Lily cannot use iPhone GPS anymore

Recently, my girlfriends Garmin Lily stopped being able to use the gps from her iPhone, making it partially useless to her since this was why she bought the watch in the first place. 

I’m not sure when it exactly happened. The lily still connects to the iPhone and is able to sync via the Garmin connect app. When you start an activity the Lilly gives you the message to start the connect app to initiate the connection for the gps. Here is where it goes different. After opening the GCA nothing happens. No connection is made and the Lily asks to check the location settings on the phone. I’ve checked all of this and the Garmin connect app is allowed to access the location information always. 

the lily keeps timing out on connection with the Garmin app. 
depleting the battery from the lily, repairing it with her iPhone or even connecting it to another iPhone does not work. The only thing which comes to mind is that it has something to do with the latest iOS updates, but I can’t pinpoint that.