Did iOS 26 break geolocation for PWAs?

App & System Services Maps & Location
Jelf OP
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I am the developer of the Progressive Web App (PWA) FindMeSAR which displays the user’s coordinates in several different formats. https://findmesar.com

When this PWA is not installed on my iPhone 17 Pro then I can use Safari to open this webpage and give permission for it to use my location. FindMeSAR works fine and displays my coordinates as latitude longitude in decimal degrees.

I can also use Safari to open Google maps and geolocation there also works fine.

But if I install FindMeSAR for use offline as a PWA then I get an error message saying location is denied.

My iPhone has the latest iOS 26.0.1

I should add that I recently traded in an iPhone 13 Pro with iOS 17. FindMeSAR worked fine on that device as a PWA including the geolocation feature.

Has anyone else with iOS 26 tried a PWA that does geolocation? Results?

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DazzaDIFY OP

We’re seeing very similar behaviour with Big Rigs Camp Finder, an installed Home Screen PWA.

Current real-device results on iOS 27:

• Geolocation works correctly in Safari. • The installed Home Screen PWA also works when iOS allows access. • However, iOS periodically presents the native location permission prompt again even after location has previously been allowed and working. • We have also seen the Home Screen PWA become stuck returning PERMISSION_DENIED while Safari continued to work. • Reset Location & Privacy restored the existing installed PWA without reinstalling it, but the repeated permission prompt later returned. • We added diagnostics and repeatedly captured this state in the Home Screen PWA:

getCurrentPosition(): success navigator.permissions geolocation: denied display-mode: standalone geolocation available: yes

So the Permissions API state does not reliably reflect the actual result of the geolocation request in this context.

Our implementation is user-gesture driven: • no geolocation request on app startup or mount • getCurrentPosition() only after the user taps Locate Me • watchPosition() starts only after the one-shot request succeeds • no automatic retry loops or polling

Safari remains stable while the standalone Home Screen permission behaviour is inconsistent.

Happy to provide screenshots, timestamps, or further reproduction details if useful.