GPS Location Inaccurate - iPhone 6

Hello All,

Over the past few weeks I have had problems with the GPS on my iPhone 6. It seemed to start when Verizon sent their last carrier settings update around 1/10 or 1/11 of this year (2016). Coincidentally, this was just before the latest iOS update to 9.2.1.

I had issues immediately after the Verizon carrier update. I updated the iOS to 9.2.1 and still no improvement

The specific issue is inaccuracy of location while on GPS (no Wi-Fi) and also lagging in keeping up while on GPS such using Apple Maps or Google Maps. When I'm not on Wi-Fi the GPS is about 500 feet to 1000 feet off. As soon as I connect to Wi-Fi it is immediately accurate. I noticed if I start a route with Apple or Google Maps on Wi-Fi and drive the route (no Wi-Fi) it loses my location and lags far behind. It updates about every 10 minutes, but it is off by 500 to 1000 feet. If I stray from my route it won't self correct the route.

I went through the regular troubleshooting steps including, but not limited to:

Hard reset
Reset network settings
Reset location and privacy settings
Reset all settings in my phone and did a clean install

None of these steps worked. Another coincidence is I lost the ability to backup my phone to iCloud at the same time the GPS location became inaccurate. I was finally able to resolve the iCloud backup issue through several iterations of deleting and syncing photos. At this point I'm at a loss on the GPS issue, but possibly believe it may be SIM card related. I'm reaching out to Apple about this as well.

Any other ideas?

Accepted answers

rmills06

Hello All,

It appears the fix for me was a new phone. Verizon sent me a phone yesterday and upon restoring to that phone I noted the GPS was very accurate on cellular service only.

This morning I used Google Maps on my drive into work and it worked perfectly.

I'm befuddled as to why the carrier update would translate to poor GPS accuracy and then a new phone was a fix. Although, it was likely a refurbished phone...but all the same, it has been fixed.

Thank you to Verizon for the assistance. If you are in the same boat I recommend you go the new phone route. Keep in mind you will need to have appropriate insurance coverage if you current phone is out of warranty. You can always call Verizon tech support and ask if your phone is in warranty and if you current insurance covers a new phone. When I called I found my phone was out of warranty, but they recommended increasing my insurance coverage so I can get a replacement phone for free.

I had the new phone up and running in 30 minutes. Keep in mind that time may vary depending on how many apps you have...

Ryan

All comments

rmills06

Sorry, too late to edit my initial post. I wanted to provide the carrier information I found in my iPhone. Hopefully this helps.

Also, the carrier settings update on my phone happened when I was traveling (not in my home location, but in the US). I'm not sure if that matters.

Verizon: 23.2

PRL: 15428

ERI: 8

NAI: mymobilenumber@vzims.com

MSID: ##########

IMS Status: Voice & SMS

Verizon_Support

rmills06, we want to speed things up for you when it comes to accurately connecting to GPS on your device. Let's make sure that it's enabled on correctly in Settings > Privacy > Location Services> Enable ON when switch is green. Next, make sure that cellular data is enabled on for the Apple Maps and Google Maps applications in Settings>Cellular Data>Scroll down to those applications and tap to enable on. Keep us posted an d let us know if this resolves your issue.

LasinaH_VZW
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rmills06

Thank you, but I had checked the cell data and location services were enabled and they both were enabled and still are enabled. Sorry I wasn't clear on this on my troubleshooting steps.

Verizon_Support

rmills06,

I appreciate all of the hard work you have done on your device. I know WiFi can always improve the location on GPS but we all know WiFi is nt available everywhere. It is alarming to hear this occurred after our carrier update came in. I would like the opportunity to look further into this for you. I have gone ahead and sent you a Private message.

ChristinaM_VZW
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Cmcvey23

I am also having this exact same issue. Tried all the same steps with no positive results. Started 2-3 weeks ago and has rendered my phone worthless for navigation.bwould be very happy to hear there is a solution for this.

Salisbury

rmills06, I noticed you did make sure Location Services is turned on. But did you go deeper into those settings to System Services? There's quite a few settings in there as well, and might be worth a look at, possibly one of those could be turned off? You did mention Maps and one of the Settings in System Services is called Improve Maps.

Settings > Privacy > tap on Location Services then scroll to the bottom and tap on System Services.

rmills06

Yes I did. If those services weren't enabled I wouldn't even get location. I get precise location on wi-if and poor location on cellular service.

rmills06

Just to further confirm what Mistry125 is stating as the problem. On my end I had NO ISSUES before the carrier update. The carrier update completed and BOOM...my GPS location goes to poop. Please note, as others have said, the location is terrible whenever there is cellular only (LTE, or otherwise) even with wifi enabled (not connected). As soon as we connect to wifi the location vastly improves and on my end it is within a few feet.

I have done the complete phone reset and tested the location after resetting and before adding any apps to the phone. The GPS was still inaccurate (yes...connected to cellular only, but wifi turned on). And yes...I had the location services enabled, including the map diagnostic information. I've always had that on.

I know someone else was saying it can't be the carrier update because of blah, blah, blah...but you can't dismiss the timing off the issue and our symptoms being consistent among a number of us. I'm done trying to troubleshoot and hoping this gets us another carrier update or God forbid we wait until the Apple OS 9.3 comes out in a few months and crossing my fingers....

rmills06

Here is an example of what I'm seeing on my phone when using GPS without Wi-Fi connected. I was on cellular with both bluetooth and Wi-Fi ON, but neither connected.

iPhone GPS - Cell Only LTE1.PNG

I measured the area of the large blue circle and it is almost 2 square miles, closer to 1.80 square miles. This is just ridiculous when you are trying to navigate somewhere....

Now here is what it looks like on WiFi...albeit not a great WiFi connection. At any rate this is only about 500 square feet of area.

iPhone GPS - WiFi.PNG

Cmcvey23

Mine varies, but is anywhere from 1-30 miles across. Full reset, no change,

gps is worthless.

Note that my wife's iphone5 has not had the carrier update and running

22.1, hers works fine with just a few feet of range.

On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 10:25 AM, rmills06 <forums@verizonwireless.com>

rmills06

Hello All,

It appears the fix for me was a new phone. Verizon sent me a phone yesterday and upon restoring to that phone I noted the GPS was very accurate on cellular service only.

This morning I used Google Maps on my drive into work and it worked perfectly.

I'm befuddled as to why the carrier update would translate to poor GPS accuracy and then a new phone was a fix. Although, it was likely a refurbished phone...but all the same, it has been fixed.

I had the new phone up and running in 30 minutes. Keep in mind that time may vary depending on how many apps you have...

Ryan

Verizon_Support

Rmills06 Ryan, thank you for sharing the great news! We are glad that you can now use your GPS. I know that I would be lost without it. Please feel free to reach out to us should you need assistance.
DeloresK_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

WICKYWAHWAH

I have the same exact issue and my location is inaccurate by 500-1000ft when I'm not on WIFI. I've gone through every single recommendations BOTH in this thread and in self troubleshooting and nothing has worked. Support team, please advise on what you can do for me as the last resort.

Verizon_Support

We can’t have your GPS acting up like this, especially since we need it every day WICKYWAHWAH. How long have you been having this trouble? Do you recall any changes to the phone when this started?

StevenM_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the 'Correct Answer' button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!

boylel

I'm having the same problem and am more than a little ticked that the correct answer seems to be to replace the phone. Even with the replacement plan, I'll pay $200 deductible.

I'm even more ticked that I went to my local Verizon Store yesterday and none of the people there seemed to even understand how to test whether the phone was able to connect to GPS satellites, or the difference between GPS and Wi-Fi location services.

boylel

My iPhone 6 is unable to connect to any GPS Satellites. Nobody in my nearby Verizon Store seems to even understand what that means. Do you have any suggestions other than to replace the phone.

I've tried all of the resets and reboots I've found suggested on the Verizon support pages or publicly available from Apple.

Thanks

Redeemed117

So I’ve had this problem and have just dealt with the lag, but I’ve been traveling more and really need to fix the GPS, I never cared about the iPhone back up....

how do i start the process?

Verizon_Support

Redeemed117, I rely heavily on GPS myself, so I know how important it is for that service to work properly. We are here to work toward a resolution. We would like to start by gathering more information. How are other services that rely on cellular data working? Where do you experience this problem? It was mentioned that you never cared about the iPhone back up. Can you elaborate on that?

DavidC_VZW