Is my Maps problem in my phone or CarPlay?

[Tangible]

For the last few weeks my Apple Maps app on CarPlay has been getting lost. During navigation the car icon on the screen drifts off the road and the app starts saying “Proceed to the route”. After a while it finds itself again, and all is well until it happens again. This is happening on routes I’ve traveled for years without a problem, with a good cell signal.

My question is about where to start the troubleshooting. I am thinking that everything involved in actual routing and location is in the phone itself, and that the Mach-E, the CarPlay connection, and CarPlay’s Apple Maps app must be all innocent. Does that sound right, or could this be a CarPlay problem somehow?

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[devmach-e]

I find that if I have my phone in my back pocket, Maps has trouble figuring out where I am. As soon as I pull my phone out of my pocket, and put it in the center console by the cupholders, the accuracy suddenly improves, it now knows where I am, and the route directions are correct.

 

[YunniorO]

For the last few weeks my Apple Maps app on CarPlay has been getting lost. During navigation the car icon on the screen drifts off the road and the app starts saying “Proceed to the route”. After a while it finds itself again, and all is well until it happens again. This is happening on routes I’ve traveled for years without a problem, with a good cell signal.

My question is about where to start the troubleshooting. I am thinking that everything involved in actual routing and location is in the phone itself, and that the Mach-E, the CarPlay connection, and CarPlay’s Apple Maps app must be all innocent. Does that sound right, or could this be a CarPlay problem somehow?

So I could be wrong, but I definitely think it’s just an Apple Maps issue. The same exact thing would happen on our last car too (it was a Nissan) and the little navigation “puck” would just slowly drift off the route and then eventually kick itself back into the actual road were driving on.

 

[Tangible]

So you agree that this is a problem of the phone‘s ability to see the GPS satellites, not anything related to the phone‘s connection to the car?

 

[YunniorO]

So you agree that this is a problem of the phone‘s ability to see the GPS satellites, not anything related to the phone‘s connection to the car?

I don’t think it’s any issue with the car itself. One thing you could do is just ensure that precise location is turned on via the Apple Map settings (Settings > Maps > Location > Toggle on Precise Location).

It looks to be a common issue for iPhone though, see these Reddit threads for example:





Someone did also mention resetting network settings might help, but that will more than likely delete your Bluetooth settings which could cause issues if you use PaaK.

 

[azerik]

My CarPlay maps just don't work if I don't have my phone in the console. If it's in my left pocket it hardly gets cell signal, let alone gps.

Full blown drift of my location being 1/2 block away from reality usually required rebooting the phone. I even crashed the maps once starting a trip while driving at 75ish on the freeway, it stuck to my location. I pulled the maps up on my phone before leaving, picking a place. then driving away. About 50 miles later I clicked GO on the phone. It fully freaked out, requiring a reboot of the phone.

 

[MoonRiver]

I had the same problem in the last two days too. The Apple map all of a sudden decided not to update where it was and where was it going. I had to relaunch the map to get it straight.
It’s after IOS 16.5.1 update.

 

[Tangible]

I’m happy others are seeing this problem too, not in the schadenfreude sense, but because it will get fixed with no effort on my part.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Just came back from a trip where we rented a RAV4. Used CarPlay and had essentially the same experience as I do MME: when the phone is in my pocket Maps spends a lot of time being lost, while when the phone is on the console (or in the case of my MME on its mount on the side of the center screen), Maps almost always knows where it is. Seems that Apple decided to give us a shit-sandwich bug awhile ago and hasn’t bother to fix it. And here I was thinking Ford would get better once they got Doug Fields, not the other way around ?

 

[billy_at]

This was happening to me several times on a road trip last week using Apple Maps. Driving over the George Washington Bridge, it showed my location a few hundred feet north in the Hudson River and started recalculating. This is new behavior for me.

 

[Tangible]

I think we’re seeing two different phenomena here:

1. Consistent and long-standing weak satellite signal for some people, requiring careful positioning of the phone in the vehicle, away from the driver’s body.
2. For others, something that changed in recent days or weeks.

Wild speculation: Smoke from the Canadian wildfires, which is now affecting much of the US, is interfering with satellite radio signals in some areas, and the MME is more susceptible than other vehicles because of the construction of its roof, windshield, etc.

 

[Craig-e]

For the last few weeks my Apple Maps app on CarPlay has been getting lost. During navigation the car icon on the screen drifts off the road and the app starts saying “Proceed to the route”. After a while it finds itself again, and all is well until it happens again. This is happening on routes I’ve traveled for years without a problem, with a good cell signal.

My question is about where to start the troubleshooting. I am thinking that everything involved in actual routing and location is in the phone itself, and that the Mach-E, the CarPlay connection, and CarPlay’s Apple Maps app must be all innocent. Does that sound right, or could this be a CarPlay problem somehow?

I had this problem several times just after getting my ‘23 MME. I could be wrong but I concluded that the problem was linked to having the phone sitting on the built-in console charging pad while I used Apple Maps via CarPlay. When I experienced the crazy nav display, I noticed the phone was very hot, which I assumed was because of the inductive charging. I have a relatively thin clear case on the phone, and I wondered if it’s just enough extra thickness to make the inductive charging work harder and generate extra heat in the phone. (I use that kind of charger at home [also with the case on] but have no issue with heat in the phone there).

Now I set the phone in one of the cup holders and have had no problems for many months. I also have a charge cable plugged in for times when I need to recharge the phone.

 

[Tangible]

@craig
Phones get hot when they are having trouble contacting cell towers., because they increase power to their transmitters in an attempt to find a connection. For GPS there is no outbound signal from the phone, so poor reception doesn’t result in heating. I think your heating while on the MME charger is the result of its low position, surrounded by steel, inhibiting the cellular radio.

 

[Larry Paul]

I used to have this issue with my iPhone, however, my phone has been fine since 4.1.x.

The problem that I still have is the Ford GPS occasionally gets confused. While that is typically not an issue for me, 3x including on Monday when I plugged in I did not notice that the car started charging immediately. Had I not noticed it, it also would have charged to 100%. The car thought it was parked 0.2 miles from the house. I have also seen it where the car thinks it was parked 0.97 miles away and it did the same thing...

Not 100% certain that AppleMaps also gets GPS data from the car as I think it does as this is the only car that has ever been an issue with CarPlay.

I recommend when this is stupid, check the Ford map and see if it also finds you some distance from your actual location.

 

[Jtbuster]

I think we’re seeing two different phenomena here:

1. Consistent and long-standing weak satellite signal for some people, requiring careful positioning of the phone in the vehicle, away from the driver’s body.
2. For others, something that changed in recent days or weeks.

Wild speculation: Smoke from the Canadian wildfires, which is now affecting much of the US, is interfering with satellite radio signals in some areas, and the MME is more susceptible than other vehicles because of the construction of its roof, windshield, etc.

Maybe it is Climate Change.

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