Why is my GPS not working on iPhone X?

I tried to use google maps and waze yesterday and both apps did not work, notifying me that gps was not available. Is anyone else having this problem? I read that there would be a software update with iOS 11.2 to fix the issue but I have already updated and it still doesn’t work.

Posted on Dec 9, 2017 3:45 AM

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Posted on Jan 20, 2018 3:48 PM

Thank you.


I was having the same issue.


GPS turned on correctly but maps not keeping up with me or drifting. Direction pointing opposite way etc.


I don’t use my phone on a mount as I have been a passanger in the car with this issue.


Your post made me think what was around me. I use my phone case to hold my bank cards which have a magnetic strip. Once I took my phone out of my case my gps issue was fixed. The magnetic strip must have been interfering with the gps.

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Jan 20, 2018 3:48 PM in response to xtribe8wr

Thank you.


I was having the same issue.


GPS turned on correctly but maps not keeping up with me or drifting. Direction pointing opposite way etc.


I don’t use my phone on a mount as I have been a passanger in the car with this issue.


Your post made me think what was around me. I use my phone case to hold my bank cards which have a magnetic strip. Once I took my phone out of my case my gps issue was fixed. The magnetic strip must have been interfering with the gps.

Jan 14, 2018 4:06 PM in response to theclinician

So, after doing all the troubleshooting that was mentioned again and again on this post, plus resetting the phone twice (once with an iCloud restore and another one setting the phone as a new one), I finally toke the phone to the Apple Store. The Apple Genius (I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I think that's how they call themselves), basically told me that I did everything I was supposed to, so he replaced my phone with a brand new one. I restore the new phone with my iCloud backup and I can confirm and that I finally have a phone with a working GPS. Let's hope it lasts. For all of you with this issue, just go to the Apple Store.

Mar 1, 2018 9:05 AM in response to BillSte

I finally fixed it. tried EVERYTHING and ALL SUGGESTIONS resets, location services, deleting apps and reinstalling.

The entire time I had my WiFi turned off. Well, makes sense since I don’t use WiFi when traveling down the road.

However, since I was at home I turned my WiFi on. When I did that, WiFi must have rest my location and it worked.

So I turned WiFi off again to see if my correct gps location would remain exact with Just cellular on (after all it was way off before with Just cellular on).

It held the correct gps location this time.

For my phone, it was just a matter of allowing WiFi to reset the correct the accuracy of the gps. Now everything is working fine with cellular on or off.

Hope this helps.

Apr 9, 2018 5:03 AM in response to vienfromdublin

Any application which uses GPS coordinates will not work if you're in a vehicle that interferes (jams) the reception of GPS satellite signals. Right now, we know this is a problem with 2012 Hyundais and Land Rovers. What make and year of car are you experiencing your problem in.


Also, most of us are able to get the GPS related apps working if you place it lower and away from the driver instrument panel. My iPhone X worked great when mounted about 4" lower and centered over the radio's display; but, if I locate it near the driver's air vent or on the dash with a heads up display, all the GPS apps fail or revert to largely inaccurate positions calculated from wifi or cell tower positioning.

Apr 30, 2018 9:41 AM in response to theclinician

Have same navigation issue with my Iphone X and prevously with Iphone 8 Plus.



First I thought that the problem is in magnetic phone holder but then I tryed to move magnetic holder from dashboard away from my Sonata 2013 dashboard after that navigation starts working just fine. So, in my case iPhone X navigation doesn't want to work near my Sonata 2013 dashboard.



iphone 6 plus and iphone 5s navigation worked just fine with same car and same holder. I don't know how to explain that.

Jan 18, 2018 11:02 AM in response to xtribe8wr

Well folks, I figured out what was causing the GPS problems with my iPhone X. Apparently it was the magnetic phone holder (Koomus) I had in my vehicle. The holder worked great and did not affect the GPS on my previous phone (Samsung Galaxy), but tge GPS worked very haphazardly on two (2) iPhone Xs when I used them in the holder. Since I’ve stopped using the magnetic holder, the GPS has been functioning great with Apple Maps, Google Maps, and Waze.

Jan 23, 2018 3:36 PM in response to AE0KU

You're becoming a real PIA... You're not agreeing with anything that I'm saying! 😀


OK, let's get back to your issue. Please confirm that you have both WiFi and Bluetooth ON. To explain, let me get a bit picky with semantics. We don't know for fact if your GPS is working properly or not and Apple's test indicates that it is. What we DO know is that location services is not working properly and location services depends on GPS and WiFi and Bluetooth.


Settings > Cellular --- Confirm that Cellular Data is ON for Maps. Just for giggles, temporarily turn it off for all other navigation apps like Google Maps, MapQuest, etc. and test again.

Feb 13, 2018 1:41 PM in response to theclinician

I had the same problem and tried just about everything even swapped with new phone but gps and waze still didn’t connect. It’s finally fixed for me and this is what I did:


I drained my phone battery completely out, I drained it at night so it stayed off while I was sleeping so at least 4 hours not sure if time will make a difference. I recharged the battery til it’s over 20% and then I reset location and & privacy and then I reset network settings (All the resets are located in settings>general>reset). It somehow worked at least for the time being. It’s been 2 days and still looking good. Good luck!

Mar 30, 2018 6:25 AM in response to GabrahamLincoln

You did not mention the make of car but clearly from the other posts, the problem is prevalent with Hyundai's around 2012. I also exchanged my iPhone X for another iPhone X and the problem remained. Similar to GabrahamLincoln, it's very dependent on where the phone is placed. When I had it in my vent holder, which is high on the dash, the phone did not receive adequate GPS signals to work. If I placed it on my radio control knobs, which are only about four inches lower than the vent holder and centered on the console, the GPS worked. I originally thought that the antiglare coating was attenuating the GPS signals when the phone was near the window. I now believe there is some kind of interference from the drivers area of the dash. I have left Florida and no longer have access to my Hyundai. Could you check and see if the GPS apps work when the phone is placed to the far right on the dash well away from the driver's instruments.

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Why is my GPS not working on iPhone X?

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