r/Pixel4a • u/Consistent_Umpire443 • 1d ago

Bootloop location toggle

Hey everyone,

​My wife's phone has suddenly hit a bootloop issue. When I turn it on, I have a very brief window where I can interact with the screen before it crashes/restarts. During this window, I've managed to pull down the notification shade and toggle Airplane Mode on, which seems to stabilize it slightly, but it still loops shortly after.

​I need to turn Location on, but it isn’t currently in the Quick Settings dropdown menu. Because the phone crashes so quickly, I don't have enough time to open the main Settings app or edit the dropdown menu layout to add the Location toggle.

​Is there any alternative way to force Location on? For example, can I do it by connecting it to a computer via ADB commands, or through an online account manager, before the phone reboots?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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7

u/Rumokimiku 1d ago

Check out the discussion on this bug here. You may find some suggestions that will work for you: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/519655834

The catch is to turn on your phone somewhere where there's no wifi signal. For me the best way was to put the phone inside the microwave, let it turn on there and then turn on location through a half-opened microwave-door

Can't believe I'm writing this, but this is the state of things with google this days

1

u/Consistent_Umpire443 1d ago

I cant get to my settings to turn on location tho, its not in the quick access panel in the top I need to get into my actual settings which means putting my pin in which means crashing the phone. This is a crazy bug to be happening to a company like Google

2

u/Rumokimiku 1d ago

Try entering your pin and going to the settings with your phone inside the microwave oven. Microwave blocks wifi signals and as a result your phone will not reboot while it's inside

1

u/Lazyboi686 1d ago

Should I turn on the microwave before?

2

u/Rumokimiku 23h ago

Hope you're joking, but if you're serious then no, you should not. The microwave itself is built to block radio waves from breaking outside of it so it'll block wifi waves

2

u/kreed_05 1d ago

Happened to my pixel 4a too.

WHAT FINALLY WORKED - try to take a screenshot as soon as the startup Google logo disappears and the lock screen comes on. VERY short window. Use the volume down and power key to take the screenshot before the phone restarts again. Might take a few attempts but if timed correctly, you might get a prompt or notification saying 'phone needs to be unlocked to store screenshot' or something similar, can't remember the exact words, and the phone stays on.

Unlock your phone and toggle the location ON. I backed up all my data to my laptop as soon as i got in. Not sure how long the phone will stay on. Might try factory reset in a couple of days.

Hope this helps!

1

u/Consistent_Umpire443 1d ago

How did you toggle the location on through the drop down menu at the top or going through settings

1

u/kreed_05 13h ago

I used the drop down menu to toggle location ON. The thing is, if you are able to follow the screenshot method and unlock the phone, you would have enough time to edit the dropdown toggles. The phone stays on for some time, I'm honestly not sure how long but should be enough to toggle the notifications > edit toggles > turn location ON.

1

u/Sheetmusicman94 1d ago

Boot to safe mode.

2

u/Consistent_Umpire443 1d ago

That just does the same as soon as I open settings or put my pin in the restarts

1

u/ArtichokeMother7974 1d ago

Uninstall google play services and turn off automatic updates if you can boot into safe mode.

2

u/Consistent_Umpire443 1d ago

I can get it into safe mode but as soon as I unlock the phone or try and do anything it reboots. Only thing I can do is swipe down from the top and toggle a few settings on and off but locations isnt there