Updates on iOS6, iPhone 5, and more... September 21 2012

It’s definitely an iOS bug, not a ForeFlight or Bad Elf issue. But we understand your frustration and for most people who run across this, they only need to do the workaround procedure once. Every time is not acceptable!

We’ve renewed our effort to get this resolved in iOS – will report more as we move it thru the Apple support process.

Thanks for your patience.

-Brett

Wow, I just figured a way to make it work correctly and consistently on my iPad.

In the iPad settings under Location Services and then System Services, turn off all system services’ use of location services. After lots of experimentation this morning, it seems that the Setting Time Zone causes the problem on my iPad, but I am leaving all of them off anyway.

I can now shut off the iPad and turn it on again, and Foreflight successfully enables location services and gets data from the external GPS.

Hope that helps!
Brent

Thanks for reporting back. We actually had another customer run across the iOS bug last week after upgrading to iOS 6.1.2. We had them try these steps yesterday and they did the trick. So something else seems to have changed in 6.1.2.

I will post back to this thread if/when we have any updates from Apple.

Best regards,
Brett

I had the same problem as Bill Batman 27. Sep, 2012 at 18:34 and a reboot of my Ipad2/iO6 and reboot of Anywhere freedom map repaired the problem.
Raylon

Does anyone have a permanent fix for this problem? The issue happens on my iPad ever time, unless I turn off location services before turning off the iPad, then remember to turn on location services again after booting the iPad.

Needless to say, it’s easy to overlook these pat your head and rub your tummy steps ever time the iPad gets turned off and rebooted.

It’s obviously a Foreflight/iOS6 issue, but even with the latest version of Foreflight and iOS6 the problem persists.

I have tried removing/reinstalling Foreflight with no success.

Hi Brett, I was just wondering if it’s possible to use the Bad Elf GPS bluetooth version on a 5th generation iPod touch at the same time as using the Wahoo Blue ER Bluetooth 4.0 heart rate monitor…I’d really love to be able to track my movements on endomondo with your bluetooth GPS module whilst simultaneously keeping a check on my heart rate with my heart rate monitor in the same app. Do you know if this will work before I go splashing my cash?
Many thanks,
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

Shouldn’t be any issue using the Bad Elf GPS Pro and a BTLE accessory like the Wahoo HRT monitor at the same time. Let us know how it works for you. If you have any issues we’ll make it right one way or another, so don’t worry about that. Splash away! ;-)

Best regards,
Brett

Nothing to announce just yet ;-)

The original Bad Elf GPS dongle does work with Apple’s Lightning-to-30pin adapters, and our GPS Pro works great with all of the latest devices via Bluetooth. So you have a few options, just depends your time frame.

Thanks for your continued support!

-Brett

BE-GPS-1000 not recognized on iPad mini with 30 pin to lightning connector. No light. Foreflight doesn’t see connected. BE-GPS-1000 works fine on iPad 2. Connector works well charging iPad mini with 30 pin cord. Using version OS 6.0.1. Tried turning off location services and rebooting then turning on location services. No light or recognition in Foreflight.

Gary

Hi Gary,
Sorry to hear you’re having trouble. Please drop a note to support@bad-elf.com and they’ll get you up and running!
-Brett

Hi hi.
I was wondering as to the status of the development of the Bad Elf for the lightning port. Got the ipad mini without thinking about the gps… And now I’m yearning to get a Bad Elf before I travel. Thanks. :)

Just upgraded to an iPhone 5 and bought the 30 pin to lighting connector. Downloaded the latest version of the bad elf app and the app doesnt recognize the gps. When will there be an update ? Works fine on my iPhone 4.

Hi Mo,

Please drop a note to support@bad-elf.com and we’ll get you up and running!

Best regards,
Brett

We’ve tested both the GPS Pro (via Bluetooth) and GPS dongle (via Apple’s 30-pin-to-Lightning converters) and they work great with the iPad mini, iPod touch (5th gen), and iPhone 5. We’ll post some more details later this week on the blog.

Brett,

Thanks for the quick reply. I’m still having problems with my BE-GPS-1000. It has hardware version 1.7.0 and latest firmware. I’ve had it quite a while and it works fine with my ipod and iPad3. With the iPad mini using Apple’s Lightning to 30 pin converter it seems to work OK with the Bad Elf app but does not work with any other GPS/navigation app. All other apps report they can’t find a GPS and the light on dongle does not come on. Do you have any idea what the problem might be? Thanks, Steve

Hi Steve,

The BE-GPS-1000 works fine with my iPad mini (running iOS 6.0), but I was just able to reproduce what you describe with my iPod touch (5th gen, also 6.0). The LED flashes when our iOS app is running, and for some period of time after it goes into the background, but with apps like Maps and CMS LapTimer Pro, the LED stays off. Same behavior with both of the Apple Lightning-to-30pin converters.

I hooked up the sniffer and the symptoms are identical to what some of our users saw when they upgraded to iOS 6.0… basically, some bogus cached setting in Core Location was preventing the iOS device from powering up external GPS receivers. Some combination of toggling Location Services off/on globally and for each app usually fixed it, but some people had to do a backup/reset/restore of their iOS device.

Back to my iPod touch… after toggling Location Services and not seeing any change, I went ahead and did the pending upgrade to iOS 6.0.1. After it rebooted the device, I’m seeing the correct behavior and the BE-GPS-1000 is working well with both of the Apple Lightning-to-30pin converters.

So, hopefully a simple reboot or iOS upgrade will fix this for you. If it doesn’t, please drop us a note to support@bad-elf.com and we’ll get this resolved via email. Once that happens we can post a summary back here to the blog for anyone who runs across the same issue.

Thanks for your patience and detailed problem report!

Best regards,
-Brett

Drop a note to support@bad-elf.com and we’d be happy to help diagnose any issues you’re seeing!

Hi, any news on comparability of the bad elf receiver and ipad mini? I have tried it with a mini using apples’s lightning connector and get get it to work.

Thanks, Steve

Hi Andy,

We’re also eager to get our hands on the new iPad mini tomorrow! We’re expecting it to work out of the box with the GPS Pro (via Bluetooth) and even our GPS dongle (via Apple’s Lighting-to-30pin adapters).

As for the Lightning connector — we have several new products in development but I can’t say more at this time. As you’ve probably heard there are unlikely to be many Lightning accessories available until early 2013 due to changes in the MFi program and parts availability.

Thanks,
Brett

I seem to be having similar problems right now with my ForeFlight App, but I have NOT yet updated to iOS6 yet – still using iOS5.

Hi, I would like to ask if you’ll look into having the Elf to come with the lightning adapter for the iPhone5 and iPod Touch 5G (instead of using the 30-pin to lightning adapter).

We’re in the process of evaluating the best options for Lightning-based products going forward. We’ll post more information to our blog if/when we have it!

Until then, we’ve had a bunch of users report that our Bluetooth-based GPS Pro works great with the new devices. Once we can claim official compatibility for these devices we’ll do a blog post and update the product description pages.

Keep the ideas coming!

Best regards,
Brett

Hi Brett,

Sorry to press you, but do you have any update regarding lightning? I’ll be ordering an iPad Mini tomorrow on opening day and would prefer to continue to use my Bad Elf in the cockpit!

Andy

Thanks for the kind words and I think you’ll love the GPS Pro for flying and photography (as you describe). We have a few other early adopters who are using it for photo geo-tagging as well. Now that the product is launched and production is running smoothly, we’re working on app updates and new features that will make it even better for use-cases like yours.

Keep the feedback and ideas flowing!

Best regards,
Brett

Hi Bill,

Yes I am experiencing the same exact thing. Did you find a solution? I have not yet.

Thanks!

Todd Koch

Bill,

You may all ready have found this but foreflight had a fix on their website here is the link:

http://blog.foreflight.com/2012/10/02/external-gps-devices-and-ios-6/

Todd

I bought my bad elf early this spring to use on my Ipad with foreflight. It has worked great and I could not be happier. After I updated my Ipad to iOS6 foreflight sees that the bad eld is connected but does not seem to activate it. When checking the Bad elf app it appears that it is working fine. Have there been other people with this issue? any help or guidance would be very helpful.
Thank You,
Bill Batman

I have loved your first product for nearly two years. I use it with an iPad and WingX Pro for flying my own plane, as well as my work as a Pro Heavy Helicopter Pilot. The only headache is the need for tethering with the extension due to the need to position the unit above the instrument panel on some of the helicopters I fly. This requires that the iPad can’t be moved around, and has to stay static in one position in order to keep the extension wire from potentially triggering a switch when moved.

The PRO unit solves this issue in spades! AWESOME! Now I’ll be able to move the iPad around without the need to tether!

Having said that, I am ALSO a professional Fine Art, Aerial, and Landscape photographer. This is an activity which you don’t include in your ACTIVITIES section and one for which your new PRO will outshine all of the other Taiwanese company loggers out there that have awful Windows software and incredibly bad user manuals. Many have complained about the difficulty of those units to work well with Macintosh or IOS software.

Because your new PRO logs as they do, and will export to a GPX file, it becomes a very important potential tool in a photographers bag. Using the derived GPX files, geotagging photos with software that includes HoudaGeo, Aperture, and even iPhoto becomes a breeze! Many high-end DSLR’s still do not include a GPS system, and the companies (Canon, Nikon) want a fortune for a add-on GPS unit that has a single function. Your PRO becomes a highly versatile unit that has multiple applications that include all the activities mentioned on your site PLUS Photography. You need to market to them, because they WILL buy!!

Cheers, and congrats on an awesome second product. Buying on Amazon today!

Hi Bill, please drop an email to support@bad-elf.com if you’re still having any issues!

Bad elf rocks! :)

It is great to see you use the product just like a consumer. And the customer support team is fantastic. I received a response to my question on a holiday weekend in less than twenty minutes via email which solved my problem.

I’m looking forward to seing more postings from your trip.

Best,

Thomas