Phone GPS not working on a plane? How to get a fix

GPS does work on a plane

Start from the right assumption. GPS is a receiver: satellites transmit and your phone listens. Airplane Mode switches off cellular, wifi and Bluetooth, which transmit, and leaves the GPS receiver alone. GPS receivers are named in the FAA’s 2013 guidance allowing portable electronics in Airplane Mode, and EASA lets airlines permit devices in Flight Mode after their own assessment.

So if your position is not updating, something on the phone or in the cabin is getting in the way. Work through the causes below in order. Always follow crew instructions: on rare low-visibility landings, crew may ask for devices to be switched off.

The usual causes

Location is off. On most phones Airplane Mode leaves Location on, but some switch it off or it was already off. This is the most common cause and the quickest to check.

The app lacks permission. If the app may only use your location while it is on screen, tracking stops when the phone locks. If precise location is off, the app gets only an approximate position, which is useless for following a flight.

You are away from the window. An aircraft fuselage is metal and weakens the signal. A window seat gets a fix reliably; a middle or aisle seat, especially in the centre section of a widebody, may struggle. Holding the phone close to a window usually solves it.

The phone is starting cold. On the ground your phone uses mobile data to download satellite information and get a fix in seconds. With no data it has to work that out from the satellites alone, which can take a couple of minutes. Keep the app open and the phone by the window while it settles.

Low Power Mode or Battery Saver is on. Power-saving modes can restrict background activity, so an app may stop updating when the screen is off.

The app was closed. If you swipe an app away, or the phone stops it to free memory, it may stop tracking. Reopen it and check it is still running.

Checks on an iPhone

Open Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services, and make sure Location Services is switched on.

Scroll down to the app you are using. Choose Always if you want it to keep tracking with the screen locked, or While Using the App if you will keep it open. Make sure Precise Location is switched on for that app.

Check Settings, then Battery, and turn off Low Power Mode if it is on. Then sit by the window, open the app and give it a couple of minutes.

If the position still will not update, switch Location Services off and on again, or restart the phone. It sounds basic, but it clears a stuck location service more often than you would expect, and Airplane Mode stays on after a restart.

Checks on Android

Open Settings, then Location, and make sure Use location is on. Menu names vary slightly between phone makers.

In the same screen, open App location permissions and choose the app. Select Allow all the time if you want tracking in the background, or Allow only while using the app if you will keep it on screen. Turn on Use precise location.

Turn off Battery Saver if it is on. Location Accuracy, also called Google Location Accuracy, uses wifi and mobile signals to help find your position, which does not help with those radios off. GPS alone still works; it just takes longer.

Many Android phones also apply battery optimisation to individual apps. If tracking stops when the screen goes off, find the app under Settings, then Apps, and look for a battery setting that lets it run unrestricted. Where this lives varies by manufacturer.

Get a fix before you board

The easiest fix is the one you get on the ground. Open your map or flight app at the gate while you still have mobile data and let it find your position. The phone downloads satellite information and gets a quick fix, which makes the next one faster.

Check the permissions and power settings above at the same time, while you can still look things up if a menu is not where you expect. Then download the maps you need on wifi.

Once seated, keep the phone near the window for the first few minutes after takeoff. If you are in a middle or aisle seat, rest it against the nearest window when you can, or accept that the fix will come and go.

Position works but the map is blank

A dot moving across an empty grey grid is not a GPS problem. Your position is fine; the app has no map for that area. Map apps normally fetch map tiles over the internet, and in Airplane Mode they cannot.

The fix has to happen before departure. Download offline areas in Google Maps or Apple Maps, or the map packs for your flight app, while you are on wifi. On board, there is nothing you can do except follow the dot.

SkyDot handles this by drawing your position and route on a plain background when no map is downloaded, so the flight still records. Download a regional pack before you fly and you get the full map.

What the accuracy figure means

Many apps show accuracy as a number such as ±15 m. It is the phone’s own estimate of how far off the position might be: a circle around the dot where your real position most likely sits. Smaller is better.

GPS.gov gives typical smartphone accuracy as 4.9 metres under open sky. Inside an aircraft the number will usually be larger, and it varies as the aircraft turns and your window faces different parts of the sky. For following a flight at cruise, tens of metres is perfectly good.

If the figure stays in the hundreds or thousands of metres, the phone probably does not have a proper GPS fix and is estimating. Check precise location is on and move the phone closer to the window. SkyDot shows GPS accuracy in its flight readout, and if the signal is lost for 15 minutes it pauses tracking and offers to resume or save.