A possible workaround for a CarPlay bug that makes the GPS “unreliable”

9to5Mac editor-in-chief Chance Miller has a piece that offers a possible solution to a headache-causing situation that many drivers have experienced firsthand with CarPlay: a frozen GPS signal, leading to useless (and dangerous) car navigation.

The author says he’s been experiencing CarPlay GPS problems on and off for nearly a year now. “Essentially, the GPS continually bugs out and completely breaks navigation via Apple Maps, Google Maps, or any other navigation app”, he says, adding that many CarPlay users have shared similar experiences.

The bug is not contained to a particular brand or particular type of vehicle – it doesn’t discriminate and affects electric cars the same as petrol ones. It affects both wired and wireless CarPlay. The problems are affecting a wide range of iPhones, with complaints coming from iPhone XS through iPhone 15. According to the author, it’s not about the iOS version, either, as the bugs persist in the newly released iOS 17.

There are several ways in which the CarPlay GPS bug manifests itself. Here’s how Chance Miller outlines them:

• “First, sometimes the GPS connection will totally freeze and stop updating. The little direction arrow just stops updating, and the map gets stuck wherever that happens. This means turn-by-turn directions stop updating”.

• “Second, the GPS location just freaks out, for lack of a better term. I’ll be driving down the highway, then look over at CarPlay and see that CarPlay thinks I’m driving in the middle of a field. Or driving in a river”.

• “Third, sometimes the GPS location indicator switches to the big circle radius. CarPlay thinks I’m somewhere inside that circle, but it doesn’t know exactly where. This breaks turn-by-turn directions.”

A possible workaround

After checking the settings thoroughly and making sure both the car’s firmware is up to date and the phone is up to date, Miller offers two “temporary workarounds”:

The first possible solution is to start the navigation in Apple Maps/Google Maps/etc. on your iPhone before you connect your phone to CarPlay. “This appears to significantly reduce the chances that CarPlay will bug out and ruin your navigation directions. That’s far from an ideal fix, but it does seem to work more often than not”, he says.

Another thing one could do if the CarPlay GPS connection breaks, is to temporarily “wake it up” by unlocking your iPhone and opening whatever navigation app you’re using: “This gets things back on track for a few minutes before they inevitably fall apart again”.

It’s a problem

As the author puts it: “This is a really, really bad problem. One of the chief purposes of CarPlay is to provide accurate and reliable turn-by-turn navigation information. For many people, CarPlay is failing at this. It’s also a dangerous problem. In the last two weeks, the CarPlay GPS has completely broken for me while driving in Dallas and Austin, leaving me in chaotic traffic with no directions on where to go or how to get to my destination”.

Have you experienced any CarPlay GPS problems? If you have workaround methods of your own, please share them in the comment section below.