I’ve written before about Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones 1.9 and the cool new feature called Facebook Places. But every now and then I’m unable to update my location, and I get a message telling me that “Your location is temporarily not available”. There are a few reasons why this happens, and I wanted to share this info with you!

When the message appears, this means that your current location – such as an elevator, an underground parking garage, or anywhere else that may have poor cell reception – may not be accessible via Facebook Places at this time. At this point, before you do anything else, try moving to a location with better cell reception. Ideally, you want to be outdoors, as it’s easier to obtain a GPS signal. In most cases, this should address the issue.

However, if the message is still appearing when you try to check in, there are a few possible reasons for this:

1) The attempts to acquire a GPS or cell site location have failed. This may mean a number of things, such as:
- Your wireless provider does not support cell site location service
- Facebook Places may not be able to obtain a GPS signal while indoors
- Your BlackBerry smartphone may not contain GPS functionality and is running BlackBerry Device Software 4.5, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.7 or 4.7.1, which do not support cell site location (see KB25069)
- Wireless service is not available at your current location
- A temporary issue affecting GPS may be occurring

2) Your BlackBerry smartphone’s Location Services are disabled or have been turned off.
- Check out my previous post to find out how to enable Location Services on your BlackBerry smartphone.
- There may also be some IT policies enabled that affect how Facebook Places functions – see KB24995 for details.

If your device is capable of providing Location Services and they are in fact enabled, you may want to check in with @BlackBerryHelp or visit the BlackBerry Support Community Forums for further assistance. You may also want to review this article from the BlackBerry Technical Solution Center for additional troubleshooting steps.

Let us know if you have any questions!

One of the great new additions to Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones 1.9 is the ability to let your friends know where you are using Facebook Places. Want your friends to meet you for sushi? Using this new feature, you can easily check in and tell them where you are!

But before you get started, there are a few simple steps that you’ll need to take to properly allow the application to find your location and check you in to your favorite Places.

By default, the option Share my Location with Facebook is disabled (unchecked) and may also appear as a non-editable/grayed checkbox. This option will remain grayed out until the application is able to determine that you have allowed Facebook to use Places and you have accepted the Places disclaimer.

1. Open Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones.
2. Click the Places (P) icon.
3. Click the Check In button once it appears.
4. Select a location from the list that appears, or select Add a Place and enter a Name and Description, before clicking Create.

The following disclaimer is then displayed with the option to accept or decline:

Once this disclaimer is accepted, the Share my Location with Facebook will work. If you want to turn it off later on, simply press the Menu button, select Options and scroll to the option Share my Location with Facebook – adjust as you please.

(Please note your Facebook profile privacy settings may also require some configuration in order to allow Facebook Places to be shared. Please see the Privacy settings in Facebook for more information.)

To acquire a location using GPS technology, a BlackBerry smartphone with GPS capability must be used and location services must be enabled on the BlackBerry smartphone. If this option is disabled, Places will not function correctly. If the BlackBerry smartphone does not have GPS capability, Places will use cell site location services to determine your approximate location, providing Location Services are set to Location On.

To enable Location Services, complete the following steps:

On a BlackBerry smartphone with BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0:

1. Select Option
2. Select Advanced Options
3. Select GPS
4. Ensure GPS Services is set to Location On

On a BlackBerry smartphone with BlackBerry® 6:

1. From the homescreen, select the Search icon
2. Type Location Services
3. Select Options
4. Select Location Settings
5. Ensure Location Services is set to Location On

Please note that if Location Services is not available, your wireless carrier may not be allowing GPS access. Please contact your wireless provider for more information.

[Updated December 6, 2010]   If you are do not see a Check In option, your BlackBerry smartphone may not meet the minimum requirements to use this feature, or is encountering difficulty obtaining your location. Please review the following Knowledge Base article for additional assistance: http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB25069

If you see the message “Your location is temporarily not available” when attempting to use Places in Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones, check out www.blackberry.com/btsc/kb24970.

Now you are ready to use Facebook Places from your BlackBerry smartphone. Where will you check in first?