GPS and Maps not working after 3.0 upgrade

Update: My GPS is still working as in my previous post, but its still very patchy: sometimes it won't get a lock, and when it does it normally takes a long time to get it, and with varying accuracy. Battery life has improved since doing a whole charge cycle so that's a non issue.

When the GPS does work, it follows a lot better: when driving the movement of the dot is a lot smoother. Its just a shame that getting an actual fix is so mixed up!

Its not coincidence that so many people have this issue: if it hasn't been picked up by now by Apple, then they might (understandably) not be admitting to it. In any case, if its not fixed, maybe an e-petition or posting this thread to a tech site or something, if more and more people are reporting this here? Its stupid to have a huge portion of the phone's functionality crippled by an update for so many people...

On playing with my phone, I've found that the GPS is accurate until I try to use "Find My iPhone". I've had good fixes most of the day, upon trying to find my iPhone, it again shows a location 2 km's north of my actual position.

Having played with it now, indoors and out, I think I see what is happening. When the GPS signal is good, the location is displayed correctly, both on the iPhone and on MobileMe. When the signal strength is poor, rather than displaying a message to that effect, the phone reverts to displaying a location from weeks ago as if it has a good GPS fix.

I'm certain that this is a software issue. If anyone from Apple is reading this, a fix would be appreciated. Especially since "Find My iPhone" is useless if it is telling me to look where my phone was weeks ago. If it has to display an old location, it would make much more sense to use the most recent GPS fix.

I think we will have to wait on Apple for this one.

If you are from TomTom, some help with lobbying Apple would be great. You may have more pull than their lowly customers.

right now I am in germany and got the same problems

- gps tracker and navigon can not get a fix

- google maps puts me about 2 km ( roughly one and a quarter mile ) away from my current location

- when I activate wifi it gets me pretty much on the spot

here in a german forum ( apfeltalk.de ) are people having the same issues so therefore I highly doubt any hardware related issues rather than a software problem

my initial thought was because of the changes in the Baseband but on the other hand the 2G did not undergo any baseband upgrade or change and it shows the same problems

rustwerx wrote:
Also having this problem after upgrading to 3.0 software. Maps works fine but 'current location' is totally off. It just seems to locate me in an area around a half mile away from where i am. I've UNSUCCESSFULLY tried:

Disabling WiFi and trying to fix with 3G
Disabling WiFi and 3G and trying to fix with Edge
Restoring the phone from backup

Just got off the phone with a real person from support - they suggested to restore the phone as a 'new phone' and see if the issue was fixed before restoring my backed up data. The support rep basically told me that if this didn't work that they're pretty sure its a hardware issue and i'll have to send the phone in for repair.

I was sure to notify her about this support discussion thread - i don't understand how this could be a hardware issue if many people are all reporting the same problem, each one occurring after the 3.0 OS upgrade - unless the 3.0 OS is frying the GPS hardware in the phone, which i highly doubt.

I'll be trying to restore the phone and see how it locates itself as a 'new phone' later tonight, if that doesn't work i'm supposed to call them back and go from there. I have a friend who lives nearby having the same problem with his iphone - i'm actually surprised there isn't more people reporting this problem as it doesn't seem to be isolated. If anyone finds a fix, even a temporary one, it would be a huge help!

It is NOT a hardware fault. I swapped out my 2 week old 8GB 3G that did not manifest the error prior to OS 3.0 upgrade for a 16GB unit that did not show the issue until it was upgrade to OS 3.0 - the error is in the OS, not the phone

I have this problem and it is definitely software related. I have been developing an app using Google maps and GPS so I have been using location services daily. Everything was working fine until the upgrade to 3.0 but now I have an inaccurate position fix - about 1.5 miles off when previously I usually had accuracy better than 10m.
I have tried a reset, turning location services on and off, wifi on and off but all to no avail.
Really not happy with Apple.

I was actually at the genius bar last night due to problems related to 3.0 and brought this up. The guy working there had the same problem. he said Apple is aware and it will be fixed.

Doing a restore (from scratch) instead of updating resolved this issue for me, I have been testing in a variety of places and it seems to be working. On 2.2.1 I had the GPS reliably locking on so I was too thinking it was a 3.0 bug. For those of you that had this problem did you upgrade to 3.0 or do a full restore?

Hey Mook,

Do you mean that you did a clean (I.e. Factory) restore to 3.0 and then lost your settings, apps etc? I've been thinking of trying that and then restoring from backup after - has anyone tried this? Even so, it's still embarressing for Apple that a much touted update has broken a major function of the phone: we shouldn't have to lose all our data for it to work!

Yes, exactly, I have had success by doing a clean restore, setting up as a "new phone" in iTunes once it activates, testing the Maps function, and when it worked I used the right click on "XXXX" <---phone name in itunes, then click restore from backup. But maybe setting up as a new phone and just re-syncing your stuff and re-fingering in your settings could be a good way too, since the jump from 2.0 to 3.0 probably has a ton of differences.

*This is what Apple genius folk would have you do, a clean factory restore without using a backup, so likely you have everything to gain by testing this BEFORE coming into an appointment at Apple.

Message was edited by: mook2420

Ah cool, that sounds like it's worth a shot. Might give that a go, just one more Q: if you don't mind me asking, have you got MobileMe with find my iPhone activated? I dunno whether everyone else with this problem does, but I do and am still wondering whether that's a cause of the problem. Turning it off hasn't seemed to have helped tho - anyone have any thoughts?

I had same issue thought maybe it was because I had my screen replaced on my iPhone. Went to my local Apple store's Genius Bar and they took care of me. They replaced my phone they never even said anything about it being the 3.0 upgrade bugs or errors in the OS. When I got home I updated my iPhone to 3.0 and my GPS works fine. I would suggest anyone who is calling the Apple Expert line to go to an Apple Store to the Genius bar instead. If you do go make sure you make an online reservation it has been my experience watching people show up and there are no more time slots left for them to be taken care of by the Techs.

No I do not use MobileMe.

Just tried a full restore, then got settings back from backup - no luck. Outside in garden with clear view to the sky the best I get is a circle around the whole street. Tried turning off Find My iPhone and doing a hard reset: still nothing, so it looks like it might not be that. Have to resync all my music and videos now, which is annoying.

Waiting on a fix now I guess. Searching on Google for iPhone 3.0 GPS not working comes up with other mac forums with people who have the issue, and it seems 3GS users have it less.

Come on Apple! =/

Went to the apple store cause i was having horrible GPS after 3.0, and they swapped phones, did an instore update to 3.0 and it works awesome! GPS is back!

Did you get to put all your stuff on from backup or put it back on manually?