Apple's iPhone 14 series of phones are now out, and consumers are getting their hands on them already. Apple has also released iOS 16 alongside these new phones, and following it is the iOS 16.1 beta. While this beta has a lot of important features, it also seems to have one severe bug. iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max users have been reporting that the beta is breaking the GPS on their phones.
The reports started appearing on MacRumors forums recently, and it seems like a lot of iPhone 14 Pro model users running the beta are affected. While not all iPhone 14 Pro users are affected, it's still a good idea to hold back from this update if you own one of these new models.
Don't update to the iOS 16.1 beta if you have an iPhone 14 Pro model
There have been multiple reported software bugs for Apple's latest top iPhones, the iPhone 14 series, including one that wouldn't let you activate your new phone. Apple fixed that with a day one patch. This new GPS issue is with the beta build of the upcoming iOS 16.1. While it is recommended that you don't install beta software on your daily driver devices, many iPhone users seem to have done that.
These users are reporting poor location tracking with GPS, with the location pointer jumping around. It's not an Apple Maps bug, either, with reports claiming Google Maps shows similar behavior. The cause of the issue is not known, but it seems to be limited to the Pro models, which incidentally feature the new dual-frequency L1 + L5 GPS support.
Since it's beta software, we cannot expect a quick fix for this issue from Apple. Affected users will have to roll back to iOS 16.0.1 public build. The issue is likely to be fixed with a future beta update. iOS 16.1 is expected to be released to the public later this year.
