iPhone 8 GPS problems

I am still having problems with MotionX-GPS on my iPhone X. The **** thing cannot find the GPS signal until I restart the app or the entire phone. Once I do that, it works fine, but I am sick of going through this hassle almost every time. I plan to compare and contrast with the native iOS Maps app and Google Maps, but can't be bothered at the moment.

And still not a word from Apple... in their updates or through other official channels.

They are aware of the problem, according to this article. At the bottom, it says "sources" within Apple told the reporter that assorted GPS fixes were included in iOS 11.1 and 11.2.

https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/202750

hi all,

i have the problem with a iphone8 since it was new.

i use iphones since iphone3 but since iphone8 i can't use my "location apps".

if i open the native map app, it shows me flying arround my location up to 200m away and up to 10kmh speed.

during the first week i was really sure, there is NO GPS module inside the iphone8.

but in a very long chat with apple support they told me, all hardware is working properly.

intensive observations convince me that in this device no gps receiver is installed. the device determines the position based on the wlan ssid's in the environment.

All I can suggest is keep exchanging phones with the issue; my 8 Plus never had the issue and I use Waze daily with my X with no issues whatsoever, so there has to be some common factor, and Apple can only determine that by seeing data as to which phones have an issue and which don't.

Before the 11.3 update, Waze would lose me frequently. On 5-hour drive (Interstate highway, constant speed, relatively straight), my position would randomly change several times an hour, usually showing me going in the opposite direction. Course would correct itself after 30 seconds or so.

I drove the same 5-hour route yesterday, after the 11.3 update, and Waze was solid as a rock. I'm skeptical, since nothing was mentioned in the 11.3 release notes about anything related to location services or GPS, but I'm hopeful. Hitting the road later this week again, and will test again.

Hi all,

i have the same issue from new. it came with 11. somewhat, i don't remember. the first time i war sure this iphone 8 has no gps receiver at all. but chat with technician showed me, there is one and is working properly. (at least it is inside).

so i hoped this issue get fixed trough ios updates, searching new ios every day, but no solution. 11.3 is better than before, but still not as good as on iphone 6.

when i start the apple map app, my position is quite good (within 5m), then after a while (approx 1 minute) my position ist flying arround, up to 5kmh speed and distance of approx 500m!

sometimes i'm not eaven in the big blue circle, very bad.

what if i loose my iphone and try to find with "find my iphone"? i would not be able to locate it.

same spot with my "old" iphone 6, rock steady! same ios (11.3 at the moment).

i think it has to do with the different location systems, iphone 6 uses Assisted GPS and GLONASS, iphone SE uses GPS and GLONASS while from iphone 6s onwards GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and QZSS is in use.

apple shows a received positioning system just as GPS.

Does Galileo and/or QZSS distort the accuracy of the location?

if i could be sure a swap of the phone will solve this problem, i would do it. but...

Still testing. That Wifi trick no longer works. Was probably a fluke.

I also compared my wife's iPhone 6S with my iPhone X side by side. Same results as yours, I think. The phones use the same cellular provider, same Wifi, in the same location. She gets green bars on the GPS Diagnostic app while I get orange and red ones, and lose the signal much more often. Also the iPhone 6S shows different altitude (about 10m in difference). I think the altitude reading is linked to GPS and the barometer. I also set Compass to While Sharing and True North which made no difference.

even if the satellites are all green, over 75% in the "GPS Diagnostic" my location floats around in the area. GPS Diagnostic shows Accuracy + -6m and I'm far out of the blue circle.

I do not think that it is primarily the reception, since the satellites are all green and the accuracy shows a very good value. but just a wrong position. And this false postition can only come by misinterpretation of the different systems for position determination. if my drone, which has only a GPS receiver, so no Glonass and so, with an accuracy of 1-2 m flies. Why can not such an expensive device do such a simple thing properly?

if yes, the satellites are all green, then yes, the receiver is in order. So it must be a software problem.

Today I’ve checked with my iPhone 5s. It had iOS 11.2 and gps was working, and after updating to iOS 11.3 it stopped working. GPS diagnostic says that there’s no satellite signal. The same result was with my iPhone 6. After updating to iOS 11.3 GPS stopped working.

This totally worked for me! I bought an iPhone X in March which had constant GPS issues from the start. I contacted Apple Support and tried everything they told me to do (reset locations services, reset network settings, etc.) all to no avail. The only thing that appeared to work is resetting the phone from new, but even then the problem would come back after 1-2 weeks. I finally went in to the genius bar and they swapped my phone for a new one. The GPS on the new one worked fine for about 2 weeks and bam, stopped working again...I'm glad I found this forum and realized a lot of other people have had this problem - I cannot believe Apple hasn't officially acknowledged it yet. It's obviously a software problem in my case since both phones had issues. I even asked the guy at the genius bar if this was a common issue for iPhone X and he said it wasn't. It really ***** because besides the GPS issue, everything else works fine and I really like the phone. I'm glad the SIM card trick seems to work, but until when? When will Apple give us a real fix??

Thus so far, the new iOS update, and all the trouble shooting suggested , does not fix the GPS problems,I can't help but think that due to being an early adopter, there was a dodgy batch of GPS chips put into the phones.”

For those who are still experiencing the problem, the iOS 11.2 official update might fix the problem. Apple has not disclosed the release date of the upcoming software update.

According to GPS Diagnostic my satellite quality is pretty bad. The accuracy is even worse in reality than this app suggests. In fact, all my other mapping apps give consistently worse accuracies than GPS Diagnostic.

I also recorded a short route to demonstrate how bad the situation is. On green line is the route that gps tracked and on red line the route that I actually walked.

When you say you have been using GPS, do you mean you verified with GPS Diagnostic at several intervals during your walk that you had a GPS signal? If not, the GPS connection might have cut out at various points during your walk, resulting in the divergence on your map.

Have you tried factory resetting, and then testing GPS on Apple Maps before restoring your backup?

- but thanks William, that figure of 4.9 meters accuracy in open space is a useful benchmark.

If Apple is aiming for typical accuracy, Joolz should get that reading in those conditions, i.e. the GPS Diagnostic app should give its optimal reading of plus/minus 10 meters (its scale doesn't go below that).

PS to Joolz, screenshots of the GPS Diagnostic app are shown in this post

Re: GPS not working after update to IOS11

PS:

What Joolz was told by the staff, i.e. that "The GPS for the iPhone 5C and 6S (my reference models) are more stable and accurate than the iPhone 8+.", syncs with my own experience with the iPhone X:

Comparing an iPhone 6S with an iPhone X side by side, in the same location, using the same mobile carrier, and the same most recent iOS, and the same GPS Diagnostic app, I get a quicker lock-on and better accuracy for the iPhone 6S than for the iPhone X.

While I have been on the middle lane of a five lane highway for 30 minutes, I experience both google and apple maps running on my iPhone 8 plus sometimes suddenly thinks I am on a side road, and attempts to direct me back on the highway.

Other times I am on a road parallel to the highway and it suddenly thinks I am on the highway, and tries to direct me back off the highway.

I've taken many screen shots of this phenomenon. It even shows the arrow icon representing my car accurately while showing the direction offset to the next street over.

Apple support doesn't seem to be aware of this and despite having seen all the screen shots, want me to reset my phone, which would be extremely inconvenient, and prove that a reset phone also shows the issue. I have heard a number of other excuses, that were implausible.

As with the other posters here, my iPhone 6 never showed this issue.