Location trigger (modern) broken

[Wibbly]

Used to work. Now doesn't trigger, even with the screen on. I have been playing with permissions and background data settings to try and save battery and may have set something to stop this trigger working in another app. Automatic permissions are all on. Any ideas of things to check? Pixel 2 on Pie.

[Desmanto]

I rarely use Location trigger. But usually this problem happen if you turn off wifi or location feature completely. You have to at least leave the wifi on (even not connected) and location service set to at least battery saving (network mode is enough, no need GPS).

[Wibbly]

Ok, I think this is becuase I started using a VPN-based ad-blocker (Blokada) that must be blocking a domain Google requires to run its Geofence API. I already have Automagic whitelisted as an app in Blokada & I tried adding Google Play services too, but that hasn't worked. Anyone got any idea what domain or app I have to whitelist to get it working? Unfortunately I can see which domains Blokada blocks, but it's pretty much impossible to see which one is assocociated with the Geofence API.

... maybe it's the fact that a VPN is running at all that confuses the Google Geofence API, even though the phone isn't actually connecting to a remote VPN?

(It's quite revealing to see how much gets blocked by Blokada - e.g. lots of apps attempt to get to Facebook for example, and I dont even have an account! Been running Blokada a a few weeks, so far it's blocked over 100,000 connection requests to ad realted or social related domains, based on publically available block lists)

[Desmanto]

When you open google map, does it show you the exact location of your current position? When you search from Automagic directly or use action init variable location, does it work? If the action works, Location trigger should work properly. It can be something with additional permission related to privacy/security. Example, at my ROM, if I have the privacy guard enabled for Automagic, it can't save the flow, can't read the real location or even connected device. Try to tinker around the permission related to privacy/security.

And have you tried with blokada disabled for a while? You can disable your internet connection first so other app can't connect too. I know there are a lot of apps out there requesting for permission or connect to servers those are unnecessary and might leak our data. That's why I prefer to block the apps internet permission directly after installing. I create a flow which will detect new installation of new app. After installed, immediately using Control UI to open the data usage and I can choose to directly disable both wifi and mobile data usage. So no need for blokada. I only use adaway, instead of active local VPN (blokada, adguard, netguard). But yeah, for some apps that require internet to function properly, and if I don't trust the app, I will setup wireshark at my PC and monitor the dns or the outgoing traffic for a while. Sounds troublesome, so sometimes I just prefer not install the app at all or uninstall it immediately after I know it requires internet even for the basic functionality.