google and apple maps 'freezing' when navigating; blue dot (me) not located correctly

Hi, I'm having awful trouble with both google and apple maps - and waze! whilst trying to navigate around France with my iPhone (xe). The blue dot that is supposed to be me is not showing where I am (its a way off to the side) and when I try to follow directions, it works for a few seconds and then freezes. It's driving me insane. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the satnav apps; I've soft-booted and hard-booted the phone; I've turned off all the locations services and turned them on again, but it just keeps doing it. I've made sure I have no VPN turned on, I've turned on bluetooth, mobile data and wifi, but again and again it freezes whilst we are moving. Because it is the same problem across several apps I think it is the phone rather than the apps. Any fixes out there?