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I have a Pixel 4 and Android 10 stock. I want to share my location for a few hours with a friend using WhatsApp, but the system only offers me these options for location permission:

  • Allow only while the app is in use
  • Deny

But there is no "Allow all the time". I'm afraid that it won't work without that permission.

I guess Google removed that option for that particular application, other apps have it enabled. Is that right?

PS: I'm aware of who owns WhatsApp and their issues.

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    Open adb shell and execute: appops set com.whatsapp COARSE_LOCATION allow; appops set com.whatsapp FINE_LOCATION allow; appops set com.whatsapp GPS allow; pm grant com.whatsapp android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION; pm grant com.whatsapp android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION Feb 16, 2020 at 12:23
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    You can share it , whatsapp has managed about this features even without that permission. I am also using thePixel 2and already checked it. I didn't goes in deep about coding implementation but yes it is working even in background. Feb 16, 2020 at 13:53
  • WhatsApp has seemingly stopped supporting this function. Use Google Maps instead.
    – Binyomin
    Jul 15, 2021 at 6:19

1 Answer 1

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So here is the problem: the latest (non-beta) WhatsApp is set up with a target platform of Android 10, but the developers failed to include a request for ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION in the manifest.xml file in the APK.

This is a problem because this is a new permission introduced in Android 10, and any app not requesting it which also targets Android 10 is assumed to not want background location access.

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  • Well that figures. I tried @IrfanLatif 's adb shell method which simply set the permission from 'deny' to 'allow only while using the app' (I was hoping there was a background setting hidden from the UI). I contacted whatsapp they gave a number of useless unrelated templated answers, after finally showing them screenshots and asking them specifically and directly to answer my questions they end the conversation with "Unfortunately, we can't provide any comments." Yikes. Jun 4, 2020 at 21:03

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