14 DAY TRIAL // A number of reports coming from users in the United States point to GPS issues affecting the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X, though in the case of a latter, there are substantially fewer people experiencing the said behavior.
Most of those complaining of this problem claim the GPS becomes erratic and no longer accurately provides the location of the user, with no workaround 100 percent effective available at this point.
On the other hand, some say that shutting down the mapping apps and launching them once again leads to the GPS correctly determining the location, but this solution works only at random times.
Interestingly, some of those who’ve been experiencing this GPS issue say the Apple Store replaced their supposedly defective units, but the new ones hit a similar bug, with the GPS location still jumping around.
Apple replacing iPhone 8 units with GPS issues
While this could obviously be a problem related to the location of the user where some interferences might affect GPS accuracy, Apple seems to be aware of the problem since the Apple Store is replacing the units with new ones.
“Both iPhone 8’s we have are doing the same thing. I also have a 6s plus and a 6 and both of them are very accurate. I tried opening Motion x gps and it shows the accuracy between 39 and 59 feet On the iPhone 8. Both the iPhone 6 and 6s show 16 feet,” one user explains on Apple’s support forums.
But according to AI, Apple is aware of the problem and the latest beta version of iOS 11.2 introduces GPS fixes that could correct this behavior. Several users who previously experienced GPS issue and installed the latest beta reportedly confirmed the fix, though for the time being no patch appears to be available for those running the stable builds.
It remains to be seen how widespread the problem is and if it also affects the iPhone X, but for the time being, more iPhone 8 units seem to be affected.