A warning about magnetic iphone/ipad cases

[Jerry Woodward]

Rather than worry about whether the magnet screwed up your GPS or not, I would first try to verify that the GPS reception is actually faulty. GPS signal is obtained by receiving radio signals from multiple satellites to calculate your position. But the phone also receives location data from cell tower location which can be close, but not very accurate. So I would first try to decide whether your phone's actual GPS satellite reception is working. You can download a free GPS app that will give you this information. The app will show you the number and location of the GPS satellites your phone is detecting. You should be seeing 5-10 of these satellites. If not, it could be something as simple as a setting on your phone. Also, give the phone some time after turning it on. It has to actually download information from the satellites before giving an accurate position. Also, check the lat-long position given by the GPS app with a known position from another GPS.

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by Jerry Woodward

Rather than worry about whether the magnet screwed up your GPS or not, I would first try to verify that the GPS reception is actually faulty. GPS signal is obtained by receiving radio signals from multiple satellites to calculate your position. But the phone also receives location data from cell tower location which can be close, but not very accurate. So I would first try to decide whether your phone's actual GPS satellite reception is working. You can download a free GPS app that will give you this information. The app will show you the number and location of the GPS satellites your phone is detecting. You should be seeing 5-10 of these satellites. If not, it could be something as simple as a setting on your phone. Also, give the phone some time after turning it on. It has to actually download information from the satellites before giving an accurate position. Also, check the lat-long position given by the GPS app with a known position from another GPS.

Excellent idea. Thank you. I downloaded DualGPS. This is what I’m seeing on GPS and the Glonass constellations. Zip zero.... So I guess my position was “the phone’s favorite cell tower” as someone said.

Edit: I should clarify that I’m outdoors with clear views of the sky. It appears my GPS receiver is either not receiving at all or not relaying the info to the software.

[Jerry Woodward]

So, I'm not an I phone guy, but I would start digging through all your settings. It's possible that there is some setting preventing your GPS from turning on. Maybe someone else can chime in. Power saving? Location/privacy settings etc?

[Snash22]

That app only works if you have a XGPS160 Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver

[Jerry Woodward]

Yes, Snash appears to be correct. Perhaps try this one:


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gps-...020967894?mt=8

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by Snash22

That app only works if you have a XGPS160 Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver

I’m downloading another app now. What I have noticed now that I’m home and can compare against my wife’s iPhone is that my iPhone’s compass reads a very consistent 30 degrees off of hers.

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

I’m downloading another app now. What I have noticed now that I’m home and can compare against my wife’s iPhone is that my iPhone’s compass reads a very consistent 30 degrees off of hers.

I presume you've tried re-calibrating the compass (there must be a setting somewhere for this) ... no surprise that close proximity to a strong magnet has thrown out the calibration of the compass sensor.

[Peregrine1983]

Ok. So using GPS Diagnostic, I’m showing good gps reception on 5+ satellites and the same lat/long as my wife’s phone! Woohoo! However, my compass is still quite off from my wife’s... and Navionics etc still show me very far away. I’m stumped.

[Jerry Woodward]

Ok, so your GPS works, yay! It's possible that it's not enabled for Navionics. You can enable or disable the GPS for individual apps. I believe it is under Settings>privacy>location services. Make sure location services is on and you enable GPS for Navionics.

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by Jerry Woodward

Ok, so your GPS works, yay! It's possible that it's not enabled for Navionics. You can enable or disable the GPS for individual apps. I believe it is under Settings>privacy>location services. Make sure location services is on and you enable GPS for Navionics.

Thank you. It’s strange, but I do have location services enabled for Navionics and my other gps-driven apps, but they are still showing my location as far off from my actual.

I’m still not entirely convinced the magnets in the phone case haven’t caused my issue, but at this point I just want to say thanks for everyone’s help. I don’t expect a bunch of sailors to try to troubleshoot what now appears to be a software issue on my iPhone!

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

As I know many other folks here do, I often use my iPhone running Navionics as a secondary chart plotter in addition to my main Raymarine unit.

I bought a magnetic wallet case for the phone a few months ago. It uses a skinny magnetic case to hold the phone in place in the larger wallet case. I bought it because it had excellent reviews on Amazon, despite a little voice in the back of my head asking, "Isn't placing magnets near sensitive electronics is a bad idea?"

Recently, Navionics started displaying my position as somewhere usually due North of my actual position. And it eventually stopped being able to detect my SOG. This same thing started to happen in Waze, Google Maps, and Apple maps.

Well, I just returned from the Apple store Genius Bar with the confirmation that my phone's GPS and/or compass hardware is royally screwed up. I now need to buy a new phone. The tech's best guess was that it was the magnetic case.

Thanks for the warning.. Just bought a new wallet for my Samsung and this had a magnetic Tab.

I will cut it off, jut to be safe

[Jerry Woodward]

A bit off topic, but relevant:
There's a great chapter in Moby Dick....something like this:

During a major thunderstorm the mast was struck by lightning and actually caught on fire, but the crew eventually put it out. Capn Ahab came up on deck the next morning and asked the helmsman how things were going. "Great sir" he said, "we are making good time traveling due west". Ahab looked at the sun rising over the bow and asked the helmsman if he thought that the sun rose in the west. Confused, the helmsman said, "but sir, the compass says we are heading due west". Ahab then proceeds to explain to everyone that the lightning strike reversed the polarity of the compass and that it is now 180 degrees off.



So I think Ahab would understand your problem

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Thanks for the warning.. Just bought a new wallet for my Samsung and this had a magnetic Tab.

I will cut it off, jut to be safeAttachment 174696

I’d read through the above posts to get a better idea of my issue... don’t want to demonize magnetic cases unnecessarily. Although, I’m skeptical of them at this point and will not be using one in the future.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

I’d read through the above posts to get a better idea of my issue... don’t want to demonize magnetic cases unnecessarily. Although, I’m skeptical of them at this point and will not be using one in the future.

Same here, but I do believe the phones use a tiny flux gate sensor for compass, so the magnetic clasp doesn't make sense.
My old cover didn't need one and neither does this one....so happy to cut it off.

I think the GPS is another issue, but who knows if you have 3 magnets on your cover?

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Same here, but I do believe the phones use a tiny flux gate sensor for compass, so the magnetic clasp doesn't make sense.
My old cover didn't need one and neither does this one....so happy to cut it off.

I think the GPS is another issue, but who knows if you have 3 magnets on your cover?

I agree. I’m going out on a limb here because I’m not a software person, but I’m wondering whether my phone has been (and is still) trying to compensate for the case magnets’ close proximity by offsetting my compass calibration... even when I recalibrate it. Although this doesn’t explain the inaccurate GPS information being shown by my apps.

The Apple tech today told me that Apple itself does not sell a single magnetic case for their phones. Magnetic cases are only available through third parties.