iPhone 6 GPS not working

Did you ever find a solution for this? I have an iPhone 6, 64gb, and I've been having this problem for a little over a year now. I have a service business cleaning windows, roofs and gutters for residential customers. My team and I are in one to four places each day. GPS is pretty important to me. I also noticed that my Bluetooth earbuds only work when they are within 6 inches of my phone (totally defeats the purpose!), my Bluetooth speaker only works within 12 inches, my iPad and MacBook Pro consistently connect with wifi routers easily but my phone won't, even from the same location, and my cell coverage seems to be getting worse and worse. I live and work in an urban/suburban community not the forest. I'd love to know what you ended up doing about this issue.

Thanks!

K-Grizz

I just bit the bullet and got a new iPhone. I went from a 6 to an SE, no one could solve the gps not working. I had the antenna flex cable replaced, reset network settings, rebooted the phone, factory reset the phone, no one at the Sprint store could help me or make an insurance claim because when hooked up the diagnostic showed "perfect functionality", and everyone at the apple store was stumped too. Sorry i can't provide any hope.

Hi there, I'd like to offer a follow up to this initial posting from SHADOWSTRIKE1. This is how I FIXED all the GPS, wifi, bluetooth problems everyone has been listing here on my iPhone 6.

I had the exact same problems after the software update, same iphone 6 model, same problems with pokemon go, google maps would show me driving 100meters away from where I was, apple maps arrow wouldn't even move, everything that other users listed here as well. So to save some other soul some heartache, here's what I did to fix the problem on my phone.

I spent months researching, contacting Apple and even seeing them multiple times all to be told to have to "buy" another refurbished phone because I was just out of warranty.

I thought screw that, there's obviously a simple fix and explanation for this problem.

And so finally I found the root of the problem the Flex cable. (If you don't know what it is, read up on it!)

I called around countless phone repair stores all to be told it was the chip on the motherboard or something else unrelated. They all had absolutely no clue and tried to convince me otherwise. Until I persisted and found one person who could indeed swap the Flex cable for $70 dollars.

I didn't have the patience to take apart the phone myself but if you're tech savvy, you can probably find the part on eBay to do it yourself if you have the time and wanna save money.

Before the repair my GPS would always be 100 meters off, bluetooth buggy with ue boom speakers and wifi only showed a small selection of networks compared to a "healthy phone" which picked up much more.

I've just had it fixed today and it all works as if it was a new phone. I wanted to share the news to anyone else out there who stumbles across this forum. Don't buy a new phone without first swapping the flex cable because its a much cheaper alternative to try out.

It worked for me and by the looks of other people on other sites it's worked for them too.

TLDR: don't buy a new phone, replace the Flex cable to fix GPS permanently. Good luck

If you read the thread youll find that most prople have had hardware problems. Personally Ive had three iPhone(s) 6 with gps, wifi, and bluetooth problems fixed with the cable replacement. They go brittle with age and stop conducting.

Evidently, Apple still won't acknowledge that a hardware replacement fixed the issue for many of those who posted here. I received the following from e-mail Apple with regards to a posting here on my success story with the hardware replacement. While I expect Apple to remove this post within a few weeks, my conclusion is that there were many more postings about the success of the flex cable replacement than actually appear now in this forum.

In response to Apples comment:

My answer was tested. I checked that the answer worked on my own device before I posted my submission.

"Thanks for participating in Apple Support Communities.

We’ve removed your post iPhone 6 GPS not working from the Apple Support Communities site because it contained some questionable advice.

If possible, test your answer. Check that your answer works on your own device before you post your Submission.

We appreciate your involvement in our forums, and hope you’ll continue to be active here.

We’ve included a copy of your original post below.

Thanks,

Apple Support Communities Staff"

My iPhone 6 GPS (using either Google Maps or Apple Maps) became useless at some point, not sure when/why, because it couldn't seem to figure out where it was. Bluetooth and WiFi seemed ok. The GPS Status app indicated poor (~180 m) GPS location accuracy.

Tried every reset and config change I could think of with no success. Local repair shop said it was probably a logic board problem.

Replaced the antenna flex cable and antenna using cheap parts from Amazon and now everything works great (GPS Accuracy 5m/Excellent).

Agree it must be substandard hardware on iphone6/s which is why apple wont admit to there being a problem.

Wife upgraded to iphone 7, same ios release and is fine. I restored my gps working iphone se to the iphone 6 and still the GPS issue was still there. So I too, will be attempting to get antenna repaired. Not had a great experience generally with Apple, sometimes wonder why we persevere.

I too did all of the Apple recommended steps to cure the GPS issue short of setting up the device as a new phone and losing all of my messages and having to reinstall all of my apps. That last step seemed a bit much so I researched some more and found this thread. Thank god I did because after a $50 dollar repair that swapped out the flex cable, the issue has been resolved. Now, the weird thing here is that my issue didn't arrive until the 10.3 update, but I'm starting to think that's just a coincidence. Apple really needs to offer better service for these devices. Simple telling someone with an out of warranty phone to pony up $300 for a refurbished devices is lazy at best. If a small shop can do these repairs in minutes then why not the Genius Bar? Let's keep these devices out of a landfill shall we?

My GPS failed many times, and I had trouble getting a GPS lock. I also had trouble with wifi working sometimes, and sometimes not. Apple store said to buy a new phone. I instead carefully followed instructions from ifixit dot com and replaced the Flex F cable $5, and also the wifi antenna $5. Everything works fine now.

Had the same problem so i searched for answers and no one got it right until I tried using wifi and its accurate now with wifi turned off the accuracy is hundred meters away from my location after turning on wifi it will be like a magic get exactly where you are. You dont have to connect to any wifi just turn it on and you'll see. Or atleast works from me.

The reason why Wi-Fi improves GPS location is because of two reasons:

1. Your IP address assigned by Wi-Fi gives away your location - That's how some websites know that you are a reader in so and so city or state.

2. Your Wi-Fi network name (SSID) combined with GPS data that Apple gets from your phone plus other iPhones using your network gives a very precise location because the WiFi hotspot is limited in range.

Basically your iPhone's GPS is dying because of the defective $5 antenna flex cable and your phone has to rely more on Wi-Fi to pinpoint your location.

Sir / Madam

You are an absolute hero , the Apple 'Genius' told me I would need to buy a new phone as the gps chip was built in to the main motherboard.

Saw your post, spent a few pennies on a pentalobe screwdriver opened the phone and there it was as you described the foam insulating pad had slipped completely off the brass contact plate beneath it. Reseated the foam and ............

Voila ! Full gps and Bluetooth restored.

Many thanks, you have saved a ton of money.

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.

My phone quit showing location services once I updated this last Apple update 10-2017. They need to fix this issue as I am getting tired of it as is MANY others with Apple products! I have tried resetting phone doing a hard reset, resetting my network settings and nothing works.

FIX THIS PROBLEM APPLE