Why is the 'Find My' app so terrible?

[RobbieTT]

Given that the app leverages wifi and bluetooth from multiple devices, knows which ones are static (eg desktop systems, AppleTV, HomePods etc) or have GPS coverage (eg phones & iPads) or very short bluetooth range (eg AirPods) I just don't understand as to why it is so rubbish at determining a location or even a stable location for a device.

There are 10 houses on my street and looking at the app has devices running around between all of them, seemingly at random, sometimes popping up on a nearby street. You would be hard pushed to identify which house is mine, even with 'Devices' selected on the 'Find My' app:

Reasonably sure our AirPods don't climb trees either...

 

[bransoj]

Not sure how it all works but if i check mine which covers my iPhone, Watch and iPad then as part of a family sharing my wifes personal phone, work phone, watch and iPad. It currently has my phone and watch directly over where i am at work, both our ipads directly over our house as they are at home and then my wifes phones and watch over her office all to a point where you could easily identify which building they are in.

No idea why mine would be far more accurate than yours.

 

[fischersd]

I'm guessing some of the members of your family have neighbours wifi networks configured on their devices? If their WAP signal strength is stronger than yours, that's the network they're going to jump on.

Want your Find My to be more accurate when you're at home? Delete any neighbourhood wifi networks (including any metropolitan / city wifi networks - those could also be messing it up).

Mobile phones have also been using aGPS ever since we started mapping - so if your carrier has somehow messed this up, it won't help.

Me, I'd be caring less about this and more about getting free data from other networks as I roam about my neighbourhood, but to each their own.

And, yes, my Find My is also pretty accurate. (though Apple Maps has yet do do proper representations for the new towers on this block) *shrug*

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

It's all based on GPS, and depending on where your devices are, and whether they have a GPS signal, but that works for, obviously, devices that have that capability.

It seems that non-GPS devices have a 'last identified here' marker. When the wife lost her iPhone, the Find My had the location down to a circle that was in small single digit feet. When I lost an AirPod, it had it down to yards, a marked decrease in accuracy, BUT small enough to get me in the vicinity where the local Bluetooth signal could be picked up, and it was located. With the iPhone, I expected a clear and close location because it was likely communicating with it, I was surprised how close Find My got to the single AirPod. Close enough to the point it dropped off the iPhone, that I was 'close'.

At least that's my idea on how it worked for me.

I would think that the AirPods were 'found' in those locations, and it's showing the last location as a place to start looking for them. I've wondered how exact the Find My is for AirPods considering that they don't have anything more than Bluetooth for location. Is it possible for Find My to not be able to find AirPods? I wouldn't be surprised to find out the answer is 'yes', especially if the battery is dead. YMMV...

 

[TimFL1]

It's all based on GPS, and depending on where your devices are, and whether they have a GPS signal, but that works for, obviously, devices that have that capability.

It seems that non-GPS devices have a 'last identified here' marker. When the wife lost her iPhone, the Find My had the location down to a circle that was in small single digit feet. When I lost an AirPod, it had it down to yards, a marked decrease in accuracy, BUT small enough to get me in the vicinity where the local Bluetooth signal could be picked up, and it was located. With the iPhone, I expected a clear and close location because it was likely communicating with it, I was surprised how close Find My got to the single AirPod. Close enough to the point it dropped off the iPhone, that I was 'close'.

At least that's my idea on how it worked for me.

I would think that the AirPods were 'found' in those locations, and it's showing the last location as a place to start looking for them. I've wondered how exact the Find My is for AirPods considering that they don't have anything more than Bluetooth for location. Is it possible for Find My to not be able to find AirPods? I wouldn't be surprised to find out the answer is 'yes', especially if the battery is dead. YMMV...

AirPods only update their location when they are connected. Mine are pretty much permanently showing at my workplace because that‘s where I use them to listen to music.

 

[RobbieTT]

I'm guessing some of the members of your family have neighbours wifi networks configured on their devices? If their WAP signal strength is stronger than yours, that's the network they're going to jump on.

Want your Find My to be more accurate when you're at home? Delete any neighbourhood wifi networks (including any metropolitan / city wifi networks - those could also be messing it up).

Certainly not the wifi. Houses are well spread out and construction is high-density concrete block on the inside of the cavity with brickwork on the outside - it eats wifi signals. Location is a rural UK market town so zero wifi outside of individual houses.

Getting wifi inside houses such as these is not easy due to the concrete internal walls. Multiple wifi APs are a necessity!

 

[fischersd]

Certainly not the wifi. Houses are well spread out and construction is high-density concrete block on the inside of the cavity with brickwork on the outside - it eats wifi signals. Location is a rural UK market town so zero wifi outside of individual houses.

Getting wifi inside houses such as these is not easy due to the concrete internal walls. Multiple wifi APs are a necessity!

The 2.4GHz band carries considerably further (and with Wifi 6, you'll see it being more popular as they're adding more channels and it'll be handling higher speeds).

Is everyone in your household on the same wireless carrier? I know you also have a much higher density of carriers (more of them, overlapping) in EU. If you're on differing carriers, there could be different values being given for the aGPS data.

 

[R.T.J.]

Any of the above. Is for security reasons. If someone wants to find you, all they need is to attach an old iPhone to your car and then "Find It". The same thing with the AirTag, you could track anybody with it.

 

[RobbieTT]

The 2.4GHz band carries considerably further (and with Wifi 6, you'll see it being more popular as they're adding more channels and it'll be handling higher speeds).

Is everyone in your household on the same wireless carrier? I know you also have a much higher density of carriers (more of them, overlapping) in EU. If you're on differing carriers, there could be different values being given for the aGPS data.

It isn't a wifi issue with neighbours - I have the ability to scan and map the RF environment.

The differing wireless carriers (aka mobile networks over here) is a possibility as we have most items on the O2 network and my devices are on Vodafone. Of course, this would not explain the bluetooth-only devices that are connected to wifi-only devices.

Another thought is the APs themselves. Does Apple presume only a single AP / Combo Box associated with an external IP address? I run 4 APs in winter and 5 APs in summer so wondering if the wifi signal roaming around the house is causing the location confusion.

Any of the above. Is for security reasons. If someone wants to find you, all they need is to attach an old iPhone to your car and then "Find It". The same thing with the AirTag, you could track anybody with it.

It isn't security - away from wifi / bluetooth range 2 GPS-equipped and cooperating iPhones have no issues finding exactly where each other are. If they didn't they would call it 'Don't Find My'.

It isn't the same thing with AirTags either as they are designed precisely to be found by their users. The security aspects are to keep others out and to alert you if a tag that isn't yours is following you. AirTags would be pointless if the keys you are missing down the back of the sofa could only be reported to you as 'somewhere floating around all the properties in your street'.

Thanks for your first forum post though.

 

[McScooby]

Got a similar bugbear, where I live in a flat & obviously I've got that set as my home location. I've always thought that an apple tv or HomePod as a hub should be able to determine that your devices are in your home and nowhere else (or even an airport, but no chance of seeing that again), this obv gets passed back to the find my app.
Don't get me wrong, if out and about the GPS lock is usually strong and reliable, but when indoors less so. i.e I live in a flat at no. 2, find my regularly says my devices are in no. 6 despite having 2 as my home location, or my work location which is on a corner & is set that way, always says the location is the other street on the corner, despite knowing my work location, frustrating to the max, but YMMV.

 

[moriarti]

Given that the app leverages wifi and bluetooth from multiple devices, knows which ones are static (eg desktop systems, AppleTV, HomePods etc) or have GPS coverage (eg phones & iPads) or very short bluetooth range (eg AirPods) I just don't understand as to why it is so rubbish at determining a location or even a stable location for a device.

There are 10 houses on my street and looking at the app has devices running around between all of them, seemingly at random, sometimes popping up on a nearby street. You would be hard pushed to identify which house is mine, even with 'Devices' selected on the 'Find My' app:

View attachment 1786176

Reasonably sure our AirPods don't climb trees either...

So here is how bad it really is.

I pre ordered my first Apple watch months before they were released. I was a certified Apple hardware tech back in 1994.

I got a new gen watch a few years ago because it's was more water resistant. New-is watch goes missing. I was pretty sure it was not far away, I mostly work at home and have a toddler who likes to hide things.

Anyway, 2nd watch goes missing, I search and search, desperate to pick up a signal before it wears out. Find my BS insists that the watch is about mile and a half away. So, I make a fool of myself annoying my neighbors. "Do you think maybe somebody, ya know, accidentally picked up my watch an dropped it on your property, because Find My BS says it is a few hundred feet from your gate.

Neighbors are like, "Sure I'll take your number, please go away and don't call the cops, we haven't seen your watch"

Weeks go by. My Birthday comes around, Wife buys my sorry ass a new watch and says "try not to lose this one".

Months go by. My Wife finds the missing watch in our tech drawer no less that TEN FEET from where I had repeatedly used Find my BS over and over because I figure that best bet, the watch in question was lost in the sofa in the same room.

So does Find my BS work? I would say "Not very well. Not well at all"

 

[joebeazelman]

A few months ago, I lost my AirTag and it haven't found it. FindMy didn't even list its last known location. Yesterday, it couldn't find my AirPod Pros either. Same exact problem. I had to pull out my dusty recollection hat and replay all the events and places. Finally, I recalled handing them to my wife for safe keeping. They were in her purse and 50% charged!

FindMy is unreliable. In both cases, even my family members, who I added to Find My network, couldn't find them using their iPhone 13s, which is supposed to have better detection. I suspect the AirTag and AirPods signals maybe too weak to be detected inside my home which has two solid brick walls on two sides. The WIFI and cellular signals may contribute to problem as well. It's hard to really say.