iphone 13 pro max gps problems

Well both of mine have been messed up since day one. Some people probably don’t have to use the gps, I have too for work so I’m going to get rid of my apple phones for androids since apple don’t seemed concerned!!!!

Do any (or all) of you have an Apple Watch you've worn while navigating? I restored my iPhone yesterday and set it up as new. I did one drive and had my Apple Watch on and the navigation was jumping around as usual.

Today I did 2 short drives and I wasn't wearing my Apple Watch and navigation seemed perfect. It would re-route me when needed and didn't lag or stutter at all.

A shot in the dark, but maybe its related somehow.

This is actually something I had wondered about in following this discussion. Doing a hard restart on my phone fixes the incorrect location every time it happens, but it hasn’t happened for me often since I initially ran into this problem. The first time it happened to me was the first time I had fully charged my watch and wore it out after I got my 13 Pro. I had plans to go hiking that weekend, and that weekend was when I had the most trouble with GPS. I had to restart my phone at least once a day during that trip to get GPS to work properly. I hardly ever wear my watch on a regular basis because it’s bothersome while I’m sitting at a computer all day for work. But I also haven’t dealt with the GPS issue for over a month at this point. My Apple Watch is a Series 4 with GPS + cellular, but I haven’t had cell service set up on it for over two years now.

Scratch that theory. Mine is a Series 5.

While GPS worked perfectly for 3 short drives, it went back to the same messed up ways on a 3mi drive home without wearing my watch. Showed me off the road in the middle of a field and wouldn't re-route me.

I have a senior advisor assigned to my case who is escalating it to engineering. I've been taking screen recordings of the behavior and uploading it for Apple. Hopefully something comes out of it.

It sure which post this was but I wanted share that Apple seems to be monitoring this site but simply cannot help us I suppose some they are not responding to anyone. I suppose they will remove this one. HOW ABOUT HELPING US WITH THIS SERIOUS ISSUE.

“Hi Mike859,

Thanks for participating in Apple Support Communities.

We removed your post "iphone 13 pro max gps problems" because it was nontechnical or off-topic. We understand wanting to share experiences, but these forums are meant for technical questions that can be answered by the community.”

I feel your pain Mike. My girlfriend and I both bought 2 new iPhone 13s from Verizon and had to return them. I tried everything to fix the GPS and nothing worked. Sadly we eventually had to return them for iPhone 11s and GPS worked fine again. Last straw was it redirected us through a Chicago ghetto for no reason at all to get off the highway. Could have been really bad. Said f this and returned them that next day haven't looked back since. I'll go with Samsung next phone if it still isn't fixed. Accurate GPS is critical.

I think you are onto something with this. I have a series 2 watch. I did some testing using Strava - phone only, no watch - GPS fine on phone. Watch only, no phone - GPS fine on watch. Phone and watch, strava running on watch - borked GPS, strava running on phone - also borked GPS. I then tried running strava on both my phone and watch at the same time - watch was fairly precise while phone was WAY off, the interesting thing, about 3/4 through my walk, they kind of "synced" up and then had precise/matching results...

I'm near 100% certain at this point it's an issue between phone and watch. I have an apple watch series 2 and have been doing a number of tests. I use strava almost daily, whether walking dog or bike rides. Watch only (phone not with me/off), GPS map in strava is a big jagged, but route is otherwise on target and where it should be. Phone only (watch off/not with me) GPS map in strava is fine, not even jagged like watch. However, recording on either of them while having the other with me, messed up 100% of the time. This goes for apple/google maps as well. watch off/not with me, GPS works simply fine on the phone itself. as soon as watch is on and connected, gps stutters, is imprecise and slow to update. I have tried disconnecting/reconnecting/resetting my watch and still has issues.

interesting. I have not experienced any issue like presented with phone only on me. what the heck apple. how can this issue seem this prevalent yet they not offer anything other than "restore your phone without using icloud backup" and "unpair/repair watch" - neither of which has proven to be an actual fix

I don’t have an Apple Watch but having GPS problems in the 13 pro phone and it’s now synching with my old 5S that I still keep on to cross check GPS. I think it’s taking the metrics from iCloud, as both are quite similar but not exactly same because I don’t always carry both devices. What a pain! It’s a safety issue … potentially dangerous to have malfunctioning GPS. GPS so important for driving, walking places. I hope I don’t have to return this less than 2 week old phone. Really wanted the 13 pro camera, but this problem is a very serious issue.

My theory is that the issue has something to do with the eSim card. I’ve never heard of this before and the first time they introduce it, one of their most basic feature stops working… the least they could do is get someone to reply to this thread and acknowledge the issue. Trillion dollar companies showing us just how much they care about their customers! (This post will likely be removed as it is not “constructive”)

My wife has the same issue with her Verizon iPhone 13 Pro and has never used an Apple Watch. Resetting the network settings fixes it for a couple days, but that’s not a very good solution.

This is a safety issue and needs to be resolved before someone calls 911 and the first responders show up 1/4 mile from the actual location of the caller.

Unfortunately I don't know where we go from here. I made an appointment at an Apple Store and they sent my phone to their Service Center. I just checked my repair status and it says the phone is being shipped back and no issues were found. It is obvious from my screen recordings that there's a problem. At the Apple Store, they told me if the service center can't find a problem then I need to go back to my carrier and it is a service issue. I disagree with that based on this thread and people in here have listed multiple carriers all having the same problem. The store also gave me a loaner phone (iPhone XR) and my service on that phone has been perfectly fine for the past 3 days. This has been my most frustrating experience with Apple in the past 10+ years.

So I have an iPhone 13 Pro Max and there may be something to the watch. I know all don't have the watch but, up until a couple weeks ago, I had the series 5 watch. I recently upgraded to the series 7 and very shortly after getting the series 7, I now have the GPS issues. I never had the GPS issue from Oct. 2021 through late March 2022... now suddenly I have the issue?

If the details mean anything or can help:

Carrier: Verizon

Phone: iPhone 13 Pro Max, 512gb, Black, iOS 15.4 and just today updated to 15.4.1

Case: Black MagSafe Apple Silicon Case

Vehicle: MagSafe Charger mounted to the dash on one of those magnetic ball mounts.

MagSafe charger is adhered to the magnetic flat piece which magnetically attaches to the ball which is in turn, attached to the dash. It's one of those chargers that you could stick the metal plate to the back of your phone to stick to the magnetic ball mount stuck to your dash.

Something's not adding up. Getting quite frustrating to say the least.

I've said it a couple times now. The fact that I've tested watch without phone - no issue, phone without watch - no issue, and both together - issue is quite telling. After a couple days since restoring, it would *knock on wood* seem things are working fine. in strava, the routes are still extra jank and jaggy, albeit overlayed correctly now.