iPhone 8 GPS problems

@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.

@91467

Apple's diagnostic tool can't test the GPS functions if you are indoors with no GPS access when they run the test.

I am not sure from your YouTube video, but that situation doesn't look good. If you put Apple Maps in regular mode (not directions), it should normally show a blue circle that is constantly pulsating outward (not stationary) when you have a GPS signal.

Is your compass working okay? I turned mine off, on, off in Location settings (I have it set to off now), and set True North to "on" (settings>compass>True North). No idea if that helped, but worth a try. You can also recalibrate it by opening up compass, and swiping right to second screen then playing with it until it says the things is calibrated.

Also, did the Apple Store give you a proper reason why they wouldn't replace your US phone with a Japanese one?

The Japanese model does indeed differ from the US versions, BUT the Japanese version seems to have all the cellular and wireless specs of both US models, plus more, and an RFID chip (Felica) thrown in for good measure. So it seems most likely that you could use it in both countries, as you suggested. I think the store refused to swap your phone for a Japanese phone because of internal policy issues, not for any technical reason. They ought to give you a reason for not replacing, other than just "we don't do that".

Check these for specs:

https://www.techwalls.com/iphone-x-models-a1865-a1901-a1902-differences/

US iPhone Model A1865 and A1901

https://www.apple.com/iphone-x/specs/

Japanese iPhone Model A1902

https://www.apple.com/jp/iphone-x/specs/

Good to hear my SIM trick worked for you too. You are supposed to turn the power off first, according to some sources, but I did not, and have had no problems for about two weeks now. I noticed that as of today, neither https://help.apple.com/iphone/11/#/iph3f11fba92 or Remove or switch the SIM card in your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support mention turning off the power and/or making sure the power is off first... although that might be an omission on Apple's part. I think my issue was to do with the phone not registering with cell-towers properly, which messed up the "assisted" part of Assisted-GPS system. Rollier in another thread seemed to solve his problem by getting someone to call him on his mobile line, which presumably re-established the connection, although I think he later had problems and resorted to the SIM trick.

Glad it worked for you too. I have had no problems with my iPhone X since I did the SIM swap out trick. The only issue is that it takes about 20 seconds initially to find the GPS signal, but I think it was fairly slow to do that before all my problem began.

Philly_Phan,

Where did you hear such WRONG information?? Why would Wifi and Bluetooth affect the ability of an iPhone to acquire GPS radio signals being transmitted from satellites orbiting the earth? That makes absolutely no logical sense. Bluetooth has a reliable signal distance of about 30 feet (10 meters), so that obviously wouldn't make any difference in acquiring a signal from satellites orbiting over one hundred MILES above the earth.

When Apple (or others) state that wifi, bluetooth, or cellular should be enabled, it is because some of these terrestrial transmitters are known and retained, either by your iPhone or by Apple, and can help with geo-location by terrestrial means. It has nothing to do with acquiring GPS signals from satellites.

Otherwise, how would Garmin (and other) pure GPS units, which have no wifi or cellular capabilities, be able to function properly?

You've replaced your iPhone 8 twice?!

When you say it loses most of the satellites, how many does it lose?

(I think you only need 3 for the GPS function to work.)

And what level of accuracy are we talking about?

Are you happy with 16meters, what are you aiming for?

If you did that SIM trick (noting the disclaimer) properly, and it didn't work,

and you did factory reset, and tested without restoring, and that didn't work,

the only other things I can think of are:

*update to latest iOS11.4.1,

*make sure Compass has True North on and is calibrated propertly

https://www.getdroidtips.com/proper-compass-calibration-iphone-x/

*turn all apps in Location Settings to Never, except the GPS apps you really need

*use only one GPS app at a time, and turn off all other apps (just to be safe)

Does your mobile carrier use its own network of base stations or is it a MVNO/MOLO that leases the infrastructure from other carriers? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator

Customers of MVNO-type carriers can have problems with their phones taking too long to give them an Assisted-GPS-based location and/or losing it. I think this mainly affects non-Apple phones, but it might be relevant.

Also, if your issue is limited to one neighborhood, the problem could be Pokemon GPS jammers or GPS spoofing

These are just shots in the dark... running out of ideas...

Thanks William. Sounds like you have no problems. We don't hear from people without problems because this tends to be a self-selecting group of people looking for fixes for broken GPS functions.

That link says smartphones have a typical accuracy of 4.9 meters in an open sky, but that is not necessarily the parameters the Apple staff are using, considering the issues Joolz was suffering. The link also says it depends on the "receiver design features/quality".

William,

Even if one in every 100 iPhones were to be faulty, as you posited, that would be a MAJOR issue.

You also seem use yourself as the benchmark of everything. i.e. you don’t have an issue with GPS so anybody else who does, is whinging. And you claim to have viewed this thread hundreds of times just out of curiosity (you have zero issues). First, I doubt you have viewed it “hundreds of times”, otherwise you would have a better idea of what was going on. Second, surely most people don’t come here just out of curiosity, unlike you. You seem to post on these forums on a daily basis, which is admirable, but not typical of a regular users.

Far more importantly, this thread has had over 40,000 views and the other main thread has over 80,000 views, which is way more than other issues that have been acknowledged and/or fixed by Apple.

And what do you mean “if you feel it’s an issue” ??

Did you actually read my post above before making your previous dismissive reply? (“the vast majority are fine, period”)

Having to stand stationary for up to a minute to get the first fix on my GPS-based location and eventually getting no location at all until I reinsert the SIM card IS an issue.

I have already taken it in to the Genius bar, as noted earlier, and they gave me another phone which had the same issue.

It is patently obvious that there IS an issue judging by many of these posts.

You may also note that the post following your most recent one was from another user with the same “non-issue” that was was fixed by the “SIM trick”.

Note this is a makeshift solution; it enables me to get a GPS-based location but the time to first fix is way too long and gets longer over time - having to stand stationary or walk slowly for 30-40seconds until it finds my location is NOT normal- and eventually I have to reinsert the SIM card.

This long-standing issue DOES merit acknowledgement by the maker. So far there has only been an alleged comment from an insider in an AppleInsider article, and possibly a vague reference in an update, but I have yet to see evidence of the latter.

And yes, I have already used the feedback forms…

I appreciate you may be trying to help, but please don’t dismiss others' problems so easily.

spacemnspiff,

You're welcome. I did the SIM trick again 10 days ago but yesterday found myself having to stand stationary for an irritatingly long time to get the first location fix, despite being in a wide-open space. My issue is with getting that initial GPS-based position. Once I get that first lock-on, Motion X and presumably other apps give me very accurate readings.

Interesting to hear that you have a 6S and the same problem as I do. My wife has a 6S and yet has no issues, even though she and I use the same carrier, same setting preferences, and tested in the same location using the GPS Diagnostic app from the App Store, before reinstalling the other apps. The only difference is she doesn't have Motion X or other 3rd party navigation apps. One person on this or other threads mentioned something about reinstalling Google Maps and Waze etc. to fix the problem. I wonder if the issue has something to do with the way the iOS interacts with 3rd party apps or whether bugs in them can affect the A-GPS system.

If I remember next time I have this problem, I will try deleting all my 3rd party apps other than GPS Diagnostic, and then use GPS Diagnostic to test the GPS/location system . Of course, deleting and reinstalling those 3rd party apps would not necessarily fix such a problem if it existed.

Still a total mystery to me.

Correction (**** this posting system and its five minute? time limit for correcting your own posts!)

I just checked; seems like I only went 3 months, not 6 months, until I had to do that SIM trick to sort out the TTFF.

You’re not gaining 20% of battery. You’re not even gaining 2%. WiFi power consumption when on but inactive is MINISCULE.

Philly_Phan wrote:

I certainly haven’t. Mine runs like a scalded dog.

Do you have an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus?

Not wrong, not wrong, not wrong!

I also did the same thing and it didn’t work, Apple had it of known about this issue. Hopefully they start being helpful and find a solution.

Exactly the same problem here. Called Apple support who were not helpful.

Will be trying the replacement route in the new year.

GPS fails when driving l, won’t lock properly, is too slow.