Status of iOS 8.3 and External GPS Receivers

Greetings from the warm and muggy Sun 'n Fun air show in Lakeland, FL!  We've enjoyed catching up with new and existing Bad Elf customers over the last 4 days.  The first air show of the year is always special and motivates us going into the busy spring and summer flying seasons.

As of this morning, we still don't have any official updates re: the iOS 8.3 issue with external GPS receivers.  As we've said before: please do not upgrade to iOS 8.3 if possible! We have heard rumors the issue has been fixed internally by Apple, but don't know when this fix will be released to the public.  We're hoping for a 8.3.1 release, although it could also be released as part of the iOS 8.4 beta program.

As soon as we have any significant updates, we will quickly notify everyone via email, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.  We are standing by to quickly test any iOS updates as soon as they are available.

If this issue is negatively impacting you, please contact us via email to support@bad-elf.com and we’ll see what we can do to help.

Update (28-April): Apple released an iOS 8.4 beta 2 update to developers and beta testers yesterday.  Unfortunately, due to the confidentiality requirements of these programs, we’re not allowed to disclose any non-public information about this beta software — including how it affects the iOS 8.3 bug affecting external GPS receivers like ours.

Several sources including iLounge and MacRumors have posted articles about this release.

If you’d like to join Apple’s Beta Software Program, you can learn more and sign up on Apple’s site.  Please make sure that you fully understand the risks associated with beta software before taking this path.

We still have our fingers crossed that this GPS issue will be fixed ASAP in a public (non-beta) iOS 8.3.1 update.  We are also exploring multiple workaround options until this is resolved one way or another.