iPhone 6 GPS not working

Another +1 on the Antenna Flex Cable repair success.

Background, my GPS was working fine on my iPhone 6 until about 2 weeks ago. I use my GPS daily in the car, and suddenly about 2 weeks ago it stopped tracking during GPS guidance, or showed me 100-300m off the road, then the GPS stopped working altogether. Also, I didn't know it was related at the time, but I had also been experiencing Wi-Fi reception degradation too!

After trying all the software fixes I could find (reboot, restore, etc.) with no success, I came upon the suggestion of replacing the Antenna Flex Cable. So I ordered the part+kit from Ifixit.com for $21.50 delivered. This morning, I followed iFixit's instructions page, slowly and carefully. Finished the repair in about 1 hour.

GPS and Wi-Fi now back to full functionality. Like many iPhone 6's listed here, it was a hardware problem! If you have a modicum of patience and technical ability, I'd suggest replacing your Antenna Flex Cable yourself.

Agreed, I ended up having to replace my flex antenna at the cost of a few dollars (in my case £ sterling). I found it a fairly daunting task as you pretty much have to take the phone to pieces to do it, but the ifixit guide is excellent , and maybe for some more tech savvy people it's less of a challenge.

Anyway I can only speak for myself but this absolutely fixed the problem at very little cost, in my case it was definitely hardware. My issue occurred shortly after the Apple store replaced the battery in the phone so I am wondering if they screwed something up on the phone when they did that.

Thank you for those that suggested replacing the flex cable. I ordered the parts and toolkit from ifixit.com and after replacing this cable my GPS is now working. $19.99 including shipping for both the part and the tool kit. If you are not very handy - or have less than perfect close vision - I would recommend that you have this installed by a professional. I regretted this project once I rolled up my sleeves to tackle, and by blind luck (literally with these 50 year old eyes) I installed this deeply embedded part.

Hardware problem. I replaced the flex cable as previously described and my GPS is now working perfectly. Purchased parts and tools from fixit.com. $25 total. The install is not easy - be certain to have containers to label and place the very small screws as you disassemble (I used the same containers you would get for side sauces for to-go orders in restaurants).

Hardware problem. I replaced the flex cable as previously described and my GPS is now working perfectly. Purchased parts and tools from fixit.com. $25 total. The install is not easy - be certain to have containers to label and place the very small screws as you disassemble (I used the same containers you would get for side sauces for to-go orders in restaurants).

My iPhone 6 GPS started working very poorly around the time I upgraded to IOS 11. I Tried a lot of tricks found online and nothing worked. I was going to buy a new phone and thought I’d give this a try...

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+6+Antenna+Flex+Cable+Replacement/90317

Worked perfectly and my GPS is back to normal. Took a little over an hour. You can buy the part and the needed tools right from the website for under $20. If you’re not comfortable with taking a lot of the phone apart, you may want to have a repair shop do it but I don’t know how much that would cost. Great instructions on the ifixit website. Make sure you keep track of which screw goes where because they are all deifferent sizes. You could ruin the phone trying to put the wrong screw back in the wrong hole. Good luck if you try it.

There are several other threads detailing this issue on iPhone 6, 6S and interestingly iPhone X.

I've tried practically every software and setting based solution, none of them worked.

The latest iOS update had temporarily fixed the issue (approximately two weeks of stable GPS turn-by-turn). That fix "broke" today 07/18/2018, potentially related to me syncing my iPhone with iTunes and doing a backup to my PC (not sure exactly what would have caused something like that to occur, but immediately following that sync and backup the GPS stopped working properly again, as described by many people in this thread and elsewhere - failure to properly triangulate a signal, plot a course and track position while driving).

After the GPS functionality broke again today, I looked to the Apple discussion forums again for an update or solution. I found a fix that IMMEDIATELY worked with positive results. I strongly suggest you try these steps:

1. With phone powered on remove SIM card

2. Power off phone

3. Power on phone

4. Insert SIM

5. Power cycle phone one more time

That worked for me as soon as I did it. From the same location that my phone could not track my position, it was immediately able to locate my phone, displayed it facing in the right direction, quickly plotted a course on the Google Maps app, and called out turn by turn accurately while it tracked my movement.

Hope this helps anybody reading this thread. Please respond if it worked for you!

I had this problem for the past week and this solution (Reset Network Settings) fixed it. I talked to Apple Support twice who tried really simple basic things. Each time the solution was to go to the store and pay to fix it (OR buy a new one when this is only 18 months old) Don't know why I didn't try this.

Thanks!

The app "GPS Diagnostic" will determine the performance of your GPS Antenna and tell you if you are receiving GPS satellite signals or not. Once you have determined a GPS hardware problem, then replacing the GPS Antenna often solves the problem.

That is exactly what I did to fix my dead GPS. I replaced the flex cable and antenna (and used a newly purchased magnetic mat -- essential for keeping track of so many tiny screws and parts!).

Thanks for your post, Stu!

A reputable repair shop I called said dead GPS is "very very common" with iPhone 6 and that it was not fixable because the failure is in the logic board. Then I saw this forum and decided to spend $20 in hope that my problem was fixable. $20 is way better than $zillion for a new phone!

Oddly, my new flex cable did not have the sticky gritty compound (bare metal only) but my old one did.

I replaced the flex cable about 4 - 6 weeks ago. GPS has been perfect since the replacement. GPS couldn’t find me before the replacement making Waze and other apps useless. Saved me from buying a new phone since I rely on Waze quite a bit.

I'm not certain that the Sim fix would be viable for GPS issues that may have occurred prior to the iOS 11 64 bit changeover.

Not saying that they can't or don't occur, but this fix may strictly rectify something that occurred during the fundamental way that iOS 11 communicates with GPS data, as this was not an issue for myself and many users prior to the 11 changeover.

Now, this could just be an overall hardware/antenna deterioration similar to the spread of "touch disease" via long-term use, which would be why the problems seem intermittent or seemingly "fixed" by random events, but as far as what I experienced today, I had an iPhone 6 on the latest build of iOS 11 that was stable and functional for weeks that suddenly "broke" where the GPS couldn't triangulate movement or deliver turn-by-turn properly that was completely rectified immediately after the Sim power cycle move.

Certainly a possibility that it'll break again apropos of nothing, or that power cycling didn't actually do anything, but if it is something software-based, the act of pulling the sim, having the system clear out anyting in active memory and then re-establish communication with that encrypted card, might replace or repair whatever was causing the problem.

Best of luck with your setup. I wish Apple would put a bit more effort into supporting recent legacy handsets. If they're still getting iOS compatible updates, it would be nice for them to look at pervasive issues like this and if not fix them, at least acknowledge them.

Search Flex cable replacement in the forum here. Only thing that seems to work for all.

I've tried everything.

I noticed replacing the Logic Board Antenna line cord.

The problem with the weak wifi signal and no GPS was fixed instantly.

I do not know why and if the cable was bad, the only thing I know is that this problem appears after upgrading to iOS 11.

Maybe a coincidence, I do not know ...

Thank you! Flex cable replacement fixed mine. Took well over an hour for my electrical engineer husband. Definitely not easy with kiddos around. Everything works now though. Thanks for all the help here. Too bad Apple was not helpful.