GPS not providing accurate location and/or constantly refreshing causing location drifting

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Level 1

14 points

GPS not providing accurate location and/or constantly refreshing causing location drifting

I have an iPhone 13 Pro and upgraded to iOS 26 recently. My GPS is constantly failing during navigation. This is primarily due to not obtaining the most recent and accurate location information while moving. Therefore, the location drifts during navigation, providing incorrect route information, missing turns, and making it difficult to find my current location, etc.

I conducted extensive research and found numerous people experiencing similar issues on Apple Community, Reddit, and other forums. I tried to contact Apple Support, and have done the following:

Reset network settings
Reset location and privacy settings
Reset the whole phone
Delete all VPN profiles
Reinstall all applications related to this issue (e.g., Maps, Google Maps, Waze).

Apple Support claims the hardware is working fine, and no follow-ups or other troubleshooting methods are provided after all of the above steps are taken.

Some users, and I personally believe this is a software adaptivity issue, because it only occurs after a device upgrade (involving the transfer of all information to a new system, thus placing old data in a new environment) and/or a software upgrade (where old data is introduced into a new system). iPhone 13 Pro GPS “drifting” requiring da… - Apple Community

From the posts and my research, it appears that this issue was discovered at least three years ago (iPhone 13 Pro GPS “drifting” requiring da… - Apple Community, iPhone 13 Pro Max GPS Drift Issue | MacRumors Forums), and no fixes have been implemented in the software since then.

I am wondering if any of the users are having the same issue as many of us already have. How is it doing now? Does Apple have a solution, or do you have some workarounds to implement?

I am considering upgrading to the iPhone 17, but I'm worried that this same issue will persist in the new device.

iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 26

Posted on Oct 3, 2025 11:52 AM

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Answer 1

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futandrew Author

Level 1

14 points

Oct 16, 2025 8:15 PM in response to futandrew

To anyone who is having a similar issue and have already tried the resetting procedures mentioned in the OP.

I have resolved the issue by removing physical SIM card from the phone.

My iPhone 13 Pro is using one eSIM and one physical SIM. After removing the physical SIM card. Everything went back to normal by only using eSIM card.

I am reasonably assuming Apple messed up some ancient code while adapting new eSIM technology in iOS 26 when new iPhones are only supporting eSIM.

Please reply to this if this solves your issue.

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Answer 2

futandrew Author

Level 1

14 points

Oct 16, 2025 8:19 PM in response to KiltedTim

No. It was happening no matter in car or outside with phone standalone.

Yes, it happens even with wifi and Bluetooth are off.

I’m in Vancouver BC Canada.

See the update I just posted. I removed the physical SIM card and everything is working again.

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Answer 3

futandrew Author

Level 1

14 points

Oct 16, 2025 8:28 PM in response to lynxx89

That’s very weird. My issue was solved by removing the physical SIM card. Does your iPhone 17 has physical SIM card? You can try removing it? Have you tried all the resetting steps mentioned in the OP?

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Answer 4

BradWrl

Level 1

7 points

Dec 18, 2025 9:00 AM in response to futandrew

Our family upgraded to 4x iPhone 16 Pro's over the summer, jumping from AT&T to T-Mobile. All four phones are identical but my wife's nearly ALWAYS shows her way off from her location. Using Google Maps for navigation has become essentially unusable for her and when I use FindMy to locate her, she's always a few blocks away. I've checked her Location settings and they're all proper.

I feel like all our phones are maybe slightly less accurate that we were on AT&T (when we all had different phones) but it's marginal at best, although I have had at least one incident when using Google Maps via CarPlay where it was jumping me around quite a bit.

She hasn't upgraded to iOS26 yet. Maybe I should make that happen and see if anything changes. I'm a little hesitant as she hates changes to her UI on anything.

Because we're all using identical phones (they're even all the same color, I haven't looked at serial numbers but I bet they're close to sequential), that until recently have all been running the same OS and often same apps, I can't see how it isn't a hardware issue where she got the lemon. We live in lower Manhattan BTW.

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Answer 5

lynxx89

Level 1

8 points

Oct 16, 2025 7:54 PM in response to futandrew

I upgraded from a iPhone 14 Pro Max to the iPhone 17 Pro Max this week, and have been having the exact same issue with GPS drift when stationary (as much as 1 block in any direction), and GPS failing to track my location during navigating (doesn’t know where I am, cannot give correct turn-by-turn instructions). I missed a chance to pick up an Rx from the pharmacy before they closed today. Lost time pulling over and working out where exactly I was.

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Answer 6

ryipchoy

Level 1

12 points

Nov 15, 2025 11:05 AM in response to futandrew

I have had exactly the same issue on my iPhone 13 pro. Everything was working fine until I installed iOS 26. My wife has the same phone but is still using iOS 18 and is having no problems with gps enabled apps. I have tried everything except a complete phone refresh and nothing has helped.

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Answer 7

KiltedTim

Level 10

226,512 points

Oct 3, 2025 11:55 AM in response to futandrew

Does this only happen when connected to your car (either wired or wirelessly using CarPlay)?

Does it occur if you turn off wifi and bluetooth and navigate using the phone only?

Where are you located?

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Answer 8

Dec 10, 2025 3:34 AM in response to futandrew

I’m having this issue on my iPhone 14 Pro Max which has no physical SIM so seems to not just be related to the SIM code. It did resolve when I turned off WiFi which both disconnected me from wireless CarPlay as well as prevented it from hunting and attempting to connect to active networks as I was driving through NYC. I initially thought the signal was being affected by the tall buildings but curiously as I turned off the WiFi and disconnected from the wireless CarPlay the problem went away. It returned as soon as I turned WiFi back on.

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Answer 9

futandrew Author

Level 1

14 points

Dec 18, 2025 9:27 AM in response to BradWrl

I agree that the hardware shouldn’t be the problem. If you bring the phone to the store, they might give a full test of the hardware. There’s also a possibility that the staff will tell you to upgrade the software.

I would try resetting everything, and don’t restore anything, use it as a brand new phone. Check if the problem presents.

I also realized that apple quick transfer function has very serious problems that sometimes transferring issues to the new device. Or when transferring old code, it is not working properly with the new code.

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Answer 10

Alancito

Level 7

30,126 points

Dec 18, 2025 9:28 AM in response to BradWrl

BradWrl ~ For comparing your iPhones, this free app shows "GPS Accuracy" when its blue compass icon is tapped:

what3words on the App Store

õ¿õ¬

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