An iPhone 14 Pro GPS bug caused by iOS 16.1 is fixed in beta 2

Space Black iPhone 14 Pro
(Image credit: Luke Filipowicz / iMore)

If you've been running iOS 16.1 beta 1 on your new iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max, you might have noticed that the GPS location data hasn't been behaving as it should. Good news! Things should be much better after installing the second beta that was released earlier this week.

The news comes after a GPS bug first reared its head following the arrival of IOS 16.1 beta 1 and was only affecting those with iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. It also didn't seem to impact every owner of Apple's best iPhone, either. But a new MacRumors report says the second beta fixes things regardless.

Coming soon

It's important to remember that the first iOS 16.1 release was indeed a beta and, as a result, bugs should always be expected. That aside, it's unfortunate when basic functionality like GPS is impacted. Thankfully, those with beta 1 installed only had to live with dodgy GPS for a matter of days with beta 2 getting things right back on track.

Why the issue only afflicted those with iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max devices isn't immediately clear, although it seems likely to have been related to their use of a dual-band GPS system — a system that other iPhones don't have. The new Apple Watch Ultra, which goes on sale tomorrow, does have the same system in place, however.

Apple hasn't confirmed exactly when iOS 16 will be released to the public, but we do know that it is going to arrive later this year. We expect that more betas will be released in due course, with the final release arriving within weeks. When it does land, iOS 16.1 will bring support for Live Activities, Matter smart home technology, and more.

It remains to be seen if the Apple Watch Ultra will suffer from a similar issue when it launches tomorrow, but there was no mention of it in early reviews so we can hope not.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.