iPhone 8 GPS problems

Thanks, I checked out the other thread you linked to. You seem to be onto something. I wonder though, why some people cannot resolve the problem even after returning their phones? Perhaps because they get another flawed chipset that gets easily melted/dislodged/whatever when they update to the latest iOS? Pretty pathetic if that is the situation. I will be super careful with my new phone i.e. re-installing it gradually and using the GPS apps sparingly. Sigh...

Well the people returning their phones have iPhone 8 and X which is a newer generation than mine. Apple is aware of the GPS problem in these phones and accept to replace them apparently easily. But they don't seem to test the replacement ones first.

I indeed think that there are a lot of phones that were shipped with a problematic hardware part or connection and that Apple is just keeping things quiet.

I had a couple of chat sessions with AppleCare. They had me reset privacy permissions on the Location Services. That didn't help. According to the tech, the diagnostics they ran showed no problems. Their next suggestion is to do factory wipe and setup as new phone. After reading this thread, it looks like this may be pointless.

Running Waze last night on the NJ turnpike, out in the middle of nowhere at highway speed, the app kept "recalculating" as it showed my vehicle traveling in the exact opposite direction, as if I had thrown it into reverse. Restarting the phone seemed to help. It seems to occur without rhyme or reason regardless of nav app in use (Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps).

I am going to try to change all permissions to "while using app" to see if one of the other location service apps is somehow interfering or locking things. Its a hail-Mary for sure, but seems less intrusive than setting up as new.

For me, it hasn't. I have very similar issues with iPhone 7.

I use it to track my runs, and since installing iOS 11 the GPS is consistently tracking between 5% and 20% less than the actual distance. Today I did a long run with iOS 11.3 installed and it tracked 20% less.

Prior to iOS 11 the track was very accurate and consistent. Since installing iOS 11 (and with every single update after that) the track is much less accurate, skips turns, etc.

I suffered for 3 months with an X and BS from Apple and made various posts about it. I eventually swapped for a new iPhone 7 and the GPS works much better. I can now use it as I would expect when walking. The whole thing is a farce and I’ll be very careful buying a first generation device again. I miss the bigger screen on the X and the second camera. I don’t miss Face. iD at all, Touch ID is faster and way more accurate.

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.

After a phone swap (same result as you) I did a little more digging and downloaded an app called "GPS Diagnostic". It shows how many satellites and how good your reception is. My problem seems to be my car (2015 Subaru Legacy). When plugged into USB so I can use Pandora, the GPS completely loses Satellite reception. Its immediate and total. I think it relies on tower triangulation only at that point. Waze behaves as you describe...Apple Maps never reroutes and just says "proceed to route". The app is the best $2.99 I have spent and it helped me narrow down the possible culprit. I have a call opened with Subaru now.

I did setup as a new phone. It is working perfectly now, except when plugged into my Subaru. It is definitely the car though...it causes the same GPS issue on my iPad pro and the Girlfriend's iPhone 7+

I had the same problem on my iPhone 8 since the first day. GPS used to show my location around 200m away. I think Apple needs to investigate and release an update for this issue.

However turning on Wi-Fi while using GPS fixed my problem. It doesn't need to connect to a Wi-Fi, turning on is okay. Have you guys tried this?

The issue I had was actually localized to my Subaru Infotainment unit (2015 Subaru with Nav). Since it has a built-in GPS (albeit somewhat less than desirable) it disables the GPS on the iPhone when plugged into the USB port on the radio. The problem is that the only way for the Subaru unit to fully control the Pandora App is to be plugged into USB on the radio. I validated this behavior is happening across any and all iOS devices. Android is able to control all of it via Bluetooth. Short answer, I will be shopping for a CarPlay Certified aftermarket unit.

To prove the point there is a great $2.99 app called GPS Diagnostic. Shows the Satellite coverage and communications between location services. Helped me narrow it all down. I just came back from the Subaru dealer and tried a couple different cars on the lot with the same radio, with the exact same result.

Brko91

Are you sure the app is basing your location on GPS, not just Wifi and cell-tower triangulation?

Relying on Wifi and cell-towers would be more accurate than just cell-towers.

To be sure, test with GPS Diagnostics, which costs next to nothing on the App Store. A bunch of people on here, including me, like it.

Alternatively use Apple Maps, making sure that you get the "ping effect" I attempted to describe above, not just a light blue circle around a dark blue center.

Just wanted to share my experience and eventual "solution" to this problem.

After 2 replacements of my iPhone 8 Plus, a refund from the (re)seller, and then finally purchasing a new iPhone X directly from Apple, I solved my GPS issues by sheer luck (?)

A month or two ago I went to an Apple Store in a nearby city and reproduced the GPS issue on every iPhone 7, 7+, 8, 8+ and X in the store with ease and almost without exception (would've made an interesting youtube video). I was unable to reproduce it on 6S or SE models which is consistent with my older phone comparisons.

Reproducing it is generally easy, just open Apple Maps, allow location access if needed and hold the phone in your hand for 1-2 minutes until the signal starts the usual drifting/jumping around (not with 6S and SE though). I even showed it to the staff and they were baffled by this. Also, holding the phone in the hand is important since movement (even very slight hand movement) aggravates the issue.

This week I went to an Apple Store in a different city and to my surprise I was unable to replicate the issue on their phones. The devices on display had 11.3 version installed so I figured hey they fixed it in an update in the meantime. I decided to purchase the X on the spot and take my chances hoping that even if it's not the iOS version, they may have newer phones or whatever.

The iPhone X came with some iOS 11.2.X version (don't remember exactly) and I confirmed that the GPS is quite accurate and does not jump/drift around even before upgrading to 11.3 (still working ok). The GPS on my iPhone 8+ most certainly did not work on the latest 11.2.X version.

I can only guess why this phone works correctly, just sharing this experience with you all. Whenever traveling to nearby cities I visit an Apple Store or a reseller and check their 8's and X's for GPS issues. If there's any updates in the future, I'll post back here for you all.

Corangar, How can you test GPS when inside a store?

Were you very close to the window?

Apple Maps may been able to base your position on GPS initially but then become less accurate due to poor reception inside, which would have forced it to rely on only Wifi and cell-tower triangulation.

@AppleQer, most of the Apple Stores I've visited are very open and have huge windows with the outside view so the reception is generally good. Phones on display work on wifi and GPS, but no cellular I think (none of them seem to be connected to a network at least). While I agree that indoor testing like this is not ideal, this is the only way to test store phones and is consistent with my personal phone testing outside it. Even in much worse indoor conditions there is a very distinct behaviour only the faulty phones exhibit and there's no doubt when comparing it to a properly working phone.

Find an iPhone 6S (or SE) nearby an iPhone 8 or X (all of them store phones just to be fair), take two of them in your hands and if the 8/X is faulty you'll see a very stark and consistent difference in their behaviour. Repeat with other phones and soon you see a pattern of the "faulty" phones (if there are any). You are not looking for extreme precision here (although most phones were surprisingly precise in my experience), you are just waiting for the start of very typical, extreme jumps (often 50+ meters), smooth drifts like someone is flying around (sometimes very quickly, sometimes slowly but eventually drifting too far away), and larger than normal, pulsating circles around the location (they will often shrink and expand extremely, very quickly). As long as you hold the phones this behaviour does not stop really. Waiting 10+ minutes does nothing to help such phones. In fact it often makes it worse. Soon you learn recognize the pattern and don't need a lot to confirm the existence of this issue. You need a lot more time to confirm the absence of it though.

"Working" phones never exhibit such behaviour even if they cannot get a precise lock. There are also slight nuances to the smoothness of the jump. Location on such phones will jump around with much less gliding/smoothness, settle down eventually, and will continue to slightly shift around but it's going to be like little instantaneous jumps and well within tolerance of say 5-10 meters. Also, the circle(s) around the location remain in roughly the same size even when pulsating. They change but rarely so extremely. Very sheltered buildings, rooms, tunnels etc. are obviously an exception if it needs mentioning.

But, like I said, in some stores I've been able to reproduce this with ease on many phones. In two stores (only recently) I was unable to trigger this behaviour not even once (one of them was a reseller with terrible indoor conditions). With my new iPhone X, I am unable to reproduce this in any of the previously tested areas. I got to know the behaviour quite well, looking at it every day on my 8+ and comparing it to my wife's 6S in various indoor/outdoor conditions, so now the X is behaving very much like the 6S in each of those conditions.

Hope this helps

P.S. Almost forgot. If you have a "faulty" phone yourself, compare your personal phone to and 8/X in the store. Either both of them exhibit the same issue, or alternatively, if the store phone is "good" it behaves better without cellular than yours does with everything ON. Either way, not a happy outcome for your phone.

Corangar,

Thanks. Just to clarify, by "pulsating" in Apple Maps, do you mean light blue circles that constantly radiate outwards from a dark blue center, like ripples in a pond after you throw a stone into it? I was told that a light blue circle that doesn't move outward from the center means you only have location based on Wifi/cellular rather than GPS. I think you know this, but I want to be certain.

Were you able to tell what iOS versions were installed at the store where nearly all phones had issues, and at the two stores where you couldn't reproduce the problem recently?