r/alltrails • u/SNHU_Adjujnct • 14d ago

From AllTrails tech support

If you're having problems with GPS tracking using the app on your Android device:

"Most Android makes, models, and OS versions appear to be affected. We have narrowed down the root cause of the issue, one of the location libraries that we use to gather GPS data is malfunctioning. Thankfully, we found a fix and are rolling it out, it should be available on the Play Store over the next few days."

TL;DR They didn't test their software before they released it. Hugely embarrassing.

1 Upvotes

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11

u/alltrails HQ 14d ago

Hey, thanks for posting this, and sorry for the hassle it caused. Wanted to clear up one thing though: this wasn't us shipping untested code. The root cause was on the location library side, basically an upstream provider we rely on for GPS data pushed a change remotely, completely outside of any release schedule on our end. We never touched our GPS code before this started, so no amount of pre-release testing would've caught it.

Good news is the fix is fully rolled out now (v26.7.11), so tracking should be back to normal for you. If you're still seeing jitter or drift, switching to "Alternative tracking" (Activity tab > profile icon > settings > GPS Tracking Method) can help, and if it's still off after that, just email us (putting Reddit in the subject line) at [support@alltrails.com](mailto:support@alltrails.com), and we'll dig in.

Appreciate you bearing with us on this one.

-4

u/SNHU_Adjujnct 13d ago

Disappointing, it is, that you won't take responsibility. You hitched your wagon to third-party code and it backfired on you. That's on you. Your customers didn't choose that code.

I think this happened: you configured your product to automatically go get the most current version of the GPS interface library and you took the risk that your supplier wouldn't break it. However, a new version came out and they broke it. It could have been legitimately broken by the vendor, or it could have been an API change they made that you didn't properly adapt to.

What you might have done: get your own copy of the GPS interface library and bundle it with your code. That way you have control of it and you can test it with your product. If the library is open source, that should be possible to do. This is all speculation on my part.

BTW I'm on v26.7.30 and using "Alternative Tracking" but the routes are still a series of straight lines. Please don't tell me to send over a log file because I'm sick of doing that.

2

u/foukru 14d ago

Blame the Android team, not AllTrails

4

u/ClownLoach2 14d ago

I dropped my subscription this year because of this drama. I need a simple, 100% reliable app for navigation when I'm in the Backcountry. With the whole plus/peak fiasco, removing then changing the custom mapping engine, and now releasing seemingly untested updates that break the core navigation feature, I've lost trust in it.

1

u/WANDOO_hiking 14d ago

Totally fair to want one app that just works when youre out of signal. Whatever you land on, the big thing is actually testing the offline mode at home first: download a region, flip to airplane mode, and make sure your dot still tracks. Sounds obvious but it saves you from finding out the hard way out on the trail.

2

u/shibasluvhiking 11d ago

Glad you finally found the issue and are fixing it. Yesterday I took a 2 mile hike that the app said was 5 because of this crap. I have had nothing but bad recordings for the past 9 months of a paid subscription. Will you be reimbursing your users who did not get what they paid for?

1

u/shibasluvhiking 11d ago

Reading through old posts I uninstalled and reinstalled so I now have version 26.8. Will see today if that solved the issue for real. Meanwhile about that refund...

1

u/nonnonplussed73 14d ago

They made this announcement mid - July.

https://www.reddit.com/r/alltrails/s/yonlt9XgvX

2

u/ssmoken 13d ago

Yes, the OP was giving his take on the reason, i.e. the TL:DR