First of all, let’s see what’s happening on these devices.
Several users have been struggling with various location problems when running Waze, as the app sometimes loses the GPS connection. In other words, Waze can no longer determine the location of the user, which in turn means that the navigation instructions it offers make absolutely no sense.
Then, there are users claiming that the navigation app freezes when the iPhone is locked. This behavior, in particular, seems to suggest a very aggressive battery management system, though, on the other hand, it’s not happening to everybody.
The most common problem with Waze on the latest iPhones seems to affect CarPlay. The app doesn’t load properly, with the speedometer partially out of the screen and the saved account no longer recognized. In this case, Waze is either frozen completely or fails to load any saved addresses. The workaround comes down to force-closing Waze and then launching it once again, as for some reason, everything is working properly on the second attempt.
We can confirm both this problem and the workaround on several car models, including the 2020 Porsche Cayenne, the 2019 BMW 2 Series, and the 2018 Suzuki Vitara.
So why isn’t Waze the one to blame?
There are several reasons why the Google app isn’t the culprit this time.
First and foremost, the glitches only appeared after the update to iOS 15 and very often take place on the new-generation iPhones. Some say they’re even worse after the update to iOS 15.2, but in our cases, the main iOS 15 update is the one that introduced them.
Then, the GPS tracking glitch sometimes happens in Google Maps as well, with the GPS connection freezing at random times, most often when the iPhone is locked.
At this point, neither Apple nor Waze commented on these problems, but we’ve reached out to the iPhone maker and will post an update if an answer is provided.
