Apple CarPlay GPS wrong location issue

Yes it is extremely annoying (and sometimes dangerous), but it's a car problem, not an Apple problem. Both Apple & Android use the car's positional data when connected because the car has a stronger antenna than the phone. Unfortunately car software sometimes screws up and misreports the position, which can be seen by checking the car's inbuilt navigation. Take the car to a dealer and get a system software update and a maps update. This may have no immediate effect in the workshop, but once you drive the car it will pickup the satellites again and correct itself. On the rare occasions that this doesn't work, you might need a new hardware unit or antenna.

RE: Wombat & Hch...

I'm experiencing similar in that when I totally disconnect from CarPlay, the location on my phone is correct, and (sometimes) when I'm connected to CarPlay it's wrong. I can connect wirelessly (WiFi) or wired (USB) (2023 VW GTI). I disconnect from WiFi CarPlay by turning off iPhone WiFi.

I made a change that seems to have helped and so I have a theory about the cause....

I changed my car's WiFi and Bluetooth name from the default of "My VW 1234" to something else. [note: your phone will attempt to use nearby WiFi and Bluetooth signals/network names to assist (cheat) with the location.]

One hypothesis is that the phone is using and confusing multiple same/repeated names of car WiFi hotspots or Bluetooth names. For example: if Google/Apple (some compiled and shared database) have picked up 10 or 100 different "My VW 1234" WiFi networks all with different locations, it may be that sometimes you are near one of those and so it is getting confused about the real location of that network.

After I changed the Bluetooth and WiFi car network names, I have not experienced this issue. I drove around through some locations where I had trouble previously and it was working very well.

The other day I was really having trouble and it was putting me over 1/2 miles away from actual location. Guess what was near the wrong location?? .... A VW dealer!! hmmm....

I have not called a VW dealer yet but I'm planning to do that if I notice this happening again.

Apple Tech Support also collected a lot of debugging logs from my phone too so maybe they will figure something out.

I have been facing with this issue for a year with my 2023 Ford focus, i have forward it to Ford and Apple but there is no any solution . But!!! When i realized that issue become in specific locations i thougt that it could be about roaming and i just wanted to turn off our newest technology, 5G. Yes i use just LTE and it seems problem has gone, yes it is not a final solution but a workaround, if 5G is not a must for you you can try

I'm having the same issues with my Apple CarPlay on the RAV4 2023 while using Google Maps and Apple Maps.

2023 RAV4 CarPlay Navigation Issues while connect your phone to use the Apple Map or Google Map.  The issues with their navigation over Apple CarPlay randomly putting them off-road, on parallel roads, or even off the route completely, like taking an exit ramp you're not on.

I went to a Toyota dealer.

Toyota knows about them, but right now they cannot fix them yet. They will do the recall in the future, but they don't know when. 

Then they gave me the invoice with the notes, "Toyota is working on repairs; there are no repairs at this time. Customer to monitor and return when repair remedy is available."

I opened case with Toyota Brand Engagement Center. The Toyota dealer and Toyota both are talking.

Now they told me to contact Apple support to let them know too.

How do I contact Apple for Apple CarPlay with Toyota?

I have an appointment at the dealer next week for a recall and this issue. They basically laughed at me and told me it was an apple issue, but we will see. In another forum I saw that someone was able to get them to trace the gps antenna wire and it was loose at the shark fin. I told the dealer this and I am hoping that they look at it.

I had the same issue with mine and there is a fix. You have to reset the 3D calibration settings on your head unit. It immediately fixes the problem, but it will start doing it again after a couple of days. At least you can use your gps until they find a permanent solution! Hope this helps!

As I said, connecting the cable to the phone after the WiFi connection was established works for me, as a workaround.

on the other hands, Toyota will change the head unit in the next period. They tested another head unit with my car and it was fine.

I have been having the exact same issue with a 2024 Ford Edge and iPhone 15 Pro.

i have discovered that if I disconnect from CarPlay via WiFi and use the charge cable that came with the phone, problem solved.

Based on what I'm reading, and my spouse's experience it seems this solution is inconsistent at best. It's still working for me, but did not work for my spouse (we both have VWs); maybe I lucked out even if it ends up being temporary. I spoke to the dealership and they been receiving a lot of calls lately about this. There is a firmware update which they are applying, though in a couple cases they had to replace the navigation module. I have an appointment Wednesday; wish me luck.

Read through all the messages.

I believe when you connect your phone with CarPlay the vehicle's incorrect location is used in the vehicle and is also used by your phone (it overrides the good location from your phone).

Do you have built in navigation? If so, try switching your phone to airplane mode (so that it disconnects CarPlay) and see if the car's navigation location is correct or incorrect.

I have the same problem with my latest cars : BMW iX 2023 and Subaru Outback 2023. Seems there is conflict between Car Navigation system and the Waze.

BMW solution: temporarily unplug the socket that connect headunit with the antenna (this is temporary solution). BMW promises to give software update in Feb/Mar 2024 to solve this issue.

Subaru solution: no solution yet. I still convincing them that the problem is not from my iPhone but conflict between Car Navigation and the Waze (but still, I believe the solution is software update from the car manufacture).

If you have Stellantis cars, with wired CarPlay, it seems that deactivating the WiFi on the iPhone fixes the issue for me. Peugeot e-208 and Citroen e-C4. It was previously working so either a update to the software for the cars or the iPhones I use, caused it.

Ended up buying a 3rd party wireless CarPlay transmitter and it fixed my problems. Was $100 but working great as of now. Worth not driving you crazy like it was me.

I have the same issue on 2 iphone 14 with the same car, a skoda fabia 2022 model. We’re on ios 16.5 now but had this gps issue since we first bought the phones several months and ios updates ago. Before the latest ios 16.5 update I had figured out that if I disabled wireless carplay and only used usb cable then it would work fine but recently after ios 16.5 not even that works anymore. We both have apple care plus as well an I called several times but the only thing to try the support reps can come up with is a full reset of the phone which I didn’t want to do at the time bec it’s a big inconvenience to us especially since these are brand new phones so I just used via usb only but now with that broken as well it looks like I have no choice but to try the full reset. Until then I have to have a 4 year old android phone in my car that doesn’t even have a sim card just to get navigation and get from a to b. These were our first iphones and safe to say they will be our last ones as well…