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GPS problem iPhone 6S

I have problems with my iPhones gps to locate satellites using Waze, NAVIGO and maps all having the same problem. Use to have a 4, 4s, 5, 5s, 6 now 6S and during the same line of travel I have never lost contact with satellites. I'm currently running iOS 9.1. I have restarted, re installed, re booted. But get the same result. Do you have any good tips on what to do?


BR


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iPhone 6s, iOS 9.1

Posted on Oct 21, 2015 11:24 PM

Reply
137 replies

Jan 2, 2016 2:35 PM in response to RJH8

I'm definitely sure that it's not the head unit causing the GPS problems in my phone. As I tested it any possible way: in and out the car. Those mumble jamble map my run pictures I posted previously were taken then I tested it just doing short straight line walk around the neighborhood just holding the phone in my hands. So it was for sure no interference there from anything. Also strange thing that the GPS problem didn't start from the beginning: the first 2-3 weeks after I just got the phone it was working fine and then it started being slightly off and progressively got worse. Now it's completely useless. Just tried it again on the hike and lucky we had other iPhone 6 with us to navigate us thru hiking trails. If we'd followed this 6s iPhone we'd ended up in different state. So Monday is another trip to Apple Store to get new phone. Hoping that it wouldn't be another lemon like this one.

Jan 6, 2016 10:52 PM in response to herlow

I do have this problem with my Iphone 6 since one month. it started on dez 1st. one month after the warranty has ended. verry frustrating. no matter if i use a case or not. at about 1% of the time, the phone finds a gps signal, and sooses it right away. some navigation apps don't work at all. some try to get the approximate location via the lte transmitter mast. I have used some old version (8.x) when it started and updated it to 9.2 for a short time I thought that would be fixed, but now it is even worse. since a week I have no signal at all. I am realy frustrated. cause everytime I get a new iphone, short after teh warranty ends, something like that happens. with the iphone 5 I had some serious battery problems (turning off because of "empty battery" at more than 70% of batty...) I hope, but I don't beleave to finde a solution here...

Jan 7, 2016 10:54 AM in response to vegitill

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I'm for sure is with everyone else on all the frustrations. Just change my phone on the warranty on Monday and started to check the GPS work. At first it looked ok, however the Google maps were running slightly funny: just like loosing your location for a bit getting an arrow off the road then finding it again. Then tried the MapQuest app and it looked like was running better then google. It surely wasn't as bad as on my old phone that i just replaced, but i remembered that the problem on that phone stated later and progressively got worse. But not till yesterday i could fully test it with Map My Run app. I can tell how accurate the GPS is only by running that app because I used it for a few years and know my usual pace of running and also you can record it when finished.

That's how first problem started about 3 weeks after i got my new phone: i got it on November 13, and first time the map my run app was slightly off was on December 6 when it recorded me running over a minute and a half less my usual pace, and in 2 days it was recording over 4 min less then usual. but at that time i though that it was something wrong with this app, until all the navigation apps totally stop working. Now with the new replaced phone it looked like started from very beginning the same way like the other phone, just being off slightly. At this point i don't keep my hopes up. I'm almost sure that it would get worse in the short time just like the other phone did, unless Apple will acknowledge the problem and fix it. So far i wasn't able to get anything out of them with all the phone calls and Apple Store visits. They all said that the new phone would fix the problem but i wasn't so optimistic based what i read on this forum. Yesterday i got the actual mile read was 0.8 miles when the Map My Run called it a mile of my run. So it's definitely is off. i'll follow it for another couple of days and see if it would get worse as before. I downloaded the GPS checker up and it reads 3/5 on both vertical and horizontal accuracy. I bet that old phone if i would've tested it before trading it in, would be much less then it. It reads 4/5 on our other regular iPhone 6. The included is the screen shot of my yesterday's run. it's not as horrible as the photos i previously posted but you can definitely tell the difference from normal run recordings when the GPS was operating well. (the second one is from normal GPS)

Jan 7, 2016 11:20 AM in response to vegitill

Also I suspect that there are more people are having this problem and not just this forum users. I know that not everybody uses the GPS and apps that rely on it a lot. I bet that some people don't even realize that it's not working correctly. I spoke to one friend that have 6s model asking if he had problem, and he said he didn't know, just noticed couple of times that Google Maps was funny and sent him to wrong place. So if you not relying on using those types of Apps lots of people don't catch the problem. Other then GPS the phone works fine. I'm my case it took me over 3 weeks to realize that it was the problem with the phone. In the beginning i was blaming inaccuracy on specific app until neither one of them worked on my phone 6s and they all worked perfectly fine on our other iPhone 6.

Jan 9, 2016 2:10 AM in response to Dfinder

My GPS issue has been "fixed" now by a mix of workarounds mentioned here in this thread.
These settings worked for me on my iPhone 6S with iOS 9.2.


- 4G/LTE Turned OFF (I now use 3G)

- WIFI ON (Always)
- Bluetooth ON* (Always) *Though this makes no scence at all, it worked for me.


All routes/workouts etc is now completely stable and it has not been drifting ever since.

Jan 12, 2016 9:49 AM in response to vegitill

I think my GPS mystery may have been solved: last week a while talking about the GPS problem a friend after looking at my phone just made a suggestion that maybe my phone cover may have interfering with GPS signal in some way. I had a metal plate on my cover. So i decided to take it off and put some simple plastic phone cover and them began my tests again. I did 3 tests so far: one with Google map navigation while driving, one with Ski Track app and yesterday to make sure tried Map My Run app. All 3 looked like were running pretty accurately unlike it was before with that cover on. It looks like the mystery was solved (keeping my fingers crossed). Very strange that my phone has been seeing by 4 different Apple Store genius bar reps and yet neither one of them even suggested that it could be cover interference. And yet a friend that doesn't really know much about phones just made that suggestions that looks like fixed the problem. I guess some Apple Store reps not that genius after all. Just thought this could be helpful info for all the people that were having the same problem: take a look at your phone covers and make sure it's no metal in it, or try to test it without that cover for the heck of it. I'll still yet to be testing more but so far for 4 days after i took that cover off i didn't notice any issues.

Jan 26, 2016 6:20 AM in response to Dfinder

I had issues with my iPhone 6 after upgraded to iOS 9.1.2.

My phone was out of warranty 3 weeks, but Apple exchanged it.

The GPS issue was still not resolved.

I went to Apple and changed out the SIM card. No change.

I restored my phone numerous times.

I was fed up and about to switch to Samsung.

I took my iPhone out of its protective case.

Then I noticed I had full bars and GPS was working properly on Waze and Google Maps.

I tried it with the case back on, GPS was irregular.

It turns out the cause of my problem was the cheap phone case I bought from the 99¢ Store.

GPS problem iPhone 6S

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