Everything works in Apple CarPlay except navigation apps

How to use CarPlay with your iPhone - Apple Support

Get help

If CarPlay doesn't work like you expect, make sure that your iPhone has the latest version of iOS. After your iPhone is updated, follow these steps—checking CarPlay after each step:

1. If CarPlay doesn't activate automatically, look for the CarPlay logo on your car's display.
2. Restart your iPhone and your car.
3. Make sure that Siri is on.
4. If your iPhone isn't detected by CarPlay, make sure that CarPlay isn't restricted. Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions, tap Allowed Apps and make sure that CarPlay is enabled.
5. Go to Settings > General > CarPlay, and tap Forget This Car.
6. Check your connection:
   • If you have a wired connection, try connecting again with a different USB cable to a different USB port if you have one.
   • If you have a wireless connection, enable AirPlane mode by going to Settings > Airplane Mode. Don't enable Airplane Mode from Control Center.
7. If needed, install firmware updates. Check your car's manual for more information.

If you still have issues connecting to CarPlay, contact Apple Support.

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,

Questions:

• Could it be that this is your first "long" use of Waze on the car?
• Was your phone pancake baking hot when the issue happened?
• Did the problem go away when you let the car/phone rest for more tnan 30 minutes?

Summary of findings reading through this and other threads:

The fix

• Various brands of cars/head units were affected in various countries, you are not alone with this issue
• Most people got it fixed by either replacing their head unit OR performing a software upgrade

So, I suggest the very first thing you do when you have this issue, is upgrading the firmware.

Possible (likely?) cause:

• It's not likely your phone as the GPS works fine by itself
• It's not your head unit or the GPS sensor either (if mounted properly)
• Changes were made to the World Magnetic Model due to polar magnetic drift, see here: https://www.sciencealert.com/navigation-systems-finally-caught-up-with-the-mysteriously-north-pole-shift
• To fix this an update was issued to GPS equipment manufacturers
• Your unit might not be updated yet (a new one probably is)
• When your phone is connected to the head unit, the phone receives the location data from the head unit GPS sensor
• The mismatch of GPS data between the map on your phone (updated via iOS updates) and the coordinates from your head unit (I guess not updated) results in displaying an offset position

Tips

• Don't stuff the GPS sensor provided with your unit away behind other stuff
• I troubleshooted this issue with the sensor literally lying on the roof of the car in an open area to eliminate this being the issue
• You need to drive around a bit for the software to calibrate, just a few blocks should do it
• Things are more accurate when the VSS (speed sensor cable) is properly connected, e.g. tunnels etc.

Troubleshooting

• You can use GPS Diagnostic software (an app) that shows GPS info. Run this app with and without your phone connected to your head-unit. Is there a difference?

I have a 2019 Dodge Challenger and the GPS keeps putting me in Hollywood when I’m more than 39 miles from there. The phone corrects when I unplug it and it doesn’t happen every time. It’s very frustrating. Apple tried to help me with it but with no luck. In the image the Tree icon is where I was and the blue dot is where it thought I was.

I’m having the same issue. GPS works great until it connects to apple carplay. I’ve tried restarting the car/phone, resetting all apps, deleting and reinstalling.

On a road trip. Wish I could undo the update.

I am facing the same issue with my iPhone 10 maps (Apple & Google) when connected to car play. The GPS seems to loose track and freezes and map keeps turning upside down or horizontal. It is almost impossible to use maps in car play. This was working fine until I updated my iOS to version 12.

This is a severe usability issue which requires immediate Apple attention.

Same Apple and Google maps application works fine when not connected with car play.

I am having the same issue. As soon as I connect my iphone X to the car play the GPS start playing tricks. So I tried with Waze, Google Maps and Apple Maps they all loosing connection after I plug in the iphone to the carplay. Can apple just make sure that carplay always using phone GPS module but not try to use the car's head unit GPS. I guess that is the main problem when connected to the carplay apple apps trying to use cars integrated GPS module or something.... Please offer your customers some kind of a fix as soon as possible as this is very annoying!!!

No, they really can't, or likely won't.

The phone will preferentially use GPS information from the car's head end, and the phone can't just determine whose GPS is more accurate.

I can see offering a choice of which GPS data to use being a support nightmare.

For wired CarPlay systems, GPS capability is optional.

For wireless CarPlay systems, GPS capability is required.

The issue seems to be in many vehicles the head unit is providing GPS data regardless of whether it actually has accurate position information to provide, and the problem is the protocol is designed assuming the head end will do the right thing.

Sounds like either an issue with the Alpines or the Alpine installers are not doing a good job of routing the unit's GPS antenna (since the unit itself doesn't have navigation, installers may think the GPS antenna an afterthought rather than realize that's how information gets fed to CarPlay.)

The installer followed the Alpine installation instructions to the letter.

I spoke to an Alpine customer service today.

He asked me

1) to reset the unit to factory settings

2) relocate the antenna outside the car (not in their installation instructions).

Will try this tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Then yes, moving the antenna outside the car is the next step (as stated in the last instruction.)

Some cars have enough bits of metal in the pillars or there is metal in the windshield glass, reducing GPS reception.

It also could be a bad antenna or antenna cable.

If not connected to CarPlay, is your location accurate on your phone while the phone is inside the car?

If not connected, yes. I got accurate location on my iPhone X.

I forgot to mention that this is an intermittent issue. I typically get accurate location on the start of my trip. After a while, 15 minutes or so, on a straight freeway, the arrow (car location) suddenly jumps outside of the freeway. About 100 yards or so.

I doubt this is an antenna reception issue. It seemed to me that this is a communication between the phone and the head unit.

There is lag betwen the two.

William Kucharski I think you are not quite right. My car has integrated antenna and the carplay is still not working on my newest iphone. Anyway I have iphone X and iphone 5s I bought an app called GPS diagnostic. The truth is iphone 5s has 90% signal most of the time does not matter the location of the phone, iphone X has 50% most of the time as signal improves if you move the phone to a better place. Iphone 5s is working great on my carplay Iphone X is not. Iphone 5S is running ios 10.2.1 iphone X is running latest ios 12.1.2. Definitely is a software problem or poor quality of hardware used in the new iphones. I think it has something to do with the power management in ios 12 as I tried few things to prove it. on iphone X - If you turn your phone in landscape mode it improves the GPS signal(i guess the software thinks you are not using that much power) also it works better on specific spots in the car. For me apple needs to sort out their software first as many many people complaining about it. Google the problem and you will see how many people are struggling

I did the reset of the head unit and relocated the antenna outside the car (above the windshield), problem is not resolved.

I'm still getting intermittency on the location accuracy. It seemed there is a time when the map or car location doesn't move i.e. "laggy" and when the app finally catches up it doesn't update the location.

That leads me to deduce it is iPhone X (IOS 12.1.2) and head unit (Alpine ILX-107) handshake issue.