Failed to detect location Pokemon Go – Easiest Fix

Recently I have been getting quite a lot of questions from our readers that they are getting an error inside Pokemon Go which is Failed to detect location error. Upon further inspection I was able to narrow down this problem to Android phones as about 95% of the people reporting this error are on Android. Today I will show you a quick and easy way to fix this issue.

What is causing Failed to detect location in Pokemon Go?

failed to detect location pokemon go

As we all know that Android phones a very versatile and different from each other. There are many manufacturers that set different parameters of an android device according to their best interests. This error is showing in Pokemon Go because of an option called Allow Mock Locations.

This option allows Android users to hide their actual location from Apps and that is not what Niantic is allowing the players of Pokemon Go. It is turned OFF on many Android devices by default but some Android devices either have it turned ON by default or the user turned it ON while doing something. Either way, This is the reason why your Pokemon go is saying “Failed to detect location” because it has an inbuilt detection system to detect whether this option is turned ON or not.

How to Fix failed to detect location Pokemon Go

  1. First of all, you will need to close Pokemon Go on your phone. Make sure it is not even running in the background. Open recent apps screen and kill Pokemon Go by swiping it away.
  2. Now Open settings of your Android phone, and here you will need to search for Developer Options. If your phone has a search option, you should use that to find it.
  3. Just in case if you are not able to find developer options, Search for About device or About phone option, and here you will need to continuously tap on the “Build Number” until your Android phone says that developer options have been enabled. Now open Developer Options.
  4. Here you will need to scroll down until you find “Allow mock locations” options. The reason why you have been getting Failed to detect location error in Pokemon go is that of this option. Turn this option OFF and go back to home screen.
  5. Now open Pokemon Go, and now you should not face “Failed to detect location” error.
  6. If you are still facing this error, Open Settings of your phone and make sure that you have “High accuracy” selected under location settings.

If you found this quick tutorial helpful and were able to fix location error in Pokemon go, make sure to share it with others on Twitter and Google+. Follow us on Twitter and if you are facing any issue, let me know in the comments section below.

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15 Comments

  1. no able to find “Allow mock locations”, only have mock location app

    1. It’s the same thing. Just labeled differently by different OEMs.

  2. wtf the whole point is we want mock location!

  3. I have made my location settings as high and done the developer settings but still have same issue the Pokemon go game shows me in the the fake GPS location but I have no pokemon show up and it has the failed messages at the top

  4. Am I right in thinking that the latest Android security update has taken away that option you mentioned (allow mock location) ?
    So from what I’m reading and hopefully you can explain to mevif I’m wrong here but if I root my phone and put the fake GPS into my systems and then unroot my phone again it should work ?
    After unrooting it , will their servers be able to pick up on that it has been rooted once or am I safe as it is now back unroofed. I’m based in Ireland but have every pokemon so far and have been able to attend the pokemon festivals so far and picked up my mewtwo last week in Yokohama. Tbh the game is not worth playing for me as I like in the countryside with nothing near me

    1. Unrooting after putting fake GPS app inside system should work fine but you might run into dm-varity issue if your phone has that security.

  5. https://youtu.be/WuJk0hxRsRY

    Steve could you explain how he roots this step by step as I’ve never done this before and that video has me a bit confused and its the only one I know for sure that roots my phone as the guy who did it posted me the link on the xda developers forum
    I just find it daunting to go at my phone

    1. The video seems very clear to me. Which step seems confusing to you?

  6. Basically Steve the whole lot.
    Could you list it as step by step and then I could use the video as and aid.

    BTW , in the post above this
    What is a dm- variety issue ?.

    And
    Do we know what is casusing the warnings in Pokémon go at the moment ? From what ive been reading is that phones that are using rooted method and the pre security patch unroofed method are getting warned. Not everyone but some people. Again from reading about this , it seems that the height on fake GPS doesn’t change which might be the giveaway?
    Definitely not over jumping as I use to go to central park NY to fight legendary raid battle as you can be sure to get the numbers. Have actually gone from the event in japan waited two hours and jumped to NY did my raid battle and waited two hours and came back home

  7. Steve sorry about the video
    .the reason I’m worried is that I’ve never done it before and afraid to mess it up. The one think that video doesn’t explain though is how to unroot my phone .

  8. Atikram Saha says:

    I can’t fix it still….. Suggest another ways to fix it … I have followed all your steps… Still I’m facing this problem… Please help me to fix it.

    1. Can you verify if your phone is getting gps signal in other apps like Google Maps?

  9. Shreyansh says:

    Thanks Steve, The issue is fixed by turning off mock locations.

  10. Thank you so much. Your instructions were perfect. My son will be happy when I tell him it was fixed.

  11. John Galvin says:

    I did what you said but it still says code 11 because I spoofed. Is there a way to fix it.

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