1740]

9 COMMENTS

  1. Phew! This fix worked for me! My Nexus has yet to fail me. I work as a graphic designer, and i use my phone frequently for my job. This phone’s incredible features combined with AT&T’s 4G LTE (Atlanta area, not sure where else 4G covers) make my life/work easier. I recommend this phone for all!

  2. Thanks for the endorsement, George. I was thinking about sticking with
    Verizon (have been with them for YEARS) but now I’m reconsidering. Not sure I
    like the “unlimited only” idea, but then I probably text more than I
    think I do, like with all my clients to rearrange their appointments (I’m a
    hair stylist in Dallas). So, when the time comes, it’ll be a Nexus with
    AT&T on 4G LTe. Glad that’s
    settled. Of course, there’s still time to change my mind, right?

  3. I tried the fix and it returns after a bit even when I’ve kept the GPS off. I live in NJ and it keeps showing me in Las Vegas. I’ve reported the issue to Google too, but not sure how long they’d take to respond.

    Here was what I did to resolve the problem temporarily –> Location Settings unchecked all of location, gps and sharing. Enabled only Location and sharing, kept GPS off. Maps was good. I went to Google now typed “Weather saturday” it showed me Vegas weather! Annoying.

    • I live in Dallas, Texas, and it showed me Dallas, Georgia. But I’m chucking that phone and getting on AT&T’s 4GLTE like everyone else here and getting a note-taking phone as soon as possible. Can’t wait to take shots of the nail work I do at my salon!

  4. Why is it that is literally impossible to upgrade a stock Samsung android without running into issues? ICS on the U.S. AT&T GSII is awful and people actually want to DOWNGRADE. There are various reports about the wifi on the AT&T/Verizon/Sprint GS3 which won’t work on Stock ICS, This comes after all wifi capability on the American GS2 (ATT version) was wiped after another patch was applied to fix other problems.

    Funny stuff

  5. 4.0.4 is the only brief respite where the phone could be called reliable. Before it was a hunk, now with jb it is again junk. Well only “if you rely” on the phone. No biggie

  6. Wow. Thanks for this! Being a real estate agent, I kinda need to know the real GPS. I was thinking there was something wrong with my trusty 4G LTe network. I have AT&T and it’s not bad! Now I see it’s even better than I might’ve thought. No more getting lost, I hope?

    • AT&T’s 4G LTE network is plenty solid. I have my service through them and haven’t been disappointed. I’m a graphics designer and love the speed for these very heavy (up to 12MB is my limit) files.

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