GPS not working after update to IOS11

Often in this thread people have spent weeks thinking their problem must be a software one (because sometimes the GPS works, sometimes it doesnt) only to finally realize that their hardware was failing. Replacing the GPS antenna, and for some only reconnecting a loose connector, finally solved the problem.

I have never seen anyone over these 44 pages that got the GPS back for good with an iOS update.

Apple does not recognize a GPS bug and there will therefore never be a fix.

All the best.

PS: if you have an iPhone 6 the GPS and wifi antennas can be bought and replaced.

Hi Dror,

I had the same issue when I upgraded from my 7 plus to the X, then continued to have the same issue when I downgraded from the X to the 8 plus. This issue resides in the backup that you restore your phone off. Unfortunately, the only way to fix this issue is to reset your iPhone using the iTunes app and set up your phone as a new iPhone. Simply resetting network settings or attempting to fix this issue while using a backup containing the issue will NOT fix the issue.

To make sure you have fixed the issue, once you have set up your phone as a new iPhone, download Waze before you download the rest of your apps and ensure GPS works again.

Good luck!

- Not Your Average IT Guy

Thanks JannikeAnd!

I tried the sequence:

Close The Apps, Enable The Airplane Mode, Reset Network Settings

If you tried above-mentioned solutions, but iPhone GPS is not working, perhaps you will fix it by following the path below:

• Close the apps – tap on the Home button twice and you will see the preview of the apps you have been using. When the screen of an app shows up, swipe up to close it. Do this for all the apps that are currently open.
• Navigate to Settings and enable the Airplane mode
• Reset network settings (follow the steps shown in the previous solution)
• Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Disable Location Services, wait a couple of seconds and turn it back on
• Next, navigate to Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Tap System Services and turn off Time Zone.
• Go to Settings and turn off the Airplane mode.

This worked for me.

I spoke to Apple care today as I use an iphone x on IOS 11.1 and was asked to toggle “background app refresh” to " on " for wifi and cellular data, which I did. This solved the GPS problem with maps and google maps not following me as I drove. Both maps app’s now work. They explained that when restored from Itunes from my iphone 7 IOS 10 to my new phone there was a software glitch and the location services weren’t updated. These have now been refreshed with turning this “ on”. I have put this “ off “ again as it uses lots of battery and data when apps keep checking for new info.

Thousands of users out of hundreds of millions of iPhone users? If it was millions moaning about this then i'd agree. Thousands may sound like a big number but considering Apple sold over 10,000,000 iPhone 6's just over the launch weekend, then maybe the coincidence is actually that all our phones suffered a similar hardware issue at a similar time that just happened to be around the first few versions of ios11.

I don't know exactly when my issues started but I doubt it was the same day as the other people on here. I'm not personally seeing thousands of people discussing this issue in this thread. I was convinced it was purely software but if that's the case, why did mine work perfectly after bending it around a little and tapping it on a soft surface? How could that be software?

Read this thread from a year and a half ago and you may realise that people have already lived through this before and accepted an alternative to the software only fault, subsequently fixing their phones with a replacement hardware cable.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7607449?start=0

Add me to the list of people who’ve replaced their flex cable and had the GPS work again. I was conviced it was software at first, but $15 for part and tools to replace isn’t a bad deal. Took me a couple hours, be sure to label the screws and parts you remove. I labeled mine by step number and reassembly went pretty smooth (aside from clumsy fingers and impossibly tiny screws).

Hello , I was able to get this solved.

I removed GOOGLE MAPS and Waze. Restarted the phone.

Reset location history.

Reset network settings .

Rebooted the phone.

Installed google maps and waze again and GPS stared working.

Went outside and tested Both waze and google maps and the direction arrow followed as I move the on roads.

Amazing the fanboys saying its hardware... Perhaps some are, but with out a doubt software is also responsible. I had this issue on my 6S after updating to one of the ios11's. Problem only happened after updating. So many replies on so many threads saying it was hardware. This was my work phone so upgrading or fixing wasn't an option. I updated to ios 11.2.1 and low and behold wow, the problem is magically gone. Hardware does not fix itself, so it was obviusly software related. For those that say they fixed theirs by replacing GPS receivers... my guess is that the update affected the firmware in the gps module itself. So yes, putting in a new one fixes it since the new one has unaffected firmware. My guess is if you install a new GPS and reinstall the suspect ios, you'll have the same issue again. EIther way, 11.2.1 fixed mine, hope it fixes everyone else. Now 11.2.2 is out. I think I'll pass on updating so apple doesn't screw something else up... or continue to intentionally slow my phone down.

I had the same problem on my 6S Plus but I was able to fix it by going into Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Location & Privacy then I restarted the phone. After that the gps on all my map apps were working again.

I also got the GPS problem after upgrading my iPhone SE to to 11.2.1. Version 11.0.3 worked fine; 11.2 caused random resets and power management problems. Version 11.2.1 fixed these problems but broke the GPS in all apps that use it. After doing a full hard reset of all settings and data, the GPS started to work in most apps, for example Google Maps and Waze, but not all. I deleted and reinstalled the apps that were still broken and now they work. I wonder if the problem is not in Version 11.2.1 itself, rather something in the upgrade procedure that causes the connection between apps and the GPS to break in some cases.

If this happens in the future my first response will be to see if deleting and reinstalling affected apps works.

I personally think people are getting tired of having to listen to other people getting angry with them when they will not accept their argument that this can only be an iOs software issue.

Some people are so adamant that it MUST be software that they sit there for months expecting the software to fix what is more likely a hardware problem in most cases as well as almost instructing everyone (that may be more open minded) to think like them. This is one of the most frustrating threads to read as it seems more of a battle between people with open minds and the people that just can't accept that anything hardware related could possibly be the problem. I doubt you will believe a word I am going to say as you seem too stubborn to accept an alternative so this is for the benefit some of the other frustrated people on here that may be being duped in to thinking a software fix is their only way out.

This is my story

I came on here moaning about iOs 11 like everyone else during November 2017. After a couple of weeks of NO GPS, I banged the phone against my hand and tapped it on the dashboard of my car. I pressed around the ear piece at the top and to my amazement the GPS start to sporadically work. It actually worked for a number of weeks until I dropped the phone and cracked the screen. After pressing at the top of the phone and flexing it around, it started working again normally. I lived with the cracked screen for a few weeks and then on passing a phone repair shop, decided to go in and get the screen replaced. When I got it back, the GPS didn't work at all.

I took it back the next day and the chap said that it was a software problem as he had heard about it before but said there had not been a fix from iOs 9 onwards (there is a thread on this site where someone lost the GPS when they upgraded to iOs9 and the thread went on for months with people moaning, not realising that come the end of the thread people were citing iOs 11 as the problem). I explained to him that most of the people on the Apple discussion forums (on that particular thread) had accepted that it was either the flex cable and/or the gps module. I asked him to replace it and if it didn't work I would pay him anyway.

Two hours later I picked it up (this is about five days ago) and it now works perfectly. In fact, it's more accurate than I remember it being before so there must have been some degradation in the cable.

If you are so adamant that it can not be anything other than software then go ahead and sit it out. But please don't come on here insulting people by calling them fan boys because they will not accept your point of view and don't try and sway people to sit it out without at least accepting hardware failure as a possibility. My repair cost £30 although another shop that told me on the phone that it is most likely THE FLEX CABLE and offered to do it the next day for £25.

Yes, agree it is possible that the flex cable is broken and causing bad signal, but my case is probably the software side, I have no gps signal everywhere including open area. I upgraded to 11.2.5 today and the signals finally got back.

If you also experiencing bad wifi/bluetooth signals or flaky gps, then its highly possible that the flex cable is broken, if not try upgrading to 11.2.5

Here is what Waze support replied to my request. The first part of what follows allowed me to get the GPS back for a few minutes....! But not the second time I tried it. Go figure.

*************

To fix your GPS issue, please follow the steps below:

1. Open your phone Settings > Privacy > Location Services and toggle the switch OFF.
2. With the switch toggled off, please perform a hard reset on your iPhone. To do so, hold the Home and Lock buttons until you see the Apple icon. (Note: this will not affect any of the applications or data on your phone).
3. Go back to phone Settings > Privacy > Location Services once again and toggle the switch ON.

iOS 10 (or below) users only: If the issue persists, please try the following steps:

1. Install the application GPS Status from the App Store.
2. Open the app and check what is written next to GPS Status.
   • No fix or Poor fix indicates you have a poor GPS signal, and Waze won't work.
     1. If you keep your phone in a case, please try removing it. This oftentimes interferes with GPS signal.
     2. If you're in a vehicle, try moving your device closer to a window.
     3. If neither of these options improves your signal, please contact your cellular provider or a phone repair center.
   • Excellent fix indicates that your GPS signal is strong. Please open Waze and navigate.

If the above did not solve the issue, please log out from your Waze account by tapping Menu > Settings > Account & Login > Log out. Before doing so, make sure your email is linked to your account by tapping Menu > Settings > Account & Login > Email - this will allow you to reset your password should you need to do so.

that's more or less what I have thought so far too. that since november my iphone could think that I am 15km far from where I am, despite a good 3G connection, only because I keep the wifi off to save a little battery, came as a novelty to me but I won't question it, as long it works. indeed, after turning the wifi on, even if there were no wifi networks that allowed me to connect, fixed the problem. I now wonder if it works also where the are no wifi nw at all.

It has not worked for me. The following steps suggested by Waze Support worked. Once. Then the GPS was gone again.

Hi Wazer!

Thanks for contacting Waze Support.

To fix your GPS issue, please follow the steps below:

1. Open your phone Settings > Privacy > Location Services and toggle the switch OFF.
2. With the switch toggled off, please perform a hard reset on your iPhone. To do so, hold the Home and Lock buttons until you see the Apple icon. (Note: this will not affect any of the applications or data on your phone).
3. Go back to phone Settings > Privacy > Location Services once again and toggle the switch ON.

iOS 10 (or below) users only: If the issue persists, please try the following steps:

1. Install the application GPS Status from the App Store.
2. Open the app and check what is written next to GPS Status.
   • No fix or Poor fix indicates you have a poor GPS signal, and Waze won't work.
     1. If you keep your phone in a case, please try removing it. This oftentimes interferes with GPS signal.
     2. If you're in a vehicle, try moving your device closer to a window.
     3. If neither of these options improves your signal, please contact your cellular provider or a phone repair center.
   • Excellent fix indicates that your GPS signal is strong. Please open Waze and navigate.

If the above did not solve the issue, please log out from your Waze account by tapping Menu > Settings > Account & Login > Log out. Before doing so, make sure your email is linked to your account by tapping Menu > Settings > Account & Login > Email - this will allow you to reset your password should you need to do so.

Thanks,

The Waze Support Team