Another Find My iPhone question about accuracy

[josephmartins]

I have read what seems like a hundred different threads about the iPhone's accuracy when using Find My iPhone. None addressed my specific issue.

I have noticed that, outside of an occasional delay locating and updating the iPhone 4s, it's typically pretty accurate. It places the phone right in the parking lot of the office, sometimes right on the building itself.

Today while showing someone how it works I noticed that it displayed the phone's location in a parking lot more than a mile away in a plaza. A plaza that we were not in that day. I refreshed it a few times and maybe 30 minutes later it correctly displayed the usual location.

What gives? What sort of factors affect the accuracy of Find My iPhone? Why would it so consistently show the correct location, then seemingly randomly show an incorrect location? Same building, same office, nice weather...nothing seems out of the ordinary.

Kind regards,

Joe

 

[hookbill]

I have read what seems like a hundred different threads about the iPhone's accuracy when using Find My iPhone. None addressed my specific issue.

I have noticed that, outside of an occasional delay locating and updating the iPhone 4s, it's typically pretty accurate. It places the phone right in the parking lot of the office, sometimes right on the building itself.

Today while showing someone how it works I noticed that it displayed the phone's location in a parking lot more than a mile away in a plaza. A plaza that we were not in that day. I refreshed it a few times and maybe 30 minutes later it correctly displayed the usual location.

What gives? What sort of factors affect the accuracy of Find My iPhone? Why would it so consistently show the correct location, then seemingly randomly show an incorrect location? Same building, same office, nice weather...nothing seems out of the ordinary.

Kind regards,

Joe

Joe, you know GPS is used all the time. Google has latitude and sometimes it's got pin point accuracy. Other times It's had me in another state. My wife will be in Pennsylvania one moment, the next she's in Columbus Ohio. Pretty good trick.

Basically I'm saying while find my phone might be pretty accurate, don't count on it 100%. Technology is a bit faulty. Sometimes it just does unexplainable things.

 

[TheVortex1337]

Every time I've used it in my (very large) house, it's showed that it was in the house, but it has moved around to different locations.
SOMETIMES it has pinpoint accuracy. But you can't rely on it. If you really lost it and you have no idea where it is, it will be useful to tell you what building it is. Not exactly where in the building it is.

 

[Thomasjtsi]

It says it right when you start up the Find My iPhone app.... "To increase location accuracy... the iDevice you're searching must be connected to Wifi." So, in searching for a device that's only connected to wireless data... the location accuracy is diminished right off the bat.

 

[Beachbum]

Hook,

Question: How accurate is the "find my iPhone" app? Here's the scenario... My husband often travels out of town for business; he usually finishes work by 5 o'clock. Last night, he called late, saying he was called back in to work -- which was not unusual, as it does happen some times. For whatever reason, I decided to track him using the app. Long story short, it showed him just over the state line, in the opposite direction of his work in a completely different state. In addition, instead of being at his workplace, he was in two specific locations that he had no business being near. I accused him of being unfaithful, but he swears to God that he was at work.

I've Googled the accuracy of the app, and the consensus is that it's pretty accurate most of the time, but mistakes like showing up in another state are not uncommon. Oh, the two locations he had no business being near? They were gay bars...

Am I being paranoid, or am I justified in questioning his whereabouts?

 

[thewitt]

It can be confused for a short period of time, but typically resets itself as the device moves. Major errors for any length of time when a device can actually be found are rare.

Install Find my Friends and you can spy on each other with a little more flexibility - though if you have accused him of going to a gay bar and told him you were tracking him thru his phone, he's probably going straight for a while...