Inaccurate gps with iPhone 7/iOS 10

[Nw2162]

I have an Alta and I upgraded to an iPhone 7 with iOS 10 and now my walks are showing im walking more/faster than I actually am. I know I can't walk a mile in 14:00 to 14:30 minutes. I've tried turning on location sharing and making sure it is set to always on location services plus turned lte to data only. I noticed today there was a "lock" symbol by my gps signal in the Fitbit app of my exercise map and I touched it and it went from "locked" to "unlocked". I have no idea what that is or if it fixed it yet. Has anyone else seen any issues like this?

[DerrickS]

@Runnergirl16 I'd recommend making sure that you are using version 2.29 of the Fitbit iOS App that was released yesterday. Click here to be redirected to the iOS App Store.

Afterwards, I'd recommend making sure that you are using the most current Blaze firmware version (22.44.12). Click here for instructions on how to update your firmware.

@Nw2162 When you use the Fitbit App to track your workout, do you encounter anything that could potentially interrupt the GPS signal of your phone? For instance: tall buildings, heavy wooded area, etc?

@susankt If you haven't already tried, the suggestion in my previous post should help you out. Also, similar to what I asked @Nw2162 is there anything that could be potentially interrupting the GPS signal of your phone?

[Nw2162]

No. I walk on the edge of town mostly residential. The town isn't large enough to have any tall buildings anywhere.

Sent from my iPhone

[susankt]

The gps map shows where I'm walking accurately, and there are trees on one side of the street. I didn't have any problems with the app on iPhone 5 or iPhone 6. Just got iPhone 7 this week and when I reloaded it from the App Store it's not accurately recording mileage.

[susankt]

I have the latest update 2.29. It was working fine until i upgraded to iPhone 7 and the latest 2.29 upgrade. I will test it again today but obviously it's not just me having problems.

[susankt]

Turning off the iPhone 7 and restarting it fixed my problem. Thank you!

[Weesmurph]

Hi, I'm also having this same problem and I'm new to iPhone 7. My android app always mapped my walk to work as 1.8 miles, today my iOS app mapped the same walk as 2.5 miles! When I look at the actual map, the route is bouncing all over the place but in my android app it was always quite a smooth line. Did anyone get a fix?

[oklahiker]

Just wanted to add that I'm having similar problems with the Charge 2 (firmware version 22.44.12) and iPhone 7 (iOS 10.2 beta 4, though I've had this problem with *every* iOS 10 version, even the non-beta releases). Using Fitbit app version 2.29 and the track exercise feature in the app, I end up with jagged tracks and way-overestimated distances. I did not ever experience this problem with the iPhone 6 (or any earlier models) or with any versions of iOS prior to 10.x, and I used this functionality on the Fitbit app literally hundreds of times.

Here is a thread from another site where >100 people have talked about experiencing similar GPS problems with iOS 10.x and iPhone 7: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/gps-problems-iphone-7-or-ios10.1998933/

I've tested the tracking accuracy in different areas: rural, suburban, and urban. Though the accuracy is worse in urban areas (as you might expect), it is also bad in suburban and rural areas, where the overestimation of distance ranges anywhere from 15-30%. I've also recruited friends to use their older iPhones (running latest version of iOS 10) to track an exercise in tandem with me (also using the latest version of the Fitbit app), and theirs estimate distances +/- 5% of what they should be, even in urban areas, so clearly older versions of the iPhone don't have this problem. I've tracked between 2 and 3 dozen exercises in the Fitbit app since upgrading to the iPhone and *every single one of them* has shown this overestimation problem. Apple is willing switch devices out for people experiencing this, but as you can see from the linked thread, that doesn't seem to fix the problem in most cases. Anyway, based on my efforts at troubleshooting, this looks like an Apple problem, not a Fitbit problem, though Fitbit could potentially ameliorate the problem by implementing some sort of software fix to "smooth" the GPS tracks or map them to the nearest known road/street/trail. If it would help, I can take screenshots of all the different examples of this problem. Hope others will chime in with their efforts to track this down. 

[scassada]

I am having the same problem: inaccurate distances. I have confirmed that it is not an iphone problem by going out and using the Strava app only. But when using the fitbit the map of a run will look very jagged which explains why the distance is being over calculated. (for instance 3.1 miles will appear as 3.6 miles) I spent 1/2 hour on the phone with fitbit support today. Said they will email me. FitBit Tech Support-- this appears to be a common problem with iphone 7 users. Please help! 

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @scassada, @oklahiker and @Weesmurph, welcome! It's nice to have you on board. 

Have you tried following @DerrickS instructions listed on his previous post? Please remember to restart your iOS device in case you perform any change. If this doesn't seem to do the trick, my best recommendation would be contacting our Support Team. List to them all the steps you've performed so far, I'm sure they will be more than happy to assist you further.

@scassada, thank you for emailing our Support Team, please keep me updated about the outcome, that would be very helpful! 

[scassada]

THanks for the suggestions. I've tried lots of things. I've been to the
Genius bar at the Apple Store. I've spent lots of time on the phone with
FitBit support team. So far, no solutions. If I go for a run and use the
Strava app on my phone, the distance will be measured correctly. But if I
go out and use my FITBIT Blaze (which relies on iphone for GPS) the
distance is NOT correct. SO it must have something to do with the phone
communicating the GPS location to the fitbit app. It's a mystery. But right
now the fitbit is basically useless until or unless the problem is solved.
Honestly the FitBit blaze has been so inconsistent and the help line so
UNhelpful (although they're very polite) I regret buying it.

[oklahiker]

Other app developers are becoming aware of this widespread problem with iPhone 7 and GPS accuracy. Noticed today that the iSmoothRun app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ismoothrun-pro-gps-pedometer/id410965399?mt=8) today released an update that includes a "Partial fix for iPhone 7 poor GPS performance". You can also check out the developer's Twitter account (@iSmoothRun) where he has had several conversations with users about a potential fix. Hopefully Fitbit devs will get to work on a similar thing; I don't want to have to use an external app for tracking. Clearly the iPhone 7 GPS hardware isn't up to snuff, but software smoothing can like fix enough of the problems for the majority of use cases. Also, if you're interested in working to get Apple's attention about these problems, check out this 10-pg thread on Apple's forums: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7677433

[Kg92]

I'm having the same problem with my iphone 7. I've only had it for ten days, but ever since I started using it, it says my 2 mile walk is 2.5 miles at a much faster pace than I walked. I'm just adding my comment in hopes Fitbit will take notice of the number of users with the problem and try to address it. It's clearly an iphone 7 problem, as my 5s recorded distance perfectly. 

[Nw2162]

I hope someone is at least working on an update to fix it. If they are they haven't posted it on this thread.

Sent from my iPhone

[txlsutiger]

This is an iPhone 7 problem. It zigzags my routes whether I'm using the Fitbit blaze or using Runtastic. I met with Genius last week. They gave me a new phone after seeing the maps. Got home and next run, was amazed it did the same thing. Went back today and they can't do anything. Said maybe a future patch will fix it claiming that one of the workers there had same problem for a little while with the iPhone 6 which later got fixed. I'm seriously considering returning the 7 and going back to a 6S. 

My opinion, this is an Apple problem. 

[LM_0326]

I agree that it's a iPhone 7 problem. However, a strange thing I've encountered is if I walk, it zig zags and is not accurate. If I run, it's kind of accurate and doesn't zig zag. I haven't set the mode to run while walking, but I'll have to try that next. However, it does zig zag whether I'm hiking or walking. 

[txlsutiger]

Thanks for your note. I have experienced the zigzag on both walks and runs and whether I set the Blaze for a run or a walk. Sometimes the zigzags are worse than others. Sure hope Apple can fix this and Fitbit needs to reach out to them as this impacts their products using the connected GPS. 

[Nancy07]

My husband has exact same problem. Records accurately from Blaze to Samsung but when on iPhone 7 it is always 20 percent inaccurate - a vast difference. We know it's the incompatibility between Fitbit and iPhone 7 as measured on several other devices including TomTom watch and Samsung. They are all accurate. 

But Fitbit will not admit there is a comparability problem. It's shocking how consumers are being misled and the posts marked "resolved" when they aren't. 

Yes app records 20 percent more in distance than have run or walked. And it doesn't matter how many times you restart phone remove app, measure stride or make sure have strong GPS!!

The problem is with Fitbit app on iPhone 7 on latest software which we have proven   Own up Fitbit. 

[scassada]

Actually I now believe that the iPhone 7 is the problem.
After my previous posts I tried many ways to trouble shoot. Eventually I bought an Apple Watch and had the same problem. Apple even replaced my phone with an identical iPhone 7. Same problem. Apple Watch has built in gps but it defaults to the phone gps is you have both on you. So my final solution is the use only the Watch Gps. I do this by turning off blue tooth while I'm running.


Sent from my iPad

[Kg92]

I'm certain it's the phone. I can't believe Apple put out such a crappy device, that there isn't more outrage about it and that they don't fix it!!!

[Catdet]

I found this thread today after taking my first hike with my new iPhone 7. I knew there was no way I was doing a 14:17 pace, and since i hike in this spot frequently, i knew the distance was iveredmstimated. Yes, cellular data and background app are in. Hopefully Fitbit and Apple will learn to play nice, but since this has been going on for months, I'm not convinced they will.