In case you have also experienced problems trying to get GAIA or other tracking apps to work on your Android phone, I have found an easy solution.

Follow the path below and enable “Allow all the time.”

Settings à Apps à Google à Permissions à Location à Allow all the time.

Details for the curious:

I bought a Samsung Galaxy SE25 FE phone in January 2026. I quickly discovered I could not get GAIA, CalTopo or any tracking app to follow me for any activity. Yes, I had all the usual permissions on for those apps and turned off my battery saver. No matter, the apps would not perform as they should. They would struggle to find me. Once they did locate me, they would lose me repeatedly and do straight point-to-point lines (as the crow flies) to catch up. I read every forum, tried all the solutions, but none of them worked. I banged my head against the wall for 7 months. Finally, I went to a Ubreakifix store (highly recommended). There, the friendly staff ran my phone through a hardware check and all systems passed. Then a staff member said “let’s check your settings.” He went straight to Google and noticed I had the location permission on “Allow only while using the app” and switched it to “Allow all the time.” Voila! Apparently, that’s all it took. Tracking works wonderfully now! The charge for the service since my phone was still under warranty? Zero.