Some iPhone 8, iPhone X users suffering from GPS issues, software fix appears to be coming...

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in iPhone
A growing thread on the Apple community support forums suggests that users are having some difficulties with GPS accuracy mostly on the iPhone 8 and iPhone X -- but a software fix appears to be included for most in the most recent beta of iOS 11.2.




Users afflicted by the problem note that the location drifts away from where the user is, with the problem aggravated by high rates of speed like a car on a highway. The traditional problem-solving steps of toggling location services on and off don't seem to work, nor does a fresh software install.

AppleInsider reader Brandon reports that Apple has "captured" three iPhone 8 Plus units from him over the span of a month. Apple generally captures problematic hardware to send it directly to engineering teams to diagnose a rare issue, or one they want to collect more data on.

Turning to data that we have been collecting since the iPhone 6 "Touch Disease" saga began, there appears to be a very slight increase in Genius Bar requests in general regarding GPS location since iOS 11 launched. However, there doesn't appear to be a statistically significant increase in the percentage of iPhone 8 family devices brought in for service for GPS problems, over the iPhone 7 at launch or at present.

While the support forum reports suggest that the iPhone X may be having a similar issue, there isn't enough service data for the unit collected as of yet to make any meaningful conclusion about the prevalence of the problem in the phone which has only been available to consumers for a week.

Afflicted users cite Apple's different responses to the situation at varying levels of Apple support. Many users are encouraged to return their devices for a new one -- which generally doesn't fix the situation for the user. This suggesting an environmental problem local to the afflicted user, or variances in signals used in location determination could also be a culprit.

However, the problem isn't widespread, and not even close to universal. None of the devices AppleInsider has on hand are afflicted by the issue.

Some GPS temporary variance is expected given the nature of the position location. However, persistent problems resulting in a drift from expected location over time that do not correct themselves when a new signal presents itself are not.

Sources within Apple not authorized to speak for the company have told us that "assorted GPS fixes" have been included in iOS 11.1 and the beta releases for iOS 11.2. Some support forum-goers have reported the same, with some claiming that iOS 11.1 rectified their issue, and others saying that 11.2 was the fix.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,080member
    Just another reason to wait 6 months before getting new os and new iPhone/computer.
    tokyojimumuthuk_vanalingamSpamSandwich
  • Reply 2 of 14
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,469member
    NAVGate!
  • Reply 3 of 14
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    The Apple Discussion Forums have been rather quiet about the iPhone X. The tech press appears to be waiting for the traditional ‘gate’ to appear but that hasn’t happened yet. So far all we’ve got is that some twins can open each other’s phones and that some siblings can too. You gotta know that the neckbeard crowd is working furiously in their two room aprtments trying to find the next ‘gate’.
    jony0magman1979
  • Reply 4 of 14
    I would like to know if there is a particular model phone having this issue.   I use GPS extensively in my work and the Intel chipset is not as robust as the Qualcomm for GPS accuracy.  Starting with the iPhone 7 Apple continued to use Qualcomm chipset for the "world phone", which included CDMA, but switched to Intel chipsets for its non-CDMA phones.  I had issues with Intel GPS in the field and under the Apple iPhone Upgrade program received an iPhone "world phone" when I upgraded to my iPhone 7 but stuck with AT&T (what Apple calls an unlocked phone, but really they are all unlocked).  Currently Apple does not allow an iPhone 8 Upgrade option to do this again (they will not issue a Qualcomm chipset phone (CDMA) to an AT&T account), thus negating my Upgrade plan.

    I am not a fan of Qualcomm (I think they will lose their litigation), but presently they do have a superior chipset over Intel.  Most folks are only interested in having the carrier bands (Verizon for CDMA for example), but in fact the differences between the two chipsets are much more than just the bandwidths.  It was rumored that Apple actually deprecated the Qualcomm chipsets to match the Intel specs when the iPhone 7 came out.  Not sure if that actually happened, or if it is still happening.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    emoeller said:
    I am not a fan of Qualcomm (I think they will lose their litigation), but presently they do have a superior chipset over Intel. 
    Who says that? The rumor mill? Qualcomm? Anonymous ‘experts’ on the web?
    magman1979
  • Reply 6 of 14
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,391member
    k2kw said:
    Just another reason to wait 6 months before getting new os and new iPhone/computer.
    To each his own, I've literally never had a major issue when buying an iOS or macOS product at or near launch. Sure, there's small bugs that are patched pretty quickly, but there has never been anything deal-breaking for me, enough to set a "6 months" rule.
    edited November 2017 SoundJudgmentmagman1979netmage
  • Reply 7 of 14
    This very problem happened to me the other day. For about a mile or so the arrow showed me next to the cross Bronx Expressway. My initial thought was it was a gps satellite issue. Similar issue occurred with the car navigation a couple months back. 
  • Reply 8 of 14
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,056member
    k2kw said:
    Just another reason to wait 6 months before getting new os and new iPhone/computer.
    No its not.
    magman1979netmage
  • Reply 9 of 14
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,056member
    lkrupp said:
    The Apple Discussion Forums have been rather quiet about the iPhone X. The tech press appears to be waiting for the traditional ‘gate’ to appear but that hasn’t happened yet. So far all we’ve got is that some twins can open each other’s phones and that some siblings can too. You gotta know that the neckbeard crowd is working furiously in their two room aprtments trying to find the next ‘gate’.
    TwinGate?
  • Reply 10 of 14
    well im having problems on gps on my iPhone 6s since upgrading to iOS 11... i will be driving along and get voice messages saying location lost or whatever which i NEVER had before upgrading...
  • Reply 11 of 14
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    fallenjt said:
    lkrupp said:
    The Apple Discussion Forums have been rather quiet about the iPhone X. The tech press appears to be waiting for the traditional ‘gate’ to appear but that hasn’t happened yet. So far all we’ve got is that some twins can open each other’s phones and that some siblings can too. You gotta know that the neckbeard crowd is working furiously in their two room aprtments trying to find the next ‘gate’.
    TwinGate?
    Hmm, sounds like a fun night...
  • Reply 12 of 14
    I had this problem with my iPhone 6, after the GPS went haywire, it worked decently for about a month or so and then it was unusable.  I hope this is not the case with these latest GPS issues. 
  • Reply 13 of 14
    GPS on my new X has been off enough to make maps navigation challenging. Maps ( and Google Maps) showed me about 1/8 mile wrong today, it's not the first time, it seems to start 1 to 2 streets adrift from where I actually am but it zeroes in after about 3-4 minutes and a few corners. Pretty sure this gets fixed. Hopefully soon as the U-turn today was a bit hairy.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    I know this is an old article but there are not many out there about this issue. I just wanted to add that from my experience this issue was definitely ‘a thing’ on the iPhone X. 

    My my wife and I both had new iPhone Xs new from release in Australia. Both suffered from significant GPS lag irrespective, of the app using the GPS. Sometimes taking up to a minute to acquire an accurate position. Numerous updates and resets never fixed the issue

    Now, I’m not sure if Apple quietly fixed it in subsequent batches, but yesterday I had the phone replaced at Apple for a different issue. The new one does not suffer from the GPS lag at all. 

    So my suggestion to anyone who is having the same issue - get your phone replaced. Don’t just accept it as I did. 
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