GPS accuracy iOS 13 and/or 11 Pro Max

redmonk78, I was wrong to tell you to open a case with Apple. There is nothing wrong with your phone. We need to get out of the weeds and see the bigger picture.

Why did you come to this thread in the first place? You saw a bad hiking track, although google maps worked fine for you in the car. You have proven (GPSdiagnostic) that the GPS hardware in the phone is fine and that your hiking app had no GPS filtering. You found at least one app that worked fine because it did have GPS filtering. That filtering is necessary. Looking at little things like turning 45 degrees is not productive. You want perfection in the GPS signal and it is by definition imperfect. I suggest looking for a hiking app that you like.

Nate

Hi, thanks. I guess my explaination was not very good as I am not a native speaker. My hiking app does not really "filter" the GPS signal. It just ignores some deviations / GPS signal movement while not really moving which are actually much bigger on the iPhone 11 pro compared to my iPhones 6s.

But why are there deviations? My 6s is tracking my hikes very accurate while the tracking on the 11 pro looks more or less awful. Is it a software issue? I cannot say: I ignore the problem by using a app which ignores the deviations. That's simple but is senseless as soon as I have to use a different app for other purposes in the future.

I wish Apple would stable the GPS signal somehow like on the 6s.

When standing still and turn my upper body around a little bit, the GPS signal starts jumping around. That's not normal and really I cannot ignore it. And the effect is also shown while moving: the GPS tracks are not really straight when you walk a straight line while on the 6s they are straight. So why is Apple not able to provide the same good GPS behaviour like on the 6s? I hope someone from Apple reads this and can fix the issue.

Filtering is the same as ignoring some small deviations! For example, ignore points with less than 50 feet difference. And if you get a hiking app that does the right thing you will not even notice these things. With GPS you will not achieve perfection. I do a loop walk and the return track is never exactly over the outbound track. But it is close.

I have the same problem. When I open Apple Maps App or Google Maps App, the blue point (current location indicator) still moving all the time and the radius changing from wider area to smaller and vice versa. I found this problem since I bought the iPhone 11 Pro Max in January until now with iOS version 13.4.1. This problem never occurs with my Samsung Galaxy Note 9 that can catch the GPS signal very fast with very high accuracy in a few seconds. I know that the GPS chipset is different on both phone that get the signal from different satellites. However I hope that the problem comes from the software and can solve in the next version of iOS update. This shouldn't happen with a most expensive mobile device in 2019-2020.

penockio, did you read my post right above yours? So what if it takes some seconds (or even 20) to acquire? This makes no difference. Does it work with google maps in the car? Did you test it with GPSdiagnostic?

kerrybtx, if that happens go to Apple and insist on a phone replacement. Mine does not do that. See my step 1 above. I assume that google maps is in the foreground right? And that in settings-general-background app refresh that google maps is turned on?

Yes, Google maps, Apple Maps and Waze all the same with the map open/ visible. The problem occurs as highway speed and low speed driving. Sometimes it works well sometimes not. None of my previous phones were this way.

GPS is only claimed to be accurate to within 16 feet:

US Government GPS Information: GPS Accuracy

For more resolution like that, other location services are used like the stored location of nearby Wi-Fi hot spots.

Sorry, but I still expect a 100% working GPS when spending 1000 bucks for a smartphone. Currently it’s only working fine during movement but I expect from Apple that it also works fine if I am standing still. Even my cheaper and way older 6S was better.

Of course I am complaining. Because my iPhone 6S is performing much better. Same accuracy - different behavior.

Normally I would expect an improvement when upgrading to a newer model. Even an equal result would be okay. But a degradation?

How could it? That's the accuracy of the GPS system according to the US Government (emboldening mine):

For example, GPS-enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within a 4.9 m (16 ft.) radius under open sky 

https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/performance/accuracy/

I know. But I expect a stable location on the map. Even if the accuracy is showing +/- 16 feet all the time, the blue dot in google maps or Apple Maps is jumping around while I am not moving myself. iPhone 6S does not show this behavior.

I opened a case with Apple. It was pretty useless. She had me check a few settings (that were correct already) and showed me how to submit a problem from the Apple Maps app. I suppose I will have to keep hounding them.

Then sell your phone and purchase a used iPhone 6S if you believe it was more accurate.

Straight GPS cannot be more accurate than specified by the US Government.

Location accuracy is improved when there is more than one WiFi access point your phone can see that has registered their actual locations in a database, typically a service like Skyhook:

Skyhook: Submit a Wi-Fi Access Point

That is the only way to get location accuracy greater than that provided by GPS itself.

Note if your location appears to move, it may simply because the phone is being more accurate about its location calculations; for example a phone that only changes the location on a map once it has moved more than fifty feet will seem to be more "stable" than one that updates its position each time it recalculates it.

I think William has nailed it. redmonk78, you said google maps works fine in the car. You found a hiking app that does GPS filtering and works fine. Walking around it works fine to get you where you want to go. You have a complaint that is not really a problem with the phone.