iPhone 5 and Satellite GPS

There is no doubt at all that ALL iphones beginning with the iphone 3g have a true gps reciever. None. There is no controversy or grey area.

It absolutely, 100%, without a shodow of a doubt, has a true gps reciever.

Not sure why you do not believe it.

Iphone owners have been using GPS with no cell or wi-fi service for years. I do it regularly in National Parks and BLM land.

Where did you get the idea that it does not have this feature?

roaminggnome wrote:

Where did you get the idea that it does not have this feature?

Here is my theory:

On occassion the Maps app will show my "location" with a static black dot instead of a blue one that moves with me. I assume this happens when it doesn't have a lock on my position. On my 3G with no sim card there is no cell tower triangulation to fill in when a GPS solution has not been established. Being out of cell tower range would be a similar situation. That might lead someone to think the GPS requires the cell towers, which it does not.

this myth is old

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS

it mean it use the gsm to get a quick pos fix with poor acuacy but it don't mean it don't use the satelites

it works without sim cards and use no data

and is not! the 3 gsm tower poor pos fix the first iphone had

Very good discussion. I think the issue has a lot to do with Airplane mode. I have used the iphone GPS many times on commercial aircraft but it does not work in Airplane mode because that disables the GPS receiver. If I don't turn on Airplane mode (don't tell TSA) and if I have a fix before taking off, I can usually get it to track, even up to cruising altitude (there are some cool apps that give your altitude, speed, rate of climb, etc.), although I often loose the fix at some point. I think the cellular connection "assists" in the initial fix and then the GPS continues to keep the fix but if it looses it, the fix is hard to get back. Of course this runs down the battery becasue the phone is always looking for that cell signal. Maybe the sim lock code that someone mentioned is worth a try so you can turn off cellular without turning off GPS.

Okay, I tried a few things to get GPS to work on it's own.

I turned on the sim card lock pin: Settings--phone--SIM pin--ON

This means that when the phone is turned back on after being powered completely off (Hold down button top for about 5 seconds), you have to enter the SIM pin code when you power it back up.

Powered off the phone

Powered it back on

Did NOT enter the SIM pin

Turned off Cellular data: Settings--General--Cellular--OFF

I turned off Wifi also

Turned on a variety of maps and they worked just fine showing my current location and tracking when my location changed.

The step that is kind of strange is that you have to power OFF and then back ON to initiate the SIM card lock. I'll try it next time I fly.

I use the TomTom app which contains map data for the entire U.S. and does not need to be connected to a network of any type to run just fine. Since I deactivated my 3GS (no cell data at all) and relegated it to mostly iPod use, I have also continued to use it for navigation in one of our cars. Once oriented it works just as good as before, even out in the middle of nowhere. It continues to work better than the car's own overpriced OEM nav system.

Because it lacks the supplementary A-GPS functionality it can take a little longer to orient itself at first if I am not around wireless networks, but this is trivial. i do not understand the obstinance of those who cling to the notion that this device does not have a true GPS receiver. It clearly does, and it works very well.

I just tried the iPhone 5 out at 40,000' (offline). It is able to find its current position extremely quickly. Going from Airplane mode on to off it rarely took more than 30 seconds to find its current position. Even after shutting the phone off and waiting 200 miles it took less then a couple of minutes to locate itself. Combine this with the new Apple (TomTom) vector maps that are still available offline and this is one amazing device!

I don't think Apple Vector map can download city map seperately. Motionx has turn by turn, but it needs monthly fee for keep using it. I can't find a GPS app in reasonable price and no monthly fee. When I came to china, I can use an app called Autonavi Navigation, it's totally free and even has two choice 'drive' and 'walk & bus'.

Well PT, read the above extensive thread for your answer to question #1. For #2, yes it uses cellular data unless you have a map that resides "physically" on your iphone. I have Tomtom USA maps that take up about 1 GB of storage but there are other maps you can download that will work with the GPS.

I just spent a week in the Grand Canyon with, of course, no cell service. I was able to track my location on a Pre-downloaded map for the duration of my trip. If I turned airplane mode on, my tracking would disappear. For the GPS to work you need airplane mode off.

Austin, Sounds like a nice trip, but cold. I bet that really ran down your battery fast since the phone was constantly trying to find cellular service. You might try the technique I described in this thread, posted Oct. 5, 2012, and see if that works.

I have a Garmin GPS receiver and to determine if the iPhone 5 really does have a GPS receiver capable of satellite reception and computaion, I went outside in my backyard with my Garmin and obtained it's coordinates.

I then obtained my coordinates from my iPhone for correlation and both were a match.

I then put my iPhone 5 in the AIRPLANE MODE and turned-OFF my WIFI.

I cycled power on the iPhone 5 and when it came up and I checked my GPS coordinates on the phone...the only thing that registered was my COMPASS direction with the LAT LONG coordinates a few HUNDRED MILES OFF and also the phone DID NOT indicate any tracking of my movement at all, as my Garmin did so very resolutly...

Summary

The iPhone 5 uses the cell site and/or WIFI location data for your LAT/LONG coordinates/presentation. What else can I conclude from this experiment...?

Perhaps the AIRPLANE MODE turns OFF the GPS receiver...? A radio receiver has to have at least 1 LOCAL OSCILLATOR for the basic superheterodyne functionality and LOCAL OSCILLATORS can be a source of RF radiation. So then if the iPhone 5 has a full blown GPS receiver/computational feature then this must be what is happening; that is, the AIRPLANE MODE disables the GPS receiver....

Interesting thread. I got here beasue I am considering changing from an Android phone to a 5s, and the GPS is one of the major concerns for me. My research today shows that the GPS is jsut as good on the iPhone as on my Android for my needs.

I think the problem comes from people thinking that GPS and mapping are the same thing. The map you see is not GPS and has nothing to do with GPS. The GPS signal is just a set of numbers that software finds on map and displays on your screen. The Compass app will give you your actual GPS coordinates, and will do so when there is no map available, no wifi, and no cellular. The GPS Staus App will give you slightly more detailed info. Seeing a non moving dot on the map is a problem with the mapping software or the data connection it uses, not with the GPS.

In my experience most people seem to think that GPS and Map mean the same thing, and it is often difficult to convince them otherwise.

The only problem with Apple's GPS is that it does not use WAAS data. As far as I know no smartphone uses WAAS from the GPS signal. In urban areas with lots of cell towers and WiFi, and using GLONASS it can come close to WAAS accuracy, but away from Cellular and WiFi, when it is using jsut standard GPS and GLONASS, it is less accurate than a GPS that uses WAAS. I have noticed this when Geocaching in remote areas. It is a difference between a few meters of accuracy and a few tens of meters of accuracy, so for most applications it doesn't matter much.

If you are trying to use the iPhone for actual navigation this can be a problem. There are external WAAS capable GPS modules that can be used though, I have seen pilots using them.

Message was edited by: VinceRN