How can I get continuous location updates in Android like in Google Maps?

Question

I\'m building a friend tracking android app. While my friend activated the app and goes away along with his GPS and cellular data on, I need to track him on my device. That\

Answer 1

To get continiuos location update, you can refer to the above provided answers .

But You can also make use of LocationServices which is faster than other approaches and much easy and efficient to get location.

This approach is quit long but kindly follow all the provided steps

So let me provide a brief working :

1) Add these two dependencies in your gradle app file

implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-maps:17.0.0'
implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-location:17.0.0'

2) Add these permissions in the manifest file outside applicationtag

3) Declare variable outside onCreate

 private FusedLocationProviderClient fusedLocationClient;
 private LocationRequest mLocationRequest;
 private LocationCallback mlocationCallback;
 private LocationSettingsRequest.Builder builder;
 private static final int REQUEST_CHECK_SETTINGS = 102;

4) Now inside onCreate :

fusedLocationClient = LocationServices.getFusedLocationProviderClient(this);
fetchLastLocation();
mlocationCallback = new LocationCallback() {
                @Override
                public void onLocationResult(LocationResult locationResult) {
                    if (locationResult == null) {
                        return;
                    }
                    for (Location location : locationResult.getLocations()) {
                        // Update UI with location data
                        // ...
                       Log.e("CONTINIOUSLOC: ", location.toString());
                    }
                };
            };

mLocationRequest = createLocationRequest();
builder = new LocationSettingsRequest.Builder()
            .addLocationRequest(mLocationRequest);
checkLocationSetting(builder);

5) No define fetchLastLocation method

private void fetchLastLocation() {

        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
            if (checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED && checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
                // TODO: Consider calling
                //    Activity#requestPermissions
                // here to request the missing permissions, and then overriding
                //   public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, String[] permissions,
                //                                          int[] grantResults)
                // to handle the case where the user grants the permission. See the documentation
                // for Activity#requestPermissions for more details.
//                    Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Permission not granted, Kindly allow permission", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                showPermissionAlert();
                return;
            }
        }
        fusedLocationClient.getLastLocation()
                .addOnSuccessListener(this, new OnSuccessListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void onSuccess(Location location) {
                        // Got last known location. In some rare situations this can be null.
                        if (location != null) {
                            // Logic to handle location object
                            Log.e("LAST LOCATION: ", location.toString()); // You will get your last location here
                        }
                    }
                });

    }

6) Now define other two method for permission request

@Override
    public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, @NonNull String[] permissions, @NonNull int[] grantResults) {
        switch (requestCode) {
            case 123: {
                // If request is cancelled, the result arrays are empty.
                if (grantResults[0] == PackageManager.PERMISSION_DENIED) {
                    // permission was denied, show alert to explain permission
                    showPermissionAlert();
                }else{
                    //permission is granted now start a background service
                    if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(getApplicationContext(), Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
                            && ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(getApplicationContext(), Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
                        fetchLastLocation();
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    private void showPermissionAlert(){
        if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(MainHomeActivity.this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
                && ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(MainHomeActivity.this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
            ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(MainHomeActivity.this, new String[]{Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION}, 123);
        }
    }

7) now define createLocationRequest method and checkLocationSetting method :

protected LocationRequest createLocationRequest() {
        LocationRequest mLocationRequest = LocationRequest.create();
        mLocationRequest.setInterval(30000);
        mLocationRequest.setFastestInterval(10000);
        mLocationRequest.setSmallestDisplacement(30);
        mLocationRequest.setPriority(LocationRequest.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY);
        return mLocationRequest;
    }

private void checkLocationSetting(LocationSettingsRequest.Builder builder) {

        SettingsClient client = LocationServices.getSettingsClient(this);
        Task task = client.checkLocationSettings(builder.build());

        task.addOnSuccessListener(this, new OnSuccessListener() {
            @Override
            public void onSuccess(LocationSettingsResponse locationSettingsResponse) {
                // All location settings are satisfied. The client can initialize
                // location requests here.
                // ...
                startLocationUpdates();
                return;
            }
        });

        task.addOnFailureListener(this, new OnFailureListener() {
            @Override
            public void onFailure(@NonNull final Exception e) {
                if (e instanceof ResolvableApiException) {
                    // Location settings are not satisfied, but this can be fixed
                    AlertDialog.Builder builder1 = new AlertDialog.Builder(mContext);
                    builder1.setTitle("Continious Location Request");
                    builder1.setMessage("This request is essential to get location update continiously");
                    builder1.create();
                    builder1.setPositiveButton("OK", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                            ResolvableApiException resolvable = (ResolvableApiException) e;
                            try {
                                resolvable.startResolutionForResult(MainHomeActivity.this,
                                        REQUEST_CHECK_SETTINGS);
                            } catch (IntentSender.SendIntentException e1) {
                                e1.printStackTrace();
                            }
                        }
                    });
                    builder1.setNegativeButton("Cancel", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                            Toast.makeText(mContext, "Location update permission not granted", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                        }
                    });
                    builder1.show();
                }
            }
        });

    }

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, @Nullable Intent data) {
        if (requestCode == REQUEST_CHECK_SETTINGS) {
            if (resultCode == RESULT_OK) {
                // All location settings are satisfied. The client can initialize
                // location requests here.
                 startLocationUpdates();
            }
            else {
                checkLocationSetting(builder);
            }
        }
    }

8) now atlast define startLocationUpdates and stopLocationUpdates method :

public void startLocationUpdates() {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
            if (checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED && checkSelfPermission(Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
                // TODO: Consider calling
                //    Activity#requestPermissions
                // here to request the missing permissions, and then overriding
                //   public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, String[] permissions,
                //                                          int[] grantResults)
                // to handle the case where the user grants the permission. See the documentation
                // for Activity#requestPermissions for more details.
                return;
            }
        }
        fusedLocationClient.requestLocationUpdates(mLocationRequest,
                mlocationCallback,
                null /* Looper */);
    }



private void stopLocationUpdates() {
        fusedLocationClient.removeLocationUpdates(mlocationCallback);
    }

Note : Replace context with your class context and call stopLocationUpdates() inside onDestroy method of your class

Note : For any futher information or doubt you can refer to :

https://developer.android.com/training/location/retrieve-current https://developer.android.com/training/location/change-location-settings https://developer.android.com/training/location/receive-location-updates

You will get your location in Logcat.

Hope this will hope you or somebody else !