GPS not providing accurate location and/or constantly refreshing causing location drifting
I have an iPhone 13 Pro and upgraded to iOS 26 recently. My GPS is constantly failing during navigation. This is primarily due to not obtaining the most recent and accurate location information while moving. Therefore, the location drifts during navigation, providing incorrect route information, missing turns, and making it difficult to find my current location, etc.
I conducted extensive research and found numerous people experiencing similar issues on Apple Community, Reddit, and other forums. I tried to contact Apple Support, and have done the following:
- Reset network settings
- Reset location and privacy settings
- Reset the whole phone
- Delete all VPN profiles
- Reinstall all applications related to this issue (e.g., Maps, Google Maps, Waze).
Apple Support claims the hardware is working fine, and no follow-ups or other troubleshooting methods are provided after all of the above steps are taken.
Some users, and I personally believe this is a software adaptivity issue, because it only occurs after a device upgrade (involving the transfer of all information to a new system, thus placing old data in a new environment) and/or a software upgrade (where old data is introduced into a new system). iPhone 13 Pro GPS “drifting” requiring da… - Apple Community
From the posts and my research, it appears that this issue was discovered at least three years ago (iPhone 13 Pro GPS “drifting” requiring da… - Apple Community, iPhone 13 Pro Max GPS Drift Issue | MacRumors Forums), and no fixes have been implemented in the software since then.
I am wondering if any of the users are having the same issue as many of us already have. How is it doing now? Does Apple have a solution, or do you have some workarounds to implement?
I am considering upgrading to the iPhone 17, but I'm worried that this same issue will persist in the new device.
iPhone 13 Pro, iOS 26