iPhone Does "Find my Friends" show the wrong location or places you've never been?

[lumiere93]

I've been using Find My Friends forever mainly with my sisters and best friends. I always use it to make sure they've got home safely or whatever. So my boyfriend decided to share his location with. I never asked him to do it, it was his own doing. I've noticed a handful of times I use the app his location has repeatedly said his about a mile away from his apartment. Also this only happens at nighttime his location is off or shows his in this other housing community. I didn't think nothing of it the first time, but its happened like 5 times over the past few months and I don't notice this happening with other people.

For example my best friends home address will be wrong (a house or two off), but from the surrounding I know she's at her house.

Just wondering if Apple can show an address you've never been to or show a location that's 1-2 miles away. This has happened repeatedly so I'm confused.

 

[mollyc]

Yes. Sometimes I will check on my husband's location when I think he might be coming home for dinner, but otherwise know he is working late. Sometimes he is right in his building, and sometimes he is a half mile away (so I think he's left and on the way home). But a minute later he is right back in his office and there is no way that he can physically be that far apart in that span of time. He's actually never left his office.

Also, sometimes my kids and I are several houses apart even though we are literally all sitting together in the same room. The location is all proximal.

 

[MozMan68]

But when it does that, the blue circle is bigger right?

It's all cell/wifi signal based, so sometimes it will show the general area, but it also represents that with a larger blue circle...sometimes so big and light, it's hard to notice.

 

[Small White Car]

But when it does that, the blue circle is bigger right?

It's all cell/wifi signal based, so sometimes it will show the general area, but it also represents that with a larger blue circle...sometimes so big and light, it's hard to notice.

This is it.

And this is more likely to occur when he's at home since the GPS signal is blocked by the building and the phone has to resort to cell triangulation.

When he's out in a car the circle would generally get more precise. When it jumps around like that it's a good sign he's indoors.

 

[lumiere93]

But when it does that, the blue circle is bigger right?

It's all cell/wifi signal based, so sometimes it will show the general area, but it also represents that with a larger blue circle...sometimes so big and light, it's hard to notice.

I can see a blue circle, but its not any bigger or smaller than it usually is. I know the circle gets bigger when I zoom in. I just checked my sister's location and hers is a grey dot (she's on the highway). I checked my boyfriend's and he has a blue circle and he's at home. I'm not sure what that means. I compared his with my other friend who's at home and her blue circle is a lot bigger than his.

I took a screenshot and his house isn't within the blue shaded area - this is like a mile or so away.

 

[cynics]

I can see a blue circle, but its not any bigger or smaller than it usually is. I know the circle gets bigger when I zoom in. I just checked my sister's location and hers is a grey dot (she's on the highway). I checked my boyfriend's and he has a blue circle and he's at home. I'm not sure what that means. I compared his with my other friend who's at home and her blue circle is a lot bigger than his.

I took a screenshot and his house isn't within the blue shaded area - this is like a mile or so away. View attachment 906957

Verify map accuracy with another sat nav app.

Easy way.
1. Open Maps (same map Find my uses)
2. Turn on Satellite and make sure the satellite imagery lines up with the roads and houses.

Hard way (but more accurate).
1. Carefully look where that location you've shown above is.
2. Open Maps (same map Find my uses).
3. Press and hold at that exact spot to drop a pin.
4. Tap on the pin (marked location) and scroll down to longitude and latitude.
5. Copy longitude
6. Open Google Maps
7. Paste the longitude into the search field
8. Go back to Maps and copy latitude and then go back to Google Maps and paste that in the search field so it looks like XX.XXXX -XX.XXXX
9. Press search and compare where the map is on Google Maps.

There will be minor variances and when you are using a navigation app your location gravitates toward roadways to account for low accuracy so its not an issue.

His settings can have a negative affect on the GPS accuracy as well. Bluetooth, Wifi, Cellular, and location services all need to be on. In location services Find My needs to be set to Allow while using the App. Low power mode and Air Plane mode need to be off. Anything that limits data can cause inaccuracy. He needs to be sharing a device with GPS (iPhone), a device like an iPad won't be as accurate.

Does he have wifi? Assuming so, is his router new to its location? What is his house like, is it a single family with all 4 exposed sides (north east sound west) or is it a condo/apartment with hardly any windows? Does he drive by that location in the pic you sent?

 

[lumiere93]

Verify map accuracy with another sat nav app.

Easy way.
1. Open Maps (same map Find my uses)
2. Turn on Satellite and make sure the satellite imagery lines up with the roads and houses.

Hard way (but more accurate).
1. Carefully look where that location you've shown above is.
2. Open Maps (same map Find my uses).
3. Press and hold at that exact spot to drop a pin.
4. Tap on the pin (marked location) and scroll down to longitude and latitude.
5. Copy longitude
6. Open Google Maps
7. Paste the longitude into the search field
8. Go back to Maps and copy latitude and then go back to Google Maps and paste that in the search field so it looks like XX.XXXX -XX.XXXX
9. Press search and compare where the map is on Google Maps.

There will be minor variances and when you are using a navigation app your location gravitates toward roadways to account for low accuracy so its not an issue.

His settings can have a negative affect on the GPS accuracy as well. Bluetooth, Wifi, Cellular, and location services all need to be on. In location services Find My needs to be set to Allow while using the App. Low power mode and Air Plane mode need to be off. Anything that limits data can cause inaccuracy. He needs to be sharing a device with GPS (iPhone), a device like an iPad won't be as accurate.

Does he have wifi? Assuming so, is his router new to its location? What is his house like, is it a single family with all 4 exposed sides (north east sound west) or is it a condo/apartment with hardly any windows? Does he drive by that location in the pic you sent?

He lives in an apartment with roommates and has been living there for almost 2 years. WiFi is provided by the community. One window in his bedroom and one large window that takes up the entire wall in the living room. He has driven by that street before, but I’m not sure if he’s been on the actually street in the past.

 

[millerj123]

It's generally pretty good, but not always exact. My wife drives my son to school, and I can watch them play leapfrog on the highway. Additionally, we'll all be at home, but my boys may register up to a half mile away.

 

[MozMan68]

I think the key thing to remember with Find My, it is not a "live" update. It only updates once every minute after initial view. That's more thn enough for me and I love the way they made it seamless (no need to refresh) with iOS13. I've used it so much, I know exactly where my kids are even when it is defaulting to a nearby cell tower with a large blue circle (sometimes happens when my youngest was in school...would show him 1/2 mile or more away in an adjacent neighborhood, but the blue circle always engulfed the school as well.)