Why do my photos need location data, and how do I fix 'no location'?

Why location is not optional

Photographic evidence has been law in England since June 2022: Approved Document L (Part L 2021) Appendix B requires per-plot photos of six detail categories, taken before closing-up, with geo-location enabled so the photos confirm location, date and time — feeding the signed as-built BREL report. Since 1 February 2025 accreditation schemes also demand those photos when the EPC is lodged, and assessors routinely withhold the BREL and EPC — and therefore completion — when photos are missing or unusable. Wales has an equivalent regime under Part L 2022. A photo without location data is exactly the kind of submission assessors reject.

That is why Buildsnapper takes a hard line: when you take a photo with the in-app camera and the app cannot get a location fix, it tells you why — "Location is off", "Precise location is off" or "No location fix" — and does not attach the photo. An un-geotagged photo silently slipped into a report could cost you a completion sign-off weeks later; a warning at capture time costs you thirty seconds.

Fixing "no location data" at capture

iOS

1. Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services — make sure Location Services is on at the top.
2. Scroll to Buildsnapper and set it to While Using the App, with Precise Location switched on.
3. Return to the app and retake the photo.

Android

1. Open Settings → Apps → Buildsnapper → Permissions → Location and choose Allow only while using the app. If you see a "Use precise location" toggle, turn it on.
2. Check location itself is on: swipe down and confirm the Location quick-setting tile is enabled.
3. Return to the app and retake the photo. (Menu names vary slightly by manufacturer, but it is always Apps → Buildsnapper → Permissions.)

If permissions are right but it still fails

The app keeps trying for up to three minutes, showing "Getting a location fix…" with the accuracy so far: it takes a fix within 25 metres at once, or the best within 100 metres at the end. Outdoors it usually takes under a minute. Deep inside a building — behind concrete, steel or foil-faced insulation — GPS can genuinely fail. Practical tricks:

• Step towards a doorway, window or the scaffold line, let the phone get its fix, then move back — the fix stays warm for a short while.
• Open your phone's maps app for a few seconds first; a phone that has just located itself hands the app a fix immediately.
• Wi-fi on (even unconnected) improves indoor location on both platforms.

What ends up in the evidence

The location is embedded into the photo file itself and recorded against the photo in the report: each photo prints with its latitude and longitude and the date taken, and the report includes a map page of all photo locations. Reports also carry an honest accuracy note — phone GPS is typically within 3–10 metres outdoors and can drift to 30 metres or more indoors, which assessors understand.

Photos imported from your gallery follow the same rule: the app reads the location from the original file and refuses a photo without one (see the gallery import article).