If you have HongKong Iphone DONT upgraded to iOS 5. Your Maps will became Chinese!

[emaildothales]

I Have an iPhone 3gs Hong Kong version my Google Maps app was normal (in English.) I recently moved to Shanghai and after upgrading to iOS 5 earlier today my Google Maps app became all in Chinese, this is hapening with every friend of mine that have hong kong iphone!

This includes street names, buildings, parks...everything! Even when I look at places outside of China (like in America for example) everything is still in Chinese. I can't read Chinese characters, so does anyone know what I can do to get my Google Maps app back to normal?

By the way, I know that the iPhones which are bought in China come like this, but I didn't buy my iPhone in China, I got it in Hong Kong where the Google Maps app is normal (and has been normal for the last few months.) I know that this is obviously a software issue because it changed with this new software update, so does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[100LL]

I do have a Hong Kong iPhone and updated to iOS 5 today, but my Google Maps app is still in English (English/Chinese as usual when looking at HK to be exact, but English only when I look at New York for example). Nothing changed. Your problem must be location specific, don't ask me how and why. Double check your language settings, input methods, etc.

 

[emaildothales]

I do have a Hong Kong iPhone and updated to iOS 5 today, but my Google Maps app is still in English (English/Chinese as usual when looking at HK to be exact, but English only when I look at New York for example). Nothing changed. Your problem must be location specific, don't ask me how and why. Double check your language settings, input methods, etc.

if I look to Hongkong map I also get chinese and english maps, But if you look to china you will see only information in chinese.

 

[100LL]

if I look to Hongkong map I also get chinese and english maps, But if you look to china you will see only information in chinese.

No, it's also english and chinese mixed, just like Hong Kong. I looked at Shanghai and Shenzhen just now to make sure.

Maybe this is more related to from where you access Google Maps? Can you try to use a VPN and pretend you are somewhere outside of China, say Hong Kong or UK etc?

Or, a little more far fetched, use Safari on your iPhone to go to google.com, select google.com in english or google.com.hk in english, and then try again with Google Maps. Also, what happens if you go to google maps via Safari?

 

[Laowai]

Language problem

Same with me. Maps became Chinese, both map application and via Safari.
Find Friends application is also in China. It is extremely annoying to see Map of Ireland in Chinese!


Language settings are all in English, Tunes, apple Id, google, ...everything are set in English. I have run out of ideas how to solve this.

 

[Laowai]

Vpn ...

Tried the suggested VPN trick and got map in English. Location seems to matter, not what user likes or if user able to understand the language.

Is it so that when I go to Thailand everything is in Thai or if I visit Finland, I need to learn to read Finnish very quickly?

 

[100LL]

Some people on a Hong Kong forum said that somehow the upgrade changed a few settings from English to Chinese. They fixed it by verifying their Apple ID here:

https://appleid.apple.com/

They didn't particularly mention Google Maps though. But it could be worth a look.

 

[Estratos]

iPhone 4 here. Factory unlocked, bought in Europe. Everything was fine till the ios5 update. The only moment I was able to see my maps in English was when, after a recovery, I connected to the Internet using my European sim card first. After connecting to a Chinese network everything was in Chinese with no possibility to change that back.

However, I was able to downgrade to iOS 4.3.5 (with European sim card in) and maps were back in English. Both on China Unicom's SIM and Chinese WIFI.

I'll try the Apple ID verification thing on iOS5, suggested by 100LL, and report back.

 

[Estratos]

Verification of Apple ID didn't help. I have downgraded to iOS 4.3.5.

 

[100LL]

So that means that HK people or other foreigners who visit China and use Chinese SIM cards will soon complain that their iPhone changed to Chinese, or would this be only temporarily while they use the SIM card? It's quite common to use Chinese SIM cards while in China, I frequently see people change cards on the border.

Hong Kong uses Traditional Chinese, while in China they use Simplified Chinese. People will complain.

Maybe it's something else, or a combination of things, that forces the language change.

 

[Estratos]

So that means that HK people or other foreigners who visit China and use Chinese SIM cards will soon complain that their iPhone changed to Chinese, or would this be only temporarily while they use the SIM card? It's quite common to use Chinese SIM cards while in China, I frequently see people change cards on the border.

Hong Kong uses Traditional Chinese, while in China they use Simplified Chinese. People will complain.

Maybe it's something else, or a combination of things, that forces the language change.

It might be just because that the update to iOS5 was made in China. I don't think that the maps will change for those who updated elsewhere.