Hi Richard and everyone,
First, I want to say thank you for creating and maintaining cycle.travel - it's my "go to" route planner and I use the Android app for navigation - I absolutely love it.
I recently updated the Android app from the Google Play Store (release from 10th August). I am running the app on an old Moto G9 Play with Android v. 11.
Before updating, everything seemed to be working OK.
Since updating, my new Travel Tiles (on those routes I have ridden since the update) are not displaying/illuminating - neither in the app nor on the CT web map. I have Travel Tiles switched on in the display, and the App features (in App settings) are set to "Upload travel tiles".
Also, when using the app to navigate, the "Distance" and "To go" read-outs do not change - they remain stuck at their initial values throughout the ride. Again, I have only noticed this issue since updating the app.
I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong or need to change my settings since the update?
If it's useful, here are two routes where I noticed the issues today: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/836552 and https://cycle.travel/map/journey/836547
Many thanks in advance.
Jonny
Comments
Update 15.08.25:
I have been playing around with the app since getting home.
1. I changed the location permission from "all the time" to "only while using the app". The distance travelled and distance to go readouts updated correctly during my ride. In addition, the screen dimmed between turns, which it had not done previously. I'm not sure about the Travel Tiles because my local ones are filled in :)
2. The next ride using the app, the distances failed to update and the screen did not dim between turns
3. I restarted my phone, then tried the app again. Once again, the app worked correctly during the first ride after restarting. After that, on the next ride, the same issues with the distances and screen not dimming returned.
Thanks.
Thanks for looking into it and sorry for the hassle!
The new version of the Android app runs its location updates as a “foreground service”, which is Google’s rather confusing name for something that can run in the background (i.e. whether or not the app is on-screen).
It sounds like, on some phones, Android occasionally prevents this foreground service from starting. This means that anything reliant on the current location, including turn-by-turn directions and travel tiles, won’t work. (The location on the map display is done separately because it doesn’t need to update in the background.)
Exasperatingly this isn’t the case on my phone, where it works exactly as expected, nor on the Android simulators provided for development. I’ll keep trying to find out what’s going on but I suspect I may need to buy a Moto G9 off eBay to try and isolate the problem. Thanks for your patience.
Thanks very much Richard, much appreciated.
Best wishes, Jonny
Just to say there’ll be a new version of the app this weekend. The new version will keep trying to start the foreground service, rather than giving up if Android refuses the first time. I’ve also put some extra code in there which will “phone home” with more details of the issue in an attempt to track it down. (This only happens if you have “Send debug information” turned on in the settings.) Thanks again for your patience and if this doesn’t fix it I’m buying that Moto G9!
Thanks very much Richard. I will play around at the weekend and let you know how I get on. Thanks!
Hi Richard,
I had a play around with v.1.7.6 of the Android app on my Moto G9 Play.
New Travel Tiles are now highlighting and distance travelled/distance to go is updating correctly. The re-routing option is working correctly too.
So far, everything seems to be working :) Many thanks indeed Richard.
Jonny
Good news. (Testing ability to reply)
Good news?
It works, here. But also get the error message.
Excuses to the topic starter.
On my - Good news?- message I got the error message.
In this thread no error message.
I’ve been adjusting the spam trap (some lovely spammers decided to flood the site the other day) and it got a bit over-enthusiastic. Should be ok now.
Anyway – delighted that 1.7.6 is working. Fingers crossed!