GPS data not available to apps after iOS 8.3 update

petermac87 wrote:

Hi Don. Starting to panic. Flying out for a job tomorrow. Do you dudes really fly planes using iPhones? 😮

Pete

I know I am not Don, but I will speak for myself and all the other pilots that I know. Yes! I fly with an iPad mini, and an iPhone as backup....beyond that , the plane has a Garmin 430 installed in the dash, then I have the old paper charts, and then finally air traffic control to talk to.

Let me try to put this into perspective for you. The Display on my $300 iPhone looks like this...

The display on the airplane's $5,000 Garmin 430 looks like this...

Which would you use?

deggie,

For all of the very interesting commentary in your post - little of which I would dispute - there are for me some very clear, unequivocal and uncontested facts of this matter:

1. My DUAL XGPS160 worked brilliantly (via Bluetooth) with my (lightning connector) iPad Mini Retina Display while running iOS 8.2

2. Apple released iOS 8.3 and my DUAL no longer worked with my iPad. Nothing in the DUAL had changed just iOS

3. Apple eventually pleaded guilty to a bug in 8.3 and set about fixing it.

3. Apple has produced a Beta 3 of 8.4 and it is reported that external GPS functionality has been restored.

4. Apple will soon release 8.4 and my Dual will once again work perfectly with my iPad Mini.

You do not have to be a 30 year experienced, senior software engineer to comprehend these simple facts.

"As just pointed out here again, and they are just one model, Garmin very quickly did a firmware update and their system works."

Garmin released that firmware update on 15 February *not* in response to the bug in 8.3

No firmware update is possible for GPS devices connected to 30 pin iDevices that could overcome the bug in 8.3.

Developing a firmware update to overcome a bug in 8.3 that will be fixed in 8.4 doesn't make a lot of economic sense.

The time taken to develop, test and release a firmware update compared with the time taken to roll-back to 8.2 make the firmware update suggestion looked silly.

"It is not a quality control issue on Apple's part just like it wouldn't be for Windows, Linux, Android, etc"

I don't recall anybody accusing Windows of exemplary QC. As an industry, IT is renowned for a level of QC that would sink most professions overnight. No need for me to rehash all the jokes about "If Microsoft made automobiles . . . "

Just because your competitors have poor quality control doesn't make it OK for Apple to have poor QC.

"This is not bad quality control it is reality."

It may be the reality for Apple (and to be fair its competitors) but if manufacturers in many other areas of endeavour accepted that level of ineptness they'd would not last long in business. Plenty of IT industry players remain in business because they have good lawyers who write brilliantly powerful "no liability" clauses. If the industry put as much effort into getting it right as to forever adding bells and whistles, we would all be better off.

"So what can 3rd party companies do? Make sure they are part of the developer program and have their personnel test any changes to the iOS (or new equipment) that are released."

Could not agree more. As long as they survive this debacle, I'm pretty sure they have learned the big lesson:

mostly . . . .

p.s. your having racked up 49,960 points indicates that you must be very experienced on this site. Odd then, don't you agree, that you attempt to help somebody you don't know anything about by starting your reply with: "It has become pretty obvious you have little background in computing and software development." I doubt that was meant to be a compliment so I'll just ignore that swipe.

According to https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/releasenotes/General/RN-iOSSD K-8.4/index.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP4…

The 8.4 beta 2 has fixed the Bluetooth GPS issue.

Now, the question is, when will it be released !!

This Font in Preview blurry and other sources on the web. Apple changed PDF kit, so now pdf text appears very blurry on non-retina displays. A long known issue. Some worked around this by replacing Yosemite's PDF kit with Maverick's, but, come on! It's been like this since autumn. 😮

P.S.: PDF viewing works normal in Safari, but not in its dedicated app, Preview...

Your IPAD mini probability has an internal GPS (cell phone capable) and more likely runs using it, instead of your external one.

LL.

<Edited By Host>

Actually, it's a bug on all bluetooth GPS devices since iOS 8.3 !

I personally use Garmin Glo and Dual Electronics 150 & 160 and the trouble remains the same.

Bad Elf blog suggest that Apple is aware of the problem and will correct it very soon.

I will believe it when i'll see it...

Hello!

This issue only affects external GPS receivers (like your Garmin GLO). The internal GPS on the cellular-equipped iPads seems to be working fine.

You can read more here:

http://bad-elf.com/blogs/bad-elf/18013536-alert-compatibility-issue-with-apple-i os-8-3-and-external-gps-receivers

http://blog.foreflight.com/2015/04/11/customer-notice-issue-with-apple-ios-8-3-a nd-external-bluetooth-gps-receivers/

Best regards,

Brett

Thanks, Brett. Although I use a Dual unit (Dual hasn't even acknowledge there's an issue on its website), I appreciate Bad Elf keeping users informed. Were this a Microsoft bug we might as well stop flying, but with Apple there's a chance.

As always, I'm curious how a developer managed to break part of the OS that was not involved in the upgrade. Also curious why Apple didn't do sufficient alpha or beta testing on this issue, or release it to hardware and software developers to allow them to test it, to pick up such an systemic issue. Then again, I recall iOS updates that crippled the ability to use the iPhone. 😁

buff.flyer,

Yeah, there are pros and cons to using any platform, but this is one of the major negatives. I am confident this will be fixed quickly due to the importance of reliable GPS for commercial and military users. Obviously private pilots like us are impacted as well, but we don't have our own corporate Apple sales rep to call ;-)

Also, at Bad Elf we're doing an internal review of our QA process to see how we can reduce the odds of something like this happening again. The text matrix is getting a bit crazy: (iOS hardware models, iOS versions) X (Bad Elf hardware, Bad Elf firmware) X (Bad Elf app, 3rd party apps) and unfortunately there will also be random/unplanned iOS point releases that may show up anytime 24/7 -- which means pager duty!

I will post an update to this thread when I have any updates on the issue.

Best regards,

Brett

As of this evening, we haven't received any updates. We did verify that the 8.4 beta release has the same issue, so no luck there.

I will definitely report back to this thread as soon as we hear anything.

-brh

There are a few websites suggesting that, if you act quickly (before Apple slams the door on iOs 8.2 signing) you can roll back your iPad. Haven't tried it yet. it might work. Or you might brick your entire iPad. Suggest Googling around on the topic.

I suspect Garmin is behind it. The tablet EFBs have basically killed the market for its expensive single-function portable aviation GPSs. Slip Apple a few bucks and brick the competition. Bwahaha!

I have to concur, my trusted Garmin GLO doesn't work anymore with my iPod touch. I am confident a patch will be available very soon, this is a big issue.

The GPS on my iPad Air 2 works fine. It only affects the external Bluetooth GPSs

I finally had time to complete search on rolling back to 8.2 As of today Apple is still signing 8.2 -- not much of a surprise considering what a Charlie Foxtrot 8.3 is.

I successfully rolled back my iPad Air to 8.2 without bricking it. Now I just need to survive the endless nag screens urging me to upgrade to the POS 8.3. I though Apple was better the MS, but have re-learned a valuable lesson: "Just say 'No!' to version oh."

For anyone else suffering having Apple brick their Bluetooth GPS device, I found this web page clear and accurate advice on rolling back. It comes complete with links to a short instructional video and links to the 8.2 firmware. It should work as long as Apple keeps signing 8.2

Good luck, all.

So do I. However ten days with none forthcoming, and reports that 8.4 suffers the same anomaly, self-help was in order. I bought my iPad in large part for its EFB features. Not being able to connect to the GPS in my Dual is not acceptable.

Now that I'm out of danger, anyone interested in a little over/under action on how long it will take Apple to fix this issue? Since it's been 10 days already, let's arbitrarily set the over/under date at 1 May. I say 10 days over (11 May). What say ye?