Location Services not working in iOS 8

My app that worked fine on iOS 7 doesn't work with the iOS 8 SDK.

`CLLocationManager` doesn't return a location, and I don't see my app under *Settings* -> *Location Services* either. I did a Google search on the issue, but nothing came up. What could be wrong?

To ensure that this is backwards compatible with iOS 7, you should check whether the user is running iOS 8 or iOS 7. For example:

#define IS_OS_8_OR_LATER ([[[UIDevice currentDevice] systemVersion] floatValue] >= 8.0)

//In ViewDidLoad
if(IS_OS_8_OR_LATER) {
[self.locationManager requestAlwaysAuthorization];
}

[self.locationManager startUpdatingLocation];

Solution with backward compatibility:

SEL requestSelector = NSSelectorFromString(@"requestWhenInUseAuthorization");
if ([CLLocationManager authorizationStatus] == kCLAuthorizationStatusNotDetermined &&
[self.locationManager respondsToSelector:requestSelector]) {
[self.locationManager performSelector:requestSelector withObject:NULL];
} else {
[self.locationManager startUpdatingLocation];
}

Setup NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription key in your Info.plist

1. Add key `NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription` or `NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription` (background GPS use) with string asking to use GPS on each `info.plist` from each target.

2. Ask for permission by running:

[self initLocationManager:locationManager];

Where `initLocationManager` is:

// asks for GPS authorization on iOS 8
-(void) initLocationManager:(CLLocationManager *) locationManager{

locationManager = [[CLLocationManager alloc]init];

if([locationManager respondsToSelector:@selector(requestAlwaysAuthorization)])
[locationManager requestAlwaysAuthorization];
}

Remember that if the keys are not on each `info.plist` for each target the app will not ask the user. The `if` provides compatibility with iOS 7 and the `respondsToSelector:` method guarantees future compatibility rather than just solving the issue for iOS 7 and 8.

To Access User Location in iOS 8 you will have to add,

NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription in the Info.plist

This will ask the user for the permission to get their current location.

// ** Don't forget to add NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription in MyApp-Info.plist and give it a string

self.locationManager = [[CLLocationManager alloc] init];
self.locationManager.delegate = self;
// Check for iOS 8. Without this guard the code will crash with "unknown selector" on iOS 7.
if ([self.locationManager respondsToSelector:@selector(requestWhenInUseAuthorization)]) {
[self.locationManager requestWhenInUseAuthorization];
}
[self.locationManager startUpdatingLocation];


// Location Manager Delegate Methods
- (void)locationManager:(CLLocationManager *)manager didUpdateLocations:(NSArray *)locations
{
NSLog(@"%@", [locations lastObject]);

}

For those using **Xamarin**, I had to add the key **`NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription`** to the info.plist manually since it was not available in the dropdowns in either Xamarin 5.5.3 Build 6 or XCode 6.1 - only `NSLocationUsageDescription` was in the list, and that caused the `CLLocationManager` to continue to fail silently.

My solution which can be compiled in Xcode 5:

#ifdef __IPHONE_8_0
NSUInteger code = [CLLocationManager authorizationStatus];
if (code == kCLAuthorizationStatusNotDetermined && ([self.locationManager respondsToSelector:@selector(requestAlwaysAuthorization)] || [self.locationManager respondsToSelector:@selector(requestWhenInUseAuthorization)])) {
// choose one request according to your business.
if([[NSBundle mainBundle] objectForInfoDictionaryKey:@"NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription"]){
[self.locationManager requestAlwaysAuthorization];
} else if([[NSBundle mainBundle] objectForInfoDictionaryKey:@"NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription"]) {
[self.locationManager requestWhenInUseAuthorization];
} else {
NSLog(@"Info.plist does not contain NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription or NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription");
}
}
#endif
[self.locationManager startUpdatingLocation];

The old code for asking location won't work in iOS 8. You can try this method for location authorization:

- (void)requestAlwaysAuthorization
{
CLAuthorizationStatus status = [CLLocationManager authorizationStatus];

// If the status is denied or only granted for when in use, display an alert
if (status == kCLAuthorizationStatusAuthorizedWhenInUse || status == kCLAuthorizationStatusDenied) {
NSString *title;
title = (status == kCLAuthorizationStatusDenied) ? @"Location services are off" : @"Background location is not enabled";
NSString *message = @"To use background location you must turn on 'Always' in the Location Services Settings";

UIAlertView *alertView = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:title
message:message
delegate:self
cancelButtonTitle:@"Cancel"
otherButtonTitles:@"Settings", nil];
[alertView show];
}
// The user has not enabled any location services. Request background authorization.
else if (status == kCLAuthorizationStatusNotDetermined) {
[self.locationManager requestAlwaysAuthorization];
}
}

- (void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex
{
if (buttonIndex == 1) {
// Send the user to the Settings for this app
NSURL *settingsURL = [NSURL URLWithString:UIApplicationOpenSettingsURLString];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:settingsURL];
}
}

A little helper for all of you that have more than one Info.plist file...

find . -name Info.plist | xargs -I {} /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Add NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription string' {}

It will add the needed tag to all of the Info.plist files in the current directory (and subfolders).

Another is:

find . -name Info.plist | xargs -I {} /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Set NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription $YOURDESCRIPTION' {}

It will add your description to all files.