Everything works in Apple CarPlay except navigation apps

As strange as it sounds, some head units have GPS even though they don’t have navigation.

The important thing to remember is that as soon as you connect via CarPlay, the phone stops using its own location services and asks the head end for location data.

For various reasons, the head end can send your phone incorrect location data, resulting in what you experienced.

RKPedersen — I have a few posts earlier in this thread but I had the same problem with the iLX-107. I went through three different GPS antennas and two different iLX-107 units. I tried every antenna location imaginable including the roof. Not to mention I lost two months of weekends messing with it.

Based on my experience, I think the following scenarios are possible:

1) the iLX-107 model is just bad. It was released in 2017 and maybe Apple changed something in the newer phones like the 8 and the X(s). Alpine has not released a firmware update in that time. That said, I think this scenario seems unlikely because far more people would be upset. Although there are many posts about similar issues, the experience is too bad to ignore.

So that leaves the following possibilities...

2) I used the same wire harness across all the tests I performed with the iLX-107’s. It is possible there was something wrong with the harness. In particular I would look at the speed wire based on the behavior and some other things I read.

3) there is an issue with my 2014 Subaru Forester that caused the problem, likely related to the speed wire data or the OBD feed.

I finally fixed the problem by swapping in a new Pioneer unit with built in navigation. It has worked flawlessly from the beginning, although I don’t like the design as much as the iLX-107 and it was more expensive. The Pioneer unit involved a new wire harness, so scenario 2 above is still possible. However, I did receive an error with the Pioneer early on that the speed data from the car was unreliable, which was interesting. It seemed like the Pioneer unit had a feature to detect and ignore such a problem. I’ve never had an issue with the location on any of the CarPlay GPS apps (Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze) so I didn’t bother investigating the early error message further, so scenario 3 above is still possible. Given the Pioneer has its own navigation system, I’m guessing the native map data on the unit causes the GPS information fed back to CarPlay to be more accurate and not veer off the road due to small variations.

Hopefully my experience may lead you in the right direction and prevent some lost time troubleshooting.

Folks,

Try disabling OBD use to collect information from your car and display in the "Gauge screen".

Let me know if it fixes your issue.

Exact same issue. Took it to dealer and they have decided to replace the antenna. Waiting for the part. Will post if it fixes the problem!

Finally got mine fixed! Dealer replaced the antenna and it works now. This was for our 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe.

Try updating iOS 12.3 and then use GPS. At don't see GPS issue anymore after update.

We have this problem with a 2018 VW Tiguan and our two iPhone SEs. Maps, Waze, or Google Maps mostly work fine, but periodically it will randomly place us somewhere several miles away in the middle of a trip. Problem disappears when we disconnect from CarPlay.

The first time it happened, iPhone GPS thought we were driving around in circles at the local civic center parking lot, even though we were several miles away. Quite amusing if it weren't so maddening.

Took the car to the local VW dealer for a different issue, and it did the same thing in the parking lot. Tried different iPhones from dealer staff and it still didn't work. Will try an Android phone as soon as possible. We gave up at the dealer, but at least they saw it and realized we weren't insane.

Both phones are updated, and we have tried rebooting, etc.

The car has NO built in GPS, so that cannot be the problem.

Sure Hope Apple is checking this out.

Folks,

Apple just released IOS 12.1.3, let me know if it fixed your GPS location issue with Alpine ILX-107 head unit.

1. We're fellow users, not Apple. Complain to Apple here.
2. The phone can only go by what the head end is telling it for its GPS coordinates. Even if the car doesn't have navigation, if it supports CarPlay it often has a GPS antenna and is required to if the CarPlay connection is wireless,

Alpine is sending me a new GPS antenna. Will give that a try but am doubtful. I’m also going to try a few more mounting locations including on the roof, just to rule out all possibilities. It still seems like it might be software related though. Even when it is very inaccurate, my GPS diagnostic app claims the signal is strong and accurate within 17 ft. It is possible that the GPS diagnostic app is reading the phones GPS and not the CarPlay unit, unlike Apple Maps/Google Maps/Waze.

To be fair, I'm highly skeptical the new antenna will do anything. The one it came with looks fine, no damage. There is a small change it'll help but I think it is more likely there is an issue with the connection in the head unit, so you may be better off sending it in from the start.

I moved the gps antenna to the roof and it did not resolve the issue. So, it’s not a windshield/wiper/pillar interference problem. It does seem to work fine for a while and then 5-10 minutes into the drive it just can’t pinpoint my location precisely. I tried the gps diagnostic app and i did notice a difference on and off carplay. Signal from alpine head unit seems worse than testing the phone alone. Not sure whether carplay disables other methods of triangulation that assist gps signal and it’s still reading the gps from phone without wifi/compass/cellular assist or if it’s truly reading the head unit’s gps signal. I tried same test in my other carplay unit and that signal also looked worse than the phone alone. Anyway, I’m extremely ****** off at alpine at the moment. This head unit was very expensive. With all the necessary accessories it cost a grand, not to mention all my time installing and troubleshooting this problem. My same phone works fine in my other car with pioneer app radio carplay unit. I guess I’ll try upgrading iOS now but I am not optimistic since it works on another system.

I've tried just about everything to resolve this GPS issue and nothing works. A few minutes into every trip, the radio nags me "proceed to the route", shows my location on a neighboring street, and starts telling me to turn left or right to get back onto the street that I am already physically driving on. I'm pretty certain the problem is with the Alpine iLX-107 head unit itself. I have a different CarPlay (USB-only) unit in my other car and the GPS antenna is mounted on the dashboard. I have never had any problems with that unit, a Pioneer AppRadio.

-I have tested with my primary iPhone X running iOS 12.1, iOS 12.1.2 & iOS 12.1.3

-I have tested with an iPhone 6 running iOS 11.4

-I have tested with an iPhone SE running iOS 12.1.2

-I have tested both wired and wireless.

-I have tested with the GPS antenna mounted on the passenger side dash with a clear view to the sky (Alpine's recommended location).

-I have tested with the GPS antenna mounted in the center of the dash with a clear view to the sky.

-I have tested with the GPS antenna mounted on the roof.

-I have reset the head unit to factory settings.

-I have re-paired the phone to the head unit and denied wireless (usb only).

-I have unplugged the GPS antenna and tested in USB-only mode. This experience was predictably terrible, but at least that means the head unit's GPS antenna was partly doing its job, though still terribly.

Other than navigation, this Alpine is wonderful. It never drops connection for me. Phone calls, music, Siri, Onboard diagnostics, regular radio, everything else is perfect. But navigation is an absolute core functionality that must work close to 100% of the time or it is unusable. This doesn't even work 50% of the time with the antenna on the roof!

If your unit provides wireless CarPlay connectivity, it must provide location information.

If your unit provides wired CarPlay, it may or may not, but the phone will use information provided by the head unit if it tells the phone it does.

New update:

I replaced the original iLX-107 with a new one (thanks Crutchfield!). Unfortunately, there has been no change in GPS accuracy. I’m still having the same problems. It’s worth noting that I also updated my iDatalink Maestro in the process but that didn’t help anything. I still haven’t tried cutting the speed wire as one Crutchfield support rep suggested (I did confirm it is part of the wiring harness), but that seems like an odd intervention.

At this point I’m thinking about replacing the head unit with a different brand. I’ve tried everything with the iLX-107. Either it’s internal GPS system is really weak, or it was designed and tested on earlier generations of iPhones. It could also be that the wireless CarPlay protocol itself is flawed. It’s frustrating because GPS works so well on the phone when not connected to CarPlay. The Crutchfield support person I talked to said that he had indication in his system that Alpine is working on a firmware update, but there is no timeline. I’m not sure I believe it. Hearing that others are having similar issues on other head units makes me think CarPlay itself is flawed, but you’d think more people would be complaining. It isn’t usable.

Other than spending more money on a different head unit or hoping that Apple/Alpine/both issue software updates, I’m not sure what else to try.