Enable location services via ADB or shell

Question

I have a rooted phone. Is it possible to enable location services (GPS or network location) via ADB or Terminal Emulator?

Answer 1

On Android 6.0,

To enable:

• GPS: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed +gps
• Network: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed +network

To disable:

• GPS: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed -gps
• Network : adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed -network

On Android 11.0,

To enable:

• GPS: adb shell settings put secure location_mode 3

To disable:

• GPS: adb shell settings put secure location_mode 0

Answer 2

Android location service comes with different options:

1. High accuracy: gps, network

   • Enable: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed +gps,network
   • Disable: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed -gps,network

2. Phone only: gps

   • Enable: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed +gps
   • Disable: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed -gps

3. Battery saving: network

   • Enable: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed +network
   • Disable: adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed -network

Answer 3

location_providers_allowed no longer works for Android 10 (API level 29).

Instead, you can set the location_mode to LOCATION_MODE_HIGH_ACCURACY with a value of 3:

adb shell settings put secure location_mode 3

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NOTE: Probably won't work >v29 as this is already deprecated as the docs on Location Mode mention:

This constant was deprecated in API level 28. The preferred methods for checking location mode and listening for changes are via LocationManager#isLocationEnabled() and LocationManager#MODE_CHANGED_ACTION.

Don't know what a programmatic way to do this through the shell will be once this constant disappears.

Answer 4

• Enable: adb shell settings put secure location_mode 3
• Disable: adb shell settings put secure location_mode 0

See Stack Overflow - How to enable/disable GPS location services on Android 9 via ADB commands (not rooted device).