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Wi-Fi iPad location can’t be determines using hotspot through iPhone, ,locations services are all turned on.

Posted on Mar 15, 2022 12:25 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 16, 2022 10:03 AM

From your description I infer that you have a WiFi Only model of iPad - tethered to your iPhone using either a cable or the iPhone’s WiFi hotspot.


If so, your iPad has no GPS capability of its own with which Location Services of the iPad can derive its location. Only WiFi+Cellular models of iPad have GPS - this being a function of the iPad Cellular chipset. 


WiFi Only models can only “infer” their location from a database lookup of neighbouring WiFi networks for which the geographic location is known, or the geographic location of your public IP address. For static applications in urban locations, where the location of IP public IP addresses and WiFi networks are known, an “inferred” location can be relatively accurate. However, in rural locations, or when using a Cellular/Satellite/VPN connection, location accuracy of an inferred location [if it works at all] may be very inaccurate. 


Your iPhone does have GPS capabilities - however, the iPhone’s derived GPS location is not shared with other devices via the tether.


All this has significant implications for non-static mapping or location-based applications. If my inference is correct, this is the source of your difficulty. 


Your available options are:

  • Substitute your WiFi Only iPad for a WiFi+Cellular model; this does not commit you to provisioning Cellular service for your iPad, but does provide the needed GPS functionality for the iPad.
  • Add an external GPS receiver to your WiFi Only iPad. These are often used in marine, aviation and vehicular applications - and can be either directly connected via Lightning or via Bluetooth. Their are various third-party manufacturers, of which one is BadElf.


2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 16, 2022 10:03 AM in response to Krod1030

From your description I infer that you have a WiFi Only model of iPad - tethered to your iPhone using either a cable or the iPhone’s WiFi hotspot.


If so, your iPad has no GPS capability of its own with which Location Services of the iPad can derive its location. Only WiFi+Cellular models of iPad have GPS - this being a function of the iPad Cellular chipset. 


WiFi Only models can only “infer” their location from a database lookup of neighbouring WiFi networks for which the geographic location is known, or the geographic location of your public IP address. For static applications in urban locations, where the location of IP public IP addresses and WiFi networks are known, an “inferred” location can be relatively accurate. However, in rural locations, or when using a Cellular/Satellite/VPN connection, location accuracy of an inferred location [if it works at all] may be very inaccurate. 


Your iPhone does have GPS capabilities - however, the iPhone’s derived GPS location is not shared with other devices via the tether.


All this has significant implications for non-static mapping or location-based applications. If my inference is correct, this is the source of your difficulty. 


Your available options are:

  • Substitute your WiFi Only iPad for a WiFi+Cellular model; this does not commit you to provisioning Cellular service for your iPad, but does provide the needed GPS functionality for the iPad.
  • Add an external GPS receiver to your WiFi Only iPad. These are often used in marine, aviation and vehicular applications - and can be either directly connected via Lightning or via Bluetooth. Their are various third-party manufacturers, of which one is BadElf.


Mar 16, 2022 9:46 AM in response to Krod1030

Greetings, Krod1030.


If you are having some issues with your Hotspot, there are some steps you can try.


“Try connecting again after each step.

  1. Check that Personal Hotspot is turned on in Settings > Personal Hotspot. If you can't find or turn on Personal Hotspot, check that your wireless carrier enabled it and that your wireless plan supports it.
  2. Restart the iPhone or iPad that provides Personal Hotspot and the other device that needs to connect to Personal Hotspot. 
  3. Make sure that you have the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
  4. On the iPhone or iPad that provides Personal Hotspot, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset [Device] > Reset, then tap Reset Network Settings.

Use the steps below for more help with Personal Hotspot over Wi-Fi, USB, or Bluetooth.” If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular)


If we have an incorrect understanding of the issue, don’t hesitate to provide additional details to help the community guide you to a resolution. Be sure to include any error messages. Also, let us know what is happening vs what you expect to happen. 


We hope this helps! 


Sincerely.

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