The invention relates to a method of acquiring a GPS signal, spread by a Gold sequence obtained as the sum of a first M-sequence and a second M-sequence, this second M-sequence being characteristic of a satellite among a plurality of satellites in the GPS system. The acquisition method comprises a sampling step starting from a given time (410), a multiplication step for the sequence of samples obtained with the first M-sequence (420) and an iterative decoding step for the decoded values (430) making it possible to estimate the content of the second shift register of the second M-sequence at said given time. If the content thus estimated is identical to the initial content of the second register for an identified satellite (443), the receiver is synchronized with this satellite at said given time (490).