iPad Pro loses gps fix

Can confirm this very serious problem.

I just got two iPad Pro 11" for navigation on my sailing yacht and both have the exact same issue.

GPS works fine most of the time, but cuts out and loses fix for no reason from every 5 minutes to half an hour or so. There seems to be no pattern. Possibly it happens more when you are going slow, at least on one of my units. I use Navionics Boating Marine & Lakes.

When it happens, the log shows 0 knots of speed (even if you are going 7 knots) and the positions stops updating. Very scary and dangerous in the Swedish archipelago where I navigate.

I have the same app on my Galaxy S phone, and that is what I now end up using in my hand in order not to hit anything - this after buying and installing two iPad Pros with waterproof cases - insane...

How can Apple not address this and explain what is going on? I have had GPS in my phones for years without a problem, and now I have this issue with products in this price range, especially as I was forced to buy the cellular model just to get GPS (crazy in itself in this day and age)?!

Installing 12.4 on both my devices now. Will not be able to test for at least 2.5 weeks though as I will not have time to go to the yacht. Nothing in the changelog about GPS as far as I can tell though.

Cannot understand how an issue of this kind (truly basic functionality) can be present on a product of this type so long after release. Incredible to me.

I have no idea if 12.4 does anything for GPS and yes, nothing was mentioned in the release notes. But since iOS 9.3.6 and iOS 10.3.4 was released for out of date devices, specifically to address a GPS issue, perhaps behind the scenes something in 12.4 does as well?

Have had time to test now. It appears improved in the sense that you don't get as many drops while moving at a good pace (above 3 knots or so). However, the problem is at least as bad, if not worse, at slow speeds (when you really need it while docking in tight places with lots of shoals such as in the Swedish archipelago).

All in all, I spent $3.000 on units that are useless for the most basic functionality. I still find myself with my Samsung phone in my hand whenever I need to know where I am.

Any cheap device can do this, how is this not acknowledged by Apple and how can we not be told what is going to happen as far as a solutions goes?

How can the most basic GPS functionality be a problem on

a device in this price range in 2019??

And how can Apple not address this for users they have

forced to buy an extra expensive cellular version of the already expensive device

just to get GPS (which is typically included in any low-cost electronic device).

Talk about feeling utterly humiliated for dumb enough to buy two of

these now useless products with third-party addons to make them waterproof and

mountable on my yacht (which makes it even more of a pain to have to return

them). Now my daughter started using one of them for school to at least get something

out of them.

What a joke. At least give us an explanation and let us know if it

is worth waiting for a fix (which should have been out long ago on a device

this old). How hard can it be?

Do you have a Wifi or Wifi + Cellular iPad. A Wifi only iPad does NOT have a true GPS chip.

I should add that the fix is gone between 5 seconds all the way up to about 5-7 minutes when it is lost. once again, no real pattern as far as I can tell.

Have you updated to iOS 12.4? Apple released an update for older devices at the same time which fixes a GPS issue. Maybe there's something in the 12.4 update which addresses this as well.