iPhone 8 GPS problems

I got on the phone with Apple support. They had me go to settings privacy and go to the Maps app. It was not indicating on that app whether it should be allowed to see my location at all. Nothing was checked. I checked while using this app and as for right now my problem appears to be fixed. I am testing it now but I’m hopeful that was it.

OK so I went to the Genius Bar at the Apple store. They suggested that I do a full reset leaving my data on the phone which still did not work. The next step was to erase all data and settings and factory reset back to zero. This time set it up as a new iPhone and do not restore from backup. That was a no go for me. I restored to my old phone which is still working fine and I returned the stupid iPhone 8 Plus.

Man, it sounds like I've got the same problem. Tried every software setting mentioned in here, no luck.

I'm not 100% convinced about this, but it seems to behave better if I rest my thumb on the Touch ID sensor? Could point to an antenna problem... But, it still could be random. 😟

Do you use an magnetic mount in your car?

Interesting thought, but I for one don't - my iPhone 8 Plus is in the same claw-style holder my iPhone 6 was.

Magnets shouldn't affect GPS accuracy anyway - compass *maybe*, but before the current holder, I used very strong magnets to hold my iPhone 6 in place and never had an issue.

The problem is also not restricted to in-car use for me.

Im having the same issue, just got back from Apple Store and had phone replaced. My issue mainly seems to occur when i have it on my magnetic mount. I need to test it a bit more, put it on mount as soon as i got out and it had the issue, took it off and it started working. Something tells me the glass back allows for more interference. If yours is happening just walking around u should book a genius appointment and get it replaced. I would be interested to hear from other people if they use the magnetic mount.

Literally just got back from getting replacement, guess i need to test it off the magnetic mount for a length of time. It was having occasional issues when off the mount but much less than when on it. My 6 had no issues on the mount for the 2 years i had it.

I was working with Apple on this and they enabled debug logging on my phone for a day and then collected about 500MB of log files. They also wanted some screen shots of the maps showing my location and wanted me to mark up on the screen shot where I was actually standing so they can see how inaccurate it is. I sent this to them a week and a half ago and as of yesterday they are still working on it. I'm tempted to try IOS 11.1 beta 3 to see if there is a difference.

What GPS app is this screenshot from? I've been using Montion X GPS and when I test on my old iPhone 6s or my sons iPhone 6 it immediately gets a location and the accuracy locks on at 16 feet. When I use my 8 Plus or my daughters 8 Plus the accuracy jumps around between 39 - 79 feet and the position on the map is constantly moving.

I just got an email from the engineer that's working on my case. He said "They are currently working on a fix for the error and will provide more information when he finds out more". I'll post back if I get any more information.

Mine was all down to a magnetic vent mount. Got a new phone but it had same issue so bought a different mount. Something is for sure wrong though, magnet didnt affect my iphone 6 that i just upgraded from and it shouldn’t affect this so hopefully its an upcoming update.

Yeah the magnetic can affect the signal cause of the glass back. But I have used a normal grabbing mount and it still messed with the signal. As soon as I pull it out it’s fixed. But then random parts in the car it would fail.

Still the same problem here with the GPS on my iPhone 8 Plus with iOS 11.0.3

I also notice that taking pictures, he does not take the right location but the old location, very annoying.

Is Apple currently working on a solution?

I am having the same problem with my 8 plus. I are using a clip mount so there are no magnets involved. I’ve tried all the resetting etc to no avail. But I also get the impression that my cellular connection is not as strong as it should be. Though I don’t use it, is the wireless charging equipment in the phone negatively effecting reception for them both? Has anyone got any more feedback? Have replacement phones been better?

One thing though I didn’t notice the problem until after the first update 11.01. or is that just my imagination? My hope is that it is a software problem rather than a hardware one.

I don't think the GPS issues with the iPhone 8 have anything to do with having wifi and Bluetooth on or off. I always leave Wifi and Bluetooth enabled on my phone and I'm having the issue with accuracy. I've also tested my daughters 8 Plus and it is exactly the same. I brought my phone back to the Apple store and they swapped it for a new one a few weeks ago and it does the same thing. I've been working with an Apple Engineer who turned debugging on on my phone for a day and collected about 500MB of log files. The last report I got from them on Oct. 17 was:

"I have received information from our engineers regarding the GPS location. He is currently working on a fix for this error and will provide me information when he finds out more! Glad they are working to address this concern. If you have any questions please let me know but I will reach out when I have a resolution.

Very, very similar issues here. I bought the iPhone 8 and have had a heck of a time getting an accurate GPS signal. Waze/Gmaps would start out fine, and then quickly lose me about two minutes into the drive. The signal would periodically get picked back up, only to promptly be lost again. Closing the apps and restarting periodically got the GPS going again, but not before quickly crapping out. Needless to say, this is no way to navigate to a place you haven't been to before, and completely unacceptable for a brand-new phone. I spent plenty of time on the phone with Apple tech support -- who were helpful and sympathetic -- but we exhausted every option (reset settings, location, LTE, data and talk, bluetooth, airplane mode, wipe the phone and stat anew) and absolutely nothing worked. They sent me to the Apple store for a replacement device.

Lo and behold, the even newer iPhone 8 still seemed to be giving me problems with accurately finding my location while in my car on GPS. I couldn't believe my bad luck, and started wondering if somehow it had something to do with my car, or where my phone was positioned in my car, because I'd also used the GPS with my running apps and hadn't had any issues.

So this might be the strangest part: I've been using an Alisky car phone mount, and I finally took the phone out of the mount during my drive yesterday, and suddenly GPS appeared to be working again just fine. It navigated me all the way home, and so then I tried it again -- outside the phone cradle -- and while the GPS seemed to lose me once or twice, it also picked me back up within about 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes, and fully navigated my entire route.

I at a bit of a loss to explain this -- the rational person in me can't fathom how a piece of plastic could have any effect on a GPS signal. Is it possible that the GPS chip in the iPhone 8 was moved in such a way that depending on the position of my iPhone in the Alisky car phone mount it could actually block the GPS signal? Seems preposterous, I know, but I am really coming up short for an explanation as to why the GPS has mostly worked since I removed my phone from the car mount. Could it be the combination of the silicon Apple-brand case I use plus the plastic Alisky holder is somehow interfering with the GPS triangulation?

I've got some more experimenting to do before declaring this now 2nd iPhone 8's GPS to be busted, but I'd be curious as to whether anyone else has had a similar experience.

Or do we all think this is an iOS issue? If so, I don't know how Apple hasn't addressed this yet as it seems like a fair amount of users are having this same GPS problem.