LocationManager's getBestProvider returning null

Question

I have a bunch of people reporting an error that I cannot reproduce. When trying to open a `MapView` it's reporting that the `getBestProvider` is returning null and I know that means that that no provider is found that fulfills my criteria which is `ACCURACY_COARSE` so if there is no GPS then it should fall back on either `network or passive` but it obviously doesn't on those user devices. What would that even mean then that GPS is off and there is no network connection? I tried turning GPS off and putting the phone into airplane mode to try to reproduce the problem but still I was able to open the mapview without a force close so I don't know how to handle this problem. ``` locationManager = (LocationManager) this.getSystemService(LOCATION_SERVICE); geocoder = new Geocoder(this); Criteria criteria = new Criteria(); criteria.setAccuracy(Criteria.ACCURACY_COARSE); List<String> lProviders = locationManager.getProviders(false); for(int i=0; i<lProviders.size(); i++){ Log.d("LocationActiv…

Accepted Answer

In your call to `getBestProvider()` you've asked for enabled providers only (that's the second parameter in the method call which you have set to `true`). If the user has disabled all providers, you will get `null`.

In any case, you need to be able to deal with the situation where there are no available providers, so you'll need to check for `null` and tell the user that he has not enabled any location.

LocationManager's getBestProvider returning null

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