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Apple CarPlay GPS wrong location issue

Hello,

 


I bought a car with CarPlay functionality (RAV4 limited 2023). I am using it with an iPhone 13 pro under IOS16.4.1a (latest OS to date). CarPlay works except for navigation apps. When I use either Waze, Google maps or Apple maps, the location gets switched between the actual current location and somewhere 20-30 meters from the car. Therefore the GPS guidance doesn't work since the actual location is incorrect.

 

GPS apps on the iPhone works fine when not connected with CarPlay in this car. GPS navigation system from the car works fine when the phone is not connected.

 

I tried to start GPS apps first before connecting it to the car. It usually works for a few minutes (1-5 minutes) then the location is again off by 20-30 meters. I tried to start the GPS apps after I connect the phone to the car and I get the same result.


If I disconnect the phone, the car and iPhone GPS give me correct location. If I reconnect them, both give me the wrong location. When the car is not moving, the wrong location remains at the same spot even after I

disconnect/reconnect the phone. So it's not giving a random location. It's off by 20-30 meters.

Has anyone ever seen anything similar?

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on May 2, 2023 4:40 PM

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Posted on Oct 3, 2023 3:27 PM

Update: With CarPlay in my 2023 VW Taos, the GPS will suddenly and unexpectedly show me to be in the wrong location. The error is several hundred feet to several miles. This is very dangerous when you are on a highlway and it suddenly tells you to turn on a road that does not exist. I updated my iPhone to iOS 17.0.2. It did not help. I have rebooted both the car system and the phone. It does not help. Most recently, this happened when I was parked in my driveway. I was connected to CarPlay. The map in the car AND on my phone showed the same WRONG location. I simply turned off Wi-Fi on my phone and immediately as the iphone disconnected from the car, the map on my phone switched to the correct location. Incidentally, my phone works fine with CarPlay in my Bolt.

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205 replies

Aug 19, 2023 4:50 AM in response to sealclas

We were able to convince our dealer that it was a problem with the infotainment system and they replaced the system. New one works.


I'm guessing the GPS chip that is in these units is susceptible to manufacturing defects / variations that can make affected units unusuable.


There are post on reddit about this. See https://www.reddit.com/r/rav4club/comments/10bvex4/2023_rav4_carplay_navigation_issues/


I made a printout of the redditt post and brought it into my dealer so I could show this wasn't a "my phone" issue. I didn't get any push-back from the dealer (I was concerned I'd get a "its your phone" response, so before showing up at the dealer, I tested with multiple phones and had the reddit printout to show this wasn't a "me" issue - I went in prepared for some resistance, but my dealer was really good about the whole thing. I've read others weren't so lucky.). Consider doing the same - i.e., showing up with the reddit printout as it explaines the issue..

Aug 19, 2023 12:10 PM in response to jvmahon

I hope you never get this problem again but I do wonder if this might just be a temp fix ? … I had taken my Fabia 2022 model in for a software update to fix the issue and that got rid of the problem for some time, probably a couple of months, but then after an ios update it broke again and this time neither wired or wireless would work correctly. It’s been a couple of months since that happened and carplay over cable suddenly works again but who knows when it will decide to stop working again…

Oct 15, 2023 7:11 PM in response to Karter_Chill

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.

Oct 31, 2023 7:55 PM in response to WombatAttack

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.

Nov 3, 2023 6:07 PM in response to blackmonolith

I no longer think that's the real problem/solution (what I had previously said about the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth names).


Today I noticed the inaccurate location issue and I switched my phone to Airplane mode so that it wasn't connected to the car at all. I brought up the VW native Navigation maps and it was showing the same inaccurate location as when it was connected a minute before.


So now I believe my real issue is with the vehicle's native GPS location getting distorted. Likely due to various obstructions like trees, clouds, smoke, etc.


While using CarPlay, the vehicle's own GPS location is used in the CarPlay maps (both Google, Apple maps, Waze etc.) and not the location originating from the phone. This location propagates back to the apps on the phone itself. So, even if the phone would have provided a more accurate location, it doesn't matter and CarPlay (in my case at least with a VW) uses the vehicle's location.


I'm not sure if this is realistically fixable... I saw that some folks had gone to a dealer for a Infotainment software or hardware updates. I tend to think that won't make much difference.

Dec 29, 2023 1:09 PM in response to sealclas

Same issue here. I bought a 2023 Rav4 XLE Premium in September. The GPS worked the first week I had car and then next trip went afoul to the point it showed me driving in the middle of a river. Luckily my google search landed me here and I took the car back to dealership armed with intel from posts with same problem. Turns out it is a faulty Head Unit. They were able to recreate the problem on the test drive and with several technician's phone in the shop. Ruled out it is NOT the phone as the customer service rep has exact same model of phone and vehicle and his works fine. 10 days ago they told me part was ordered. Called today since no word and found out the part is "ordered" but they have no definitive ETA. Meanwhile i have brand new car which basically has no functionality. I have a severe handicap (it's almost embarrassing) when it comes to directions and rely on my GPS for even ridiculously easy routes so connecting my phone is not practical. The dealership states they have done all they can do since this is a supply issue with Denso. They apparrently have had issues with them in the past. I have very little confidence this will be resolved in a timely manner so I asked if I could return the car and they basically said they would only give me trade in value and I would eat the taxes and tags. My other option is to contact corporate engagement services which I will do before I look into legal implications of the lemon laws. I was a 20+ year Nissan owner and regret jumping ship.

Mar 29, 2024 2:37 PM in response to sealclas

I have the same problem. I narrowed it down to be the GPS in my 2022 Audi that is giving wrong position information to my iPhone over car play. If I disconnect the phone from the car, a few seconds later it finds the right position. This happens both over cabled or WiFi car play connection. Does anyone know how to prevent the phone from getting position information from the car’s gps unit while still transmitting Waze or apple map location information to the car’s car play system so that I can navigate using the car’s large and safe display rather than my phone tiny screen?



Apr 22, 2024 12:48 PM in response to sealclas

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

May 9, 2024 4:36 PM in response to sealclas

I found a fix for this, for my Audi Q5. Basically long story short Apple considers the google maps background activity depending on your settings. Follow this instruction. https://geekschalk.com/how-to-fix-apple-carplay-gps-not-working-showing-wrong-location/


Basically you change location settings to “always” for google maps instead of “while using”. This makes sure the map does not switch back to the in-car unit and only uses google maps.

Apple CarPlay GPS wrong location issue

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