Live location sharing not sending location updates

[joernheissler]

Steps to reproduce

1. Open the App
2. Select a chatroom
3. Press Plus
4. Select "Share location"
5. Select "Share live location"
6. Select "1 hour"
7. Tap "Continue"
8. Go outside and start moving.

Outcome

What did you expect?

• Chat partners should be able to see my current location for the next our. Location should update as I move.
• I myself should see the current location on the mini-map.

What happened instead?

• A minimap with my current location (where I started the sharing) appears in the chat, both for me and chat partners.
• Although I move several kilometers, location won't update.

Your phone model

Fairphone 6

Operating system version

Android 16 with /e/OS

Application version and app store

Element X 26.08.1 (202608012), F-Droid.

Homeserver

• Synapse 1.159.0 (same behaviour with 1.143.0)

Will you send logs?

Will do, if it helps.

Will you submit a Pull Request?

No

Notes

• With element-classic on the same phone it didn't work either. Doesn't work for a friend either, some other android phone with google services.
• Some years ago it did work with element-classic on an older samsung phone (Android 13).
• Recording a track with osmand works.

[jmartinesp]

Could you send some logs so we can check what's happening in the device when this fails? If you can include the approximate time when this happened, it would be really useful.

[joernheissler]

I had a look at adb logcat and the logs shown inside "Report a problem". Nothing looks related to location sharing. How do I get useful logs?

[jmartinesp]

Oh, in that case you'd have to go into developer settings (go to settings, tap 7 times in the version number at the bottom and it should appear) then scroll until you reach 'enable trace logs per SDK feature' and enable both 'Timeline' and 'Send Queue', then restart the app by closing it completely and reopening it.

Any new logs will contain the extra info we were missing before.

[joernheissler]

developer settings are already enabled. But I can't find the other options.
never mind, you meant inside the app.

[joernheissler]

$ grep -i location logs.2026-09-01-13.log | sed 's/\([!$@]\)[^ ]*/\1XZY/g'
2026-09-01T11:04:49.964682Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager setup manager. | 
2026-09-01T11:04:56.917472Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onCreate ShareLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:04:56.919520Z DEBUG elementx: [Analytics] screen(MobileScreen(durationMs=null, screenName=LocationSend)) | 
2026-09-01T11:04:56.920331Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onResume ShareLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:05:04.967680Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager starting share for room !XZY with duration 3600s | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.411648Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager wait remote echo of $XZY | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.446679Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager share started successfully for room !XZY (wasEmpty=true) | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.454151Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager registering with coordinator for session @XZY | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.456128Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingCoordinator registering receiver for session @XZY (wasEmpty=true) | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.460346Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingCoordinator starting service | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.477128Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingService onCreate | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.477645Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingService starting foreground service with notificationId=24 | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.480600Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingService listening to location updates | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.481153Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingService onStartCommand startId=1 | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.483764Z DEBUG elementx: Dispatch received location for session @XZY  | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.484497Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager received location update for 1 active share(s) | 
2026-09-01T11:05:05.484783Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager sending location to room !XZY | 
2026-09-01T11:05:06.234189Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onPause ShareLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:05:06.234473Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onDestroy ShareLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:06:30.504560Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onCreate ShowLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:06:30.505639Z DEBUG elementx: [Analytics] screen(MobileScreen(durationMs=null, screenName=LocationView)) | 
2026-09-01T11:06:30.506447Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onResume ShowLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:06:35.225725Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager stopping share for room !XZY | 
2026-09-01T11:06:35.525180Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager share stopped successfully for room !XZY | 
2026-09-01T11:06:35.526194Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager stop local share in !XZY | 
2026-09-01T11:06:35.555505Z DEBUG elementx: ActiveLiveLocationShareManager unregistering from coordinator for session @XZY | 
2026-09-01T11:06:35.556001Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingCoordinator unregistering receiver for session @XZY | 
2026-09-01T11:06:35.556465Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingCoordinator stopping service (no more receivers) | 
2026-09-01T11:06:35.579971Z DEBUG elementx: LiveLocationSharingService onDestroy | 
2026-09-01T11:06:53.861309Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onPause ShowLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:06:54.769637Z DEBUG elementx: [Analytics] screen(MobileScreen(durationMs=null, screenName=LocationView)) | 
2026-09-01T11:06:54.769933Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onResume ShowLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:07:02.313257Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onPause ShowLocationNode | 
2026-09-01T11:07:02.313629Z DEBUG elementx: [Lifecycle] onDestroy ShowLocationNode | 

I'm reluctant to share the full logs for fear of security+privacy. Hope above is sufficient.
Problem might be the single occurence of received location update. Should there be more?

[jmartinesp]

Problem might be the single occurence of received location update. Should there be more?

Yes, there should be an update every 10 seconds if there is a distance of > 10m from the previous received location (or the value you can customize in advanced settings).

Could you check the app has precise location permission and can run in background?

@ganfra since you worked on this feature, do you have any other idea of what could be causing this? I tried reproducing the issue with a location spoofing tool and it seemed to work fine.

[joernheissler]

I only activated "Unrestricted" a few hours ago, but that made no difference.

[joernheissler]

So it might be a bug in the OS? Perhaps you could add some more debugging messages to createProviderFlow? E.g. log the paramters, log when closed?