Location not working while in a phone call

Mobile Apps Home Assistant Companion for Android
1

Hi there!

I have started with HomeAssistant a month ago or so. Awesome piece of software, love it.

I’ve an issue with location, though. I’ve tried to understand what happens but without success. In short, I have an automation based on location that should be triggered when driving towards home. It works incredibly well, except when there is a phone call in progress, which somehow avoids the companion app sending the location to the HA instance. It’s very weird to me, since I do not expect a phone call to prevent the location/GPS from working.

Any idea what can be wrong?

2

I seem to remember instances where the phone drops the data connection while calling, but I can’t seem to remember under what conditions. It is not the GPS failing, HA simply has no way to send the data.

Edit: some googling brought up this:
Unless you have 4G calling (VoLTE) this is normal behavior. The reason for it is your phone is using the connection to the network for the call and stops the data connection. You would probably see this behavior on all networks, because this is how the phone(s) are set to work.

It can also happen on a dual sim phone that is not full dual sim, when the data is not on the sim you use for the call.

3

Thanks a lot for the quick answer.

I failed to find something useful while googling the topic. It makes sense, I’m going to investigate it a bit more. If I remember correctly, all other services based on network works as expected (receiving a Whatsapp message, for example)

4

I could make a few tests:

  • The smartphone still has internet when I’m in a call.
  • Despite the above, I have disabled the “use of 4G for improving calls” feature.
  • Proximity sensor still not working while on a phone call. :frowning:

I need to check the logs and everything, but I wanted to update the thread until I have time to run more tests and collect more information.

It still seems really weird to me.

5

Update: I tested another Android phone, and it works fine during calls. However, the Pixel 8 Pro doesn’t. I’m still trying to figure out what’s causing the issue.

6

thats out of control for the HA app, iirc this is a network/device limitation meaning there is a certain band that allows simultaneous usage and both phone and network need to support it. You can try looking at developer option on the phone to see if anything jumps out but nt sure you will see anything there

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