Get Date & Time Update from GPS Satellites in Android

I remember when a few years ago I was traveling in Cambodia, I rode my bicycle into a very distant rural area where they did not have any electricity or mobile signal. Sleeping in the camps was fun, but late at night our mobile phones were completely discharged. We managed to charge our mobile phones using a portable solar charger next morning, but by then all the date and time settings were erased. Without the mobile signal, we could not find the right time. Suddenly we realized that we could use the GPS provided time in our Android smartphones. A little tinkering with the Android settings, and we had the correct date and time in our phones.

If you cannot get the mobile signal in any place and the mobile is showing incorrect time or date, then you can also switch to the GPS provided date and time in Android. Here is how:

  1. Open Android system settings and select Date & time from under the System category.
  2. On the Date & time screen, touch on Automatic date & time setting which is set to use the network provided time by default.Get Date and Time from GPS in Android
  3. From the list of options, you have to choose the Use GPS-provided time. It will show you a message asking you to enable the GPS function in your mobile and that you have to wait for at least 1 minute for receiving the GPS signal.Get Date and Time from GPS in Android
  4. Now you can walk into an open area where you can have a clear view of the sky without any objects between the sky view and your mobile. In a few seconds, you will have correct time provided by a group of GPS satellites.

Conclusion: In the absence of any mobile signals in your area, you can still manage to get the correct data and time using the GPS satellites. All you have to do is switch your phone to receive automatic date and time updates through the GPS.

3 comments

  1. Going out into the country from my townhome worked. I also toggled it back to network time and the back to GPS, however I am not sure that was necessary.

  2. Mine still doesn’t update. I will take it out into the country today to see if that works.

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