Alert: Compatibility Issue with Apple iOS 8.3 and External GPS Receivers
DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR APPLE DEVICE TO iOS 8.3 IF YOU RELY ON AN EXTERNAL GPS RECEIVER.
We are investigating reports that iOS 8.3 (released by Apple earlier this week) is not feeding GPS data from most external GPS receivers into 3rd party apps, such as ForeFlight, WingX, JeppFD, Navionics, and others. We have reproduced this issue in our lab and confirmed that this issue is not unique to Bad Elf GPS receivers, but affects other GPS receivers from Garmin and Dual Electronics as well.
Our newer GPS accessories, including the Bad Elf GPS for Lightning (BE-GPS-1008), Bad Elf GPS Pro+ (BE-GPS-2300), and Bad Elf GNSS Surveyor (BE-GPS-3300) do not seem to be negatively impacted.
We are working with Apple to resolve this issue and will provide status updates as we get more information. In the meantime, we recommend you wait to upgrade your Apple devices to iOS 8.3.
Update (Monday 13-April): We've passed all of the necessary information to Apple Support and got confirmation over the weekend that it has been passed to the correct team. We're optimistic it will be fixed in the next iOS 8.3.x release, and will post updates as we receive them.
Update (Thursday 16-April): We're still awaiting any news from Apple. In the meantime, we’re exploring several possible workarounds. We have confirmed that the beta iOS 8.4 released earlier this week has the same GPS issue. Some customers have reported successfully downgrading their iOS back to iOS 8.2, but we can’t recommend that process to our customers — it’s not supported by Apple and requires a complete wipe of your settings/apps/data. If you are a pilot grounded by this issue, please contact us via email to support@bad-elf.com and we’ll see what we can do to help. Rest assured we are doing everything in our power to get this resolved and will send another email when we have any new information.
For future updates on the iOS 8.3 situation, please view the latest information on our supplemental blog post, available here.
Too late…i had updated the night before a long cross-country flight..had sectional and aircraft gps, but Im getting frustrated that when I go to use these expensive “aviation” apps, they havent been as reliable as youd think…
Downgrade to iOS8.2 worked for me (SkyDemon/Bad Elf GPS Pro). Only trouble is you have to set the iPad up from scratch. But it means I can go flying with the iPad tomorrow…
While not a Bad Elf customer, I would like to report the same IOS 8.3 issue also occurs with my Garmin GLO GPS receiver.
Like most others posting comments, I had updated to IOS 8.3 a couple days prior to a long XC flight. Much to my dismay, neither FlyQ EFB, not any other GPS related app was not receiving GPS location data.
My aircraft is equipped with both a GNS 530W and GNS 430W so navigation was not an issue.
I contacted Apple support as soon as possible on 4/12/15. After a lengthy call attempting to describe the problem, their solution was to backup and wipe my iPad clean, then re-install IOS 8.3, plus all apps… a non-starter from my perspective.
It was great to find this this post regarding my exact IOS 8.3 problem.
Thanks for the great information. Perhaps with enough pilots complaining to Apple about their screw up, maybe they will fix this issue quickly.
Cappy,
We understand your frustration. We do expect Apple to issue a fix soon, this is affecting many airline and military pilots worldwide.
There are no known issues with GPS in iOS 8.2, so please drop a note to support@bad-elf.com and we’ll help troubleshoot your Bad Elf accessory to make sure you’ll be ready to go as soon as Apple delivers a fix.
Sorry for the hassle.
Best regards,
Brett
I haven’t upgraded to 8.3, but it does not work in 8.2 either. I guess this is how these companies get you to keep buying newer models of their stuff.