GPS and Maps not working after 3.0 upgrade

Yeah... same thing here... not very impressed 'bout the 3.0... Probably 'cause I thought it would be something rather "big" like the 2.0... It probably will be in a near future for the 3GS users... but for the 3G, it won't be like that. I don't see apple releasing a video recorder app nor voice control for the 3G anytime.

Looks like Apple want us to be beta testers for their FW. The GPS bug was known in the 3.0 betas, it was reported to Apple and they did nothing.
One of the main reasons I traded my iPod Touch for an iPhone was the GPS. Now I feel like selling my iPhone.

It is interesting, DaN_Himself, to compare the experiences described in this, and similar, threads with Apple in the US, and mine with Apple UK/Ireland.

As a consequence of yet another client-supplied fix from the boards not doing the job permanently, I called Apple and requested a replacement handset. (This was not my first call, but they were not coming back to me as promised.) This was greeted by total astonishment, and the insistence that there was no record of anyone else having reported a problem with GPS since installing OS3.0.

I suggested that they peruse their own discussion boards in the iPhone support area. It is very hard to believe that some of their own staff don't have the problem.

My call was then "escalated" to the agent's technical manager, who gave a very good impression of thinking that I was a lunatic, and who asked me to do an "as supplied" reset via iTunes, and then check the GPS, and then a full restore and check again.

After the first "as supplied" reset, the GPS did not function at all despite waiting outside for 30 minutes for a fix using Maps.

After the full restore, I did get a fix in Maps initially, but not with MotionX GPS or Navigon Europe, but Maps quickly reverted to triangulation again, and stayed that way despite my remaining outside for a further 45 minutes to give it plenty of time.

I've e-mailed the technical manager (his request, rather than telephone) the results of doing what he suggested, but I suspect that outside the US Apple are taking the line that there isn't a real problem and that it must be something that the client is doing.

Frustrating!

FC77 wrote:
Thought that I would let you know that I tried your solution and its worked for me. Thanks for that.

Great stuff. From other reports, it appears to be an intermittent software fault. Hopefully, will be fixed properly with the 3.1 update soon.

Anyone else having the problem, would recommend trying that solution. 2 friends in Ireland have fixed their GPS problems with it (both 3G iPhones, no 3GS I'm afraid)

DrewBorret, I admire your patience. Over here in Brazil we have a lousy tech support, they always say its software related too and we who called in there are treated without any respect. A few pages back in this thread, there's this other fellow from Brazil who didn't get his faulty iPhone replaced becuse they ran out of stock of the 8gb model.

And we keep waiting and waiting...

I'm preparing to say goodbye to my iPhone. Gonna try to trade for another model from another brand. I'm sick of loosing my contacts a lot of times when I sync, and since the iPhone doesn't write the contacts on the SIM, just reads it, I recently lost a lot of phone numbers from a bug in the sync, witch replaced my contacts instead of syincing (the option for that was OFF in iTunes).


Gonna wait for the new iPhone next year. Maybe Apple will learn how to take care of its costumers OUTSIDE the USofA.

Just like DrewBorrett said: Frustrating!

iPhone 3G, 3.0 software, Western Japan (carrier: Softbank)

I too am having this problem. I had 2.2.1 previously and could get a very accurate GPS location from my balcony - it even showed I was on the correct corner of my building.

With 3.0, I get a large circle covering about 1200 meters. I've tried at different times of the day and still no accurate GPS signal. I also tried the "Reset Location Warnings" but it had no effect.

I just noticed this issue on my phone today. Was trying to get to a Fireworks show using my gps. It was very choppy and would not move with the car like it used to. I grabbed my gf's iphone held it up side by side mine (both running the new 3.0 software) and hers was working perfectly moving along while my iphone's screen in google maps was frozen with a rather large blue circle showing where I had been about 4 minutes ago. We both bought our phones at the same time and upgraded at the same time. I wonder what made the difference. When we upgraded she just updated her software. I set it up as a new iPhone after a full restore to factory default. ::sigh:: at least her iPhone was able to get us from point A to point B.

I think issue's been there for a while but I only noticed it when my newly bought Sygic app(GPS-turn-by-turn) wouldn't show me anything but "Waiting for valid signal" screen -indoors and outdoors. That was really frustrating since I paid 79+ bucks for it. I did the hard/soft and all other possible resets - but no luck. However, when I tried it outdoors today GPS was back again and both Maps and Sygic showed my position very accurate!! I went back into the house and it stopped working, went out again and it was fine again. Could it be that OS 3.0 screwed GPS signal reception/strength or something?

Guys, I wouldn't allow your frustration to grow.. just walk into an Apple store and change it. I too was quite exasperated when the Apple Genius refused to admit it was a widespread problem, I even printed out the posts in this thread and he was extremely dismissive of them.

Anyway Apple cannot ignore the fact that the return rate on handsets (for faulty GPS) is growing and that represents lost revenue for something which could be easily patched at no cost. Its up to them to release a statement admitting the fault, giving a clear timetable for resolution, then people would be more inclined to wait (as I would have been).

Rather easier said than done, tolbane! At least here in Ireland. I don't know of any Apple store in Ireland. There certainly isn't one in Cork, my nearest large place (but two hours drive away). There may be one in Dublin, but that is seven hours drive away.

This leaves one with two options, both of which I've tried:-

1. go back to the O2 (the Irish carrier for iPhones) store where one bought the handset. For me, this was Killarney, but they told me to deal with Apple directly;

2. telephone Apple, which I did and reported on in a previous post.

We have a phrase for the situation here: "Caught between a rock and a hard place"!

Could it be that OS 3.0 screwed GPS signal reception/strength or something?

Yes it is a possibility. They did that to the wi-fi chip to preserve battery life, that's why WI-FI was better on 2.2.1

Guys, I wouldn't allow your frustration to grow.. just walk into an Apple store and change it.

If we at least had an apple store in Brazil... WE DON'T HAVE IT! Apple treat us like garbage over here. We call tech support, they say the problem is with the software or the network. We call the cell company and they blame apple's hardware and tell us to send it to tech support.
Can I have a phone that I can rely on? Is it asking too much? The iPhone is good, when it works... too bad it doesn't work like its supposed to.
And now Apple is blaming the overheating of some 3GS phones due to the weather.

Oh my... Bad Apple....

I also have this same problem. In addition, I was unable to route directions to ANYWHERE from my current location. It gave me a message that said something to the effect that "Transit Information Could Not be Retrieved". That may not be the exact error message, but it was something similar.

Any word on a true fix yet?

Sorry guys, I guess it isn't as easy as I made out. In my case I actually did have to travel an hour and a half to Zurich to get to an Apple Store since all we have here are Apple resellers. With regards to my carrier (Orange.ch) they were similarly useless, and just referred me to Apple tech support.

I hope this is sorted out quickly for all concerned.

Sorry guys, I guess it isn't as easy as I made out. In my case I actually did have to travel an hour and a half to Zurich to get to an Apple Store since all we have here are Apple resellers. With regards to my carrier (Orange.ch) they were similarly useless, and just referred me to Apple tech support.

Yeah. Over here we only have Apple tech support. No apple store anywhere in Brazil. The carrier, useless also (Vivo.br).
Again I restored my iPhone today ('cause its possible that I'll be gettin' rid of it this afternoon) and GPS only works with google maps and triangulation.
GPS+, RunKeeper and any other GPS app does not get any signal from the GPS.
Before the launch of the iPhone, Apple Tech used to treat us a lot better (regarding to other Apple products). Now with the iPhone, chaos has been released and all you get is missinformation. You call Apple, they blame the carrier and/or software. We call the carrier, they blame the hardware and tell us to call Apple tech.

BTW: I have not found yet any evidence in the 3.1 beta that this issue has been solved.

Message was edited by: DaN_Himself

I had similar Problems running 2.2.1 on a 8GB 3G in the past, but suddenly the GPS worked fine.
Got an fix after approx. 5-10 secs. It worked flawlessly until I updated to 3.0.

At the beginning GPS on 3.0 worked well for about an week.....
But now im back to my old Problems....
No fix without reboot.... Sometimes the GPS works stable for about half a day....
But most of the times..... 15 Minutes Idle.... No Fix anymore......

There must be something VERY WRONG with the A-GPS Ephemeris Cache....

FIX THIS NOW!!!!!
Otherwise i will burn my old LC 😉

Same problem. Thanks for the suggestions in this thread, however, they didn't work for me 😟

Only triangulation, no satellites...