Apple CarPlay GPS wrong location issue

I Had the same issue, VW Atlas 2021. disconnected the Wifi and use a USB cable instead, and I was happy.. for two days...

Now I have the same Issue, GPS is showing me a few miles away of my real positioning. Once disconnected from the USB, GPS position goes back to normal.. really, really annoying!!

I guess this is because wireless Apple CarPlay uses WiFi signal to connect to the phone to the car, WiFi is used in the phone to strength gps signal, while WiFi signal is being used to connect CarPlay, accuracy decreases a lot. I have the same problem in my Subaru 2023.

What vehicle is this?

It seems to be mainly the vehicle maker's fault in the implementation. At least that's my current thinking.

Try this next time the location is off (if your vehicle has built in navigation):

Set your phone to airplane mode (in order to disable CarPlay). Check the location on the native maps. Is the location still wrong? Did it move to a different point on the map?

Now, turn the vehicle off and turn off airplane mode. The phone should show a good/better location.

Could you try some of this?

May I suggest that everyone posting here submits a feedback report to Apple? I understand that Apple does not monitor these forums but does read feedback.

The address is something like apple.com/feedback but you can easily search for it.

Your dealership is misinformed and of course they are pushing the problem off their plate when it is in fact them. The issue has been happening since I got my 2021 Atlas back on iOS 15, so it’s not possible that recent updates are causing this. Furthermore, CarPlay works perfectly in my other CarPlay enabled vehicle. From what I’ve gathered from other posts, this has something to do with a faulty carnet or telematics module. My Atlas has been at the dealer for the last two weeks as I put my foot down recently and told them I don’t want the car back until they fix the issue since it has been going on for over two years. Supposedly an update just came out that may fix the issue. We will see, am likely to get the car back sometime next week.

This issue happens when your vehicle infotainment system Wireless car play. If the head unit only support Wired then the issue will not occur. If car support wireless then it does not matter if you connect with wire or wireless but you will see your GPS playing with you frequently. After iOs 15 this bug was introduced but seems Apple gives a **** about the sufferings and inconvenience customer faces. THIS CAN BE VERY VERY DANGEROUS.

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?

The reason of this behavior is Apple CarPLAY default to use Vehicle's GPS Antenna.

They do not rely on iPhone antenna once connected to Vehicle unlike Android Auto.

This is the reason Android Auto works well.

If your vehicle has inbuilt GPS Navigation, then ensure that works fine whenever you face issue with CarPlay navigation.

If your vehicle does not have inbuilt Navigation, then check if it has a working GPS antenna. If the GPS antenna is not working properly then your CARPLAY will get wrong location information and will pass to Maps apps.

If no Antenna, then CarPlay is built to behave like a dumb - guy and will rely on FM Antenna and will get and feed wrong GPS data to CarPlay.

Is not this fallback mechanism being Stupid?

DO NOT DEPEND ON HARDWARE OR SOURCES THAT YOU HAVE NOT MANUFACTURED OR CONTROLLING.

Simply go back to the Basics of iOs 14 where Carplay will use the Device Antenna always.

IF More number of Users will raise "iPhone Feature request" asking to make CarPlay to use Device antenna always or at least the Device Owner must have some means to override this weird CarPlay settings, then APPLE might listen giving up their arrogance.

I have another update:

<Recap>

I have a aftermarket head unit and use wireless carplay. Until mid-last year it was fine, worked great. Then it started going way off the mark. I hit a patience wall and opened a ticket with Apple. I was also to randomly reproduce the issue with a WIRED-carplay in a different unit. Wired/wireless make no difference with this issue.

</RECAP>

• I am working with developers via support.
• We were able to take diagnostics while my carplay showed me driving through fields and homes
• I got back that I probably should buy/install more hardware to improve the accuracy. I pushed back, it worked up until mid-last year so something else has changed. My response: “I fail to see why I should have to buy more hardware for something that clearly worked before”.
• I was also asked to wipe my phone and see if it worked better. I let them know the sheer amount of work for me around that(not going to explain why here). I also let them know I get why they may want that BUT even if that worked, clearly this is an OS issue and something I cannot break by using my phone. It’s a bug/defect they need to fix and I do not except that a ‘wipe’ is a fix. If something is corrupted, it’s their walled garden.
• when I am clearly off by 1,000+ feet from my current position but the accuracy is reported as 32ft+/-, then that too is another bug of some kind, nothing I can personally do to my device.

I am waiting to hear back on more regarding my ticket, hoping to hear back shortly.

Fellow VW folks, I've had the same GPS issue with my 2023 Taos since the end of last year and have not been able to resolve it. VW is well aware of it as it has just been confirmed by my local dealer. They also tell me that there is no fix, and have no idea when there will be one. I asked about getting a brand new head unit since the car is under warranty but was met with the sound of crickets.

Sadly, the only way I have been able to get a Carplay experience is by having purchased a "Wireless Carplay Adapter" which is a pretty garbage way to go about things.

You have to turn off WiFi on your phone but then it keeps interrupting you to insist on turning it back on.

dangermen: Looks like the car's location info is being fed back to the phone and overriding the phone's own location info while connected via CarPlay. ?

15 Pro iOS 17.5 Public Beta — still the same issue exists when using wireless CarPlay.

I have with me my old 13 Pro Max and my friend's 11 — no such problem with these two.

I'm having the exact same issue with a i4 BMW. It was working perfectly for a week and all of a sudden, the GPS is putting me 30ish meters away. The phone alone works fine and the same with CarPlay in our other BMW X3M (older version of BMW Connected). I removed and re added the iphone to the car and still no luck!

I’ve got the same issue on a new Pioneer DMH-WT7600NEX. Phone was on ios16.5 and Pioneer firmware was 3.0. Updated to iOS 16.6 and firmware 3.4. Have tried forgetting the devices, wireled, and wireless. Every time the phone is connected to the headunit it says I’m in a different location than I really am. Sometimes a road over or 10+ miles away.