If you’ve been having an issue with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the GPS included with the $1,199 phone, it’s not just your imagination. A number of owners are reporting GPS issues with the phone, where GPS connectivity can drop completely when using specific apps.
According to posts on Samsung’s official community forums, affected users are seeing issues with GPS signals when they try to use navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze. While some owners couldn’t get a GPS signal on their phone from the get-go, for others the issue only cropped up after several days of use.
Users have been frustratingly trying various workarounds, from resetting GPS functionality and recalibrating the phone’s built-in compass, to using third-party tools and restarting the phone, with little to show for it.
The problem seems limited to Galaxy S22 Ultra models that are powered by the Exynos 2200, Samsung’s own system-on-chip. Samsung uses the Exynos for Galaxy models released in Europe; most other regions — including the U.S. — get Galaxy S phones powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 silicon. As a result, Galaxy S22 Ultra issues with GPS appear to be limited to Europe at the moment.
A moderator on Samsung’s forum has seemingly confirmed the existence of the bug and claims Samsung is working on a fix. But beyond that, there’s no time frame for a resolution.
“Latest I've heard from the Samsung side of things is that a software fix is being prepared to resolve the GPS issue. We've not been give[n] a timescale for that (other than "soon"), but please keep a look out for upcoming software updates,” wrote the moderator earlier this week.
We still think the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the best Android phone you can buy, and it also tops our list of best Samsung phones. But it’s worth paying attention to Samsung’s forums to see if users outside of Europe run into any GPS problems, just as you’ll want to keep an eye out for software updates from Samsung promising a fix.
