iPhone 8 GPS problems

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.

@AppleQer Don't know what confused you but I meant what I wrote. We have a 6S (my previous phone) and I have never experienced such GPS issues with it. My 8+ which got replaced multiple times and then refunded, and now the X all experience the same GPS issues. Even today, I use that very same 6S every time as a baseline when comparing the phones and the GPS on the 6S is always working well and does not experience anything not even close to 8/X issues.

My iPhone X worked almost perfectly today with no dropped signal from start to finish. This time I had only three apps, including the GPS app, backgrounded. One app of mine was set to Always On in Location Settings, so I turned that to While Using, which may have helped. Another thing I did was to turn on the GPS tracker while I was still inside my house connected to its Wifi. Again, this may all be a fluke. I will try again tomorrow if possible. It would be nice if this resolved, because I don't want to back-up and factory reset again (and possibly get another replacement again), as that would probably mean I'll have to redo all my two-step authentication settings again.

@selleri

Interesting that you lost the connection when you opened Waze. I sometimes wonder whether there is a limit on how many apps can use the A-GPS chip at the same time (not just the apps but all the functions in Locations Settings/Location Services).

I am testing almost daily too, except I use MotionX GPS on a replacement iPhone X, which also failed soon after I got it even though I didn't install from the old back-up. Today my GPS was fine again for a second day. I started MotionX GPS while in range of my home Wifi, but I have no idea if that really helped. The other thing I did was turn a weather-alert app from Always On to While Using in the Location Settings.

I am also giving the phone plenty of time to find the initial signal, without refreshing.

Again, this could all be coincidence. It could be just that a lose connection has temporarily fallen back into place.

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.

@ashamansky.

Nake sure it isn't a software issue, by

1) reset network settings, turn location settings on/off/on, make sure only essential apps have locations settings on, restart phone, test it

2) if that fails, back up to iTunes,

3) use the "restore iPhone" (not "restore from backup") function on iTunes to reset your phone to the latest iOS (don't use the internal settings on your iPhone to reset as that will just reset your iOS to the one installed at the factory).

4) after doing the above to initialize your iPhone, test its GPS by using Apple Maps (the blue circles should be constantly pulsating/radiating outward if you have a GPS signal. If not, you will just get a stationary blue circle around a dark blue center).

5) after that you could try installing the GPS Diagnostic app and use it to see how weak your signal reception is.

6) If none of that works, it is probably a hardware issue. See posts earlier in this thread and other threads by people who resolved their problems after replacing faulty chips in older iPhones.

[Edited by Host]

OK, just to repeat: if you do that "factory reset", remember to backup first and reset via iTunes/USB to restart with iOS11.3 (if you reset from the iPhone's internal settings, you will probably get the old iOS installed at the factory).

Evidently Japan store don’t have the exact same model that I have, and they refuse to give me a different model even if it is fully compatible with the network I use in the U.S. They won’t replace it even if they have it, they can only sent it in to Apple service center for repair. By the time I get it back, I will be out of Japan and they can’t ship the phone back to me in the U.S. So my phone that I bought brand new will become a repaired phone once this problem get fix. I did a screen recording of both apple map and google map and showed it to the genius guy and he agree, the gps is definitely messed up. I will have to navigate through Japan with a mess up gps. I don’t know if I will buy future apple product after this experience.

This is me with a follow on. Still having problems. Seems definitely to be a software problem and is not just limited to Waze. It is tied to the location settings in iPhone and to a loss of processing of the satellite signals (called GPS) due to some conflict somewhere

@selleri

Try a full reset - via iTunes (see above). Try Apple Maps after that, before restoring your old backup.

I found that helped with my iPhoneX problems, although I decided to set up the phone from scratch, to be safe.

I had some problems recur a few weeks after doing that, but it is okay again now after I turned off many apps in location settings, including one suspicious one that was set to "Always on". I suspect that sometimes the A-GPS chip turns off if too many apps are using it. Not sure.

I have to give the phone about 10-15 seconds while standing still to get the signal but once it catches it, there are usually no problems.

The genius guy did a full factory reset, run his diagnostic tool and everything. I end up having to run around Tokyo until I saw a phone store and bought a 120$ phone to do a job that a 1200$ cannot do. The only app I had at the time of my recorded test are apple map and google map...

Hi all,

Have been thinking of getting the 8 or X recently but the widespread reporting of GPS problems has stopped me. I rely heavily on GPS when travelling long distances and when abroad, so really need it working well!

Have any of you actually tried reaching out to Apple about this? If so, what do they say? Hopefully fixed in the upcoming models..

PS: also turn as many apps in Location Services to Off or While using. Only use the setting Always for emergency apps. Also turn off whatever you don't need in Settings>Privacy>Locations Services>System Services. And quit (hold, swipe upward) any apps that might be running in background when using your GPS app. Plus, give it a few extra seconds before moving/walking/running to find your location at the start. I do these things (and the things mentioned above) and my problems haven't recurred. Not sure which one if any did the trick. It really is a crapshoot and possibly a crapphone 😝

The apple genius pull up the compass and his iPhone compass and it point to same direction so he claim GPS is working. He ran diagnostic tool and he said everything came back fine. He then restore the iPhone and have me go test it. I came back, and ask if the phone can be replace. One of the genius mentioned earlier he will send me to another store to pick up a replacement. That option seems to vanish from the table once the second genius come. The second genius claim they can only replace with exact Verizon Model even though I said I am OK with Japanese model and shutter sound unable to shutoff. Since they don't have verizon model, he said I would need to send in mine phone for a 7 to 10 repair. That option doesn't work for me since I won't be in Japan to pick up my phone if it end up being 10 days. That pretty much conclude half a day of spending my vacation day at apple. I then initiate apple support later and they say if I am outside the country, policy said they and I quote "carry-in is the only service option when a customer is outside the device's country of purchase. If the service is not available in the customer's location, advise the customer to seek service in another country." Unless apple support reach out and resolve this, I don't want to waste another day of my vacation just to be told the same thing."

I told the genius guy I am with T-Mobile using gsm network. He doesn't discuss anything with bands. Just keep going on with we can only replace with same model (which most place dont if you travel out of the states). I also ask the genius to write up report in English which he clearly did not from chatting with apple support. I did sent the video link to foxnews and informed them of a potential iphoneX GPS gate so hopefully this issue will garner some attention once the media take interest.