Still in Holding Pattern on iOS 8.3 GPS bug
It's been almost 6 weeks since we alerted Bad Elf users and our partners about the iOS 8.3 bug affecting most external GPS receivers. At that time, we quickly identified the issue and filed a bug report with Apple. Several weeks later, several media outlets and forum users reported that the GPS issue was fixed in the iOS 8.4 beta releases. Unfortunately, Apple has not released any public iOS updates since early April when the issue first appeared.
The various rumors sites are claiming iOS 8.4 will go live in June; some say early June during Apple's WWDC conference, others say late June. Like everyone else, we're in a holding pattern until iOS 8.4 is released.
This has been an extremely frustrating experience for our users and for the Bad Elf team. We strive to always do the right thing for our customers. Like you, we are passionate pilots, boaters, and outdoor enthusiasts that depend on Bad Elf GPS accessories every day.
Issues and gaps are normal when working in an ecosystem of ever-changing platforms (iOS/Android/Windows), apps, and our hardware accessories. We build our products so they can be updated as needed. Over the past 5 years we've been able to quickly fix or work around the various hardware, firmware, app, or OS issues that have cropped up. We work hard to maintain strong relationships with our partners to ensure our customers never get stuck in the gaps. Unfortunately, in this case there is little we can do from our side to resolve the issue.
As always, please contact us via support@bad-elf.com if we can help in any way. If you have an iOS device with Lightning connector, our Bad Elf GPS Pro+ and Bad Elf GPS for Lightning dongle both work with iOS 8.3 and are unaffected by this issue.
We appreciate your amazing patience and continued support on this issue. As soon as iOS 8.4 is released, we'll update everyone ASAP with a status update via the blog and mailing list. Hang in there!
Thanks for keeping customers informed about the iOS GPS glitch. I’ve just held off on 8.3 and just checked back to see if there was info on 8.4. Sounds positive, thanks for continued feedback. I know from experience the frustration of dependency on other parties in an ecosystem, and good communication is the best tool for minimizing customer impact.
Hi,
You could search for iOS beta 8.4 download.
Ragards
How do I get 8.4 beta 3???
Hi,
I resolved the issue with iOS 8.4 beta 3. No problems at all now. Please let your customers know !!!
Kind Regards
Hi all, sorry for the tardy responses, things have been a bit hectic on our side.
Keith: Thanks for the PIREP. Can’t wait for iOS 8.4 to go live to the general public!
Rolf: SO GLAD TO HEAR IT! That’s why we sounded the alarms ASAP after the iOS 8.3 update went live and the issue was discovered. As pilots we shouldn’t be updating to the latest iOS releases for the first week or so. And most airlines have policies in place for this exact reason — it’s just too easy to breaking changes to make it into the operating system, app, or external hardware accessories.
Dazworld: correct, with the only exceptions being the (Bad Elf GPS Pro+, GPS Lightning dongle, or Garmin GLO), talking to a newer Lightning-equipped iOS device. All 30-pin iOS devices are out of luck until iOS 8.4 goes live.
Sam: Unfortunately it doesn’t look like Apple is allowing new people to join the iOS beta program — just the Mac OS X side of things. I wish this wasn’t the case.
“Notimpressed”: I replied to your comment via direct email. ICYMI, I posted some details a few weeks ago re: Garmin’s firmware update, as well as our firmware update plans. You can read my comments here, scroll down a bit: http://bad-elf.com/blogs/bad-elf/18013536-alert-compatibility-issue-with-apple-ios-8-3-and-external-gps-receivers .
As always, for the quickest response please drop an email to support@bad-elf.com. Thanks everyone for your questions/feedback.