iOS Emulator fails to load maps.googleapis.com (even with whitelist)

I’m having issues loading external scripts, specifically, http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=XXXXXX&sensor=true

The error I get is:
Failed to load resource: The network connection was lost.

I’ve tried everything I could find, including:

  1. Placing the script above cordova.js
  2. Enabling the cordova whitelist plugin.
  3. Creating a security policy meta tag with maps.googleapis.com enabled.
  4. Making sure my config.xml file contains

This occurs when running “ionic emulate ios” and “ionic emulate ios --livereload”. Everything loads fine via the web browser with “ionic serve”.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated; I’ve exhausted all resources I can find.