CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iosgpscore-location
Andrey Tarantsov
Andrey Tarantsov

Reputation: 9073

Can I detect that an iOS device has external GPS connected?

Is there any way to detect that an external GPS unit is connected to an iOS device (say running iOS 13)?

We're building a special-purpose app that really needs an external GPS to work well, and want to warn the user about accuracy issues if only the internal GPS is available.

(Of course, we could wait until inaccuracies occur, but by that time it's sort of too late.)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 316

Answers (2)

Sven
Sven

Reputation: 1

I know it’s been 4 years since the question was asked, but here’s a simple test.

Connect your external gps and place it 10meters to the left of the iPad. Look in your gps app at the coordinates. Now move your external gps 10m to the right of your iPad. If the coordinates change, then the iPad is using the external gps. (It even works with just 2m if your app is giving enough details about the coordinates)

I tested this with success with all settings enabled (5G, WiFi, …) also which confirmed it that the external gps seems to be preferred.

Upvotes: 0

Bruce
Bruce

Reputation: 126

the only way I've been able to do it is to compute position updates per second. the internal gps is 1hz. The external gps that I connect to (garmin glo) is 10hz.

If anyone has a better solution I would like to know.

Upvotes: 1

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