How To Connect A Bluetooth GPS-Receiver To Your iPod Touch

In the rush for PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants, in case you have forgotten) that happened a few years ago, many of us had purchased Bluetooth-enabled GPS receivers to pair with our PDAs. Obviously, with the advent of smartphones, these devices went out of use. Today we explain to you how to pair your Bluetooth GPS receiver with a fourth-generation iPod Touch. The device we are using is the Holux GPSlim 240 Bluetooth GPS receiver, bought around 6 years ago. This device is no longer available.

For starters, you need a jailbroken iPod Touch. It is not illegal to jailbreak your iPod but you can say goodbye to your warranty (if it is not expired yet). Next, you need a working GPS receiver. If you don’t already have one, you can always buy a full unit, since they are available for pretty low prices on eBay. If you own an iPhone, your GPS receiver is already in-built in the device and so you don’t need to add any extra hardware. Same goes for iPads.

The iPod has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity but unfortunately, lacks an in-built GPS receiver. The GPS signal is received by the GPS receiver directly from the global positioning satellites. So you don’t really need an Internet connection in order to use the GPS service. But do remember to update the mapping app on your iPod Touch so that you have the latest updated maps.

The GPS receiver gets latitudinal and longitudinal data from the satellite signals and enters it into the mapping software on your iPod Touch, which in turn gives you directions. Certain GPS mapping services also give information regarding traffic flow.

To enable your iPod Touch’s Bluetooth circuitry to connect properly with your GPS receiver, you need to install a special Bluetooth application for your Touch. This is because the Bluetooth circuitry on your iPod Touch cannot communicate directly with the GPS receiver. You can use 2 different software applications from the Cydia app to solve this problem- BTStack GPS ($5) and roqyBT GPS (approx. $10).

After setting up everything, switch on the Bluetooth GPS receiver, wait a while as it gets a positional fix from GPS satellite signals, and then open whichever Bluetooth application that you installed on to your iPod Touch. After the two devices are connected, just open your navigational software and you can enjoy GPS-signals for all your navigational purposes.