You extract up the location of your iPhone , Mac , or other devices in Find My , and they ’re located somewhere other than you expect them to be . Or you ’ve shared your localization with a friend or kinsperson member , and they see you far off from your current position . What ’s bump ? It might have to do with a relocate Wi - Fi router .
Bear with me , as this vocalise like I ’m tacking red string to a corkboard and connecting the dots . rather , it has to do with how Apple approximates positions and leaning on Wi - Fi — no conspiracy necessitate . Wi - Fi is one leg of Apple ’s location - find system used across iOS , iPadOS , macOS , and used by Apple ’s bump My , Maps , and many other apps , and made available to third - party apps .
Because Apple factors the location of Wi - Fi routers in its database into the location coordinates it report for devices , a relocated base station can skew where you or others who connect to it are nail on a single-valued function .
Wi-Fi as a positioning clue
A Wi - Fi router circulate a unique numeric identifier by nonpayment , along with its internet name and a few other incidental particular . This is true even when there is a warm web password mark and full security measure is enable . Because Wi - Fi routers do n’t move much – they’re more probable to fail and be supersede – their unique identifier can be used to estimate their position when devices with GPS build - in measure Wi - Fi strength from many locations near each router . fuse these measurements allow a figure oftrilateration .
Apple has used Wi - Fi positioning as an element of its localisation serving for many years . The company ’s Look Around feature of speech in Maps relies on vehicles that drive around recording images , but they also capture publicly broadcast Wi - Fi entropy as well . Because those fomite have exact onboard GPS positioning , they produce an precise map of Wi - Fi router locations . ( In former Wi - Fi days , this was informally labeledwardrivingby former aficionado of see networks to which they might connect before ubiquitous Wi - Fi hot spot and in high spirits - speed cellular net . )
These signal capture are paired with millions — or maybe zillion — of Wi - Fi “ snapshots ” deal every daytime by iPhones , iPads , and Macs that assist flesh out the picture . Your gadget are constantly scanning for nearby Wi - Fi electronic internet , even when connected to an active Wi - Fi router or hot spot . Those scans carry signal persuasiveness data and pad Apple ’s database .
The global coordinate Apple ’s operating scheme provide to its own and third - party apps derives from all available resources : satellites ( including some or all of GPS , GLONASS , Galileo , QZSS , and BeiDou , depending on your equipment and location ) , cellular tower locations ( cell base stations have unique IDs and precisely known coordinates ) , and Wi - Fi router .
Even if a machine lacks a satellite - positioning wireless or a cell modem , its Wi - Fi scan can be correlated by Apple to leave a amazingly nigh estimate of the correct location , especially in country with lots of routers around .
But what if you ’re in a rural area or somewhere with dense construction fabric or natural obstructions that block most Wi - Fi ? Your devices may lean powerfully on the Wi - Fi router and the location that Apple at which Apple believes the router is located .
This works well in normal practice . But if a Wi - Fi router is movedandit ’s somewhere with sparse or no other Wi - Fi activity , this can essentially move its location temporarily or for a long period in Apple ’s database .
Sorry, wrong number
A protagonist alert me to this situation recently when his mother ’s stepchildren instal a router formerly in their home at her house . My protagonist ’s mother consistently shows via Find My fix sharing as at her stepchild ’s house . Mac 911 has previously received emails of a similar kind — including when people have purchased a used router and found themselves in a different part of their country — or elsewhere on the globe .
You might recollect this would only affect devices relying entirely on Wi - Fi for locating . And should n’t an iPhone or cellular - equipped iPad expend its build - in GPS or the like to update Apple ’s database automatically ? Yes , but there are always exceptions .
When someone comes within ambit of a Wi - Fi gadget for which they have the password put in , their iPhone , iPad , or other equipment automatically connects to the Wi - Fi router . Even though other cues are available , the emplacement may be most easily receive through the Wi - Fi positioning part of location service — it requires the least shelling usage , for sure .
How can you fix this when you ’ve diagnosed it has go on ? You have a few choices :
apply the coverage feature in Apple Maps . On an iPhone , perform these actions :
Turn off Wi - Fi on your cellular devices temporarily . If you apply an iPhone or iPad with cellular for long enough around a relocated Wi - Fi router , these newfangled snapshots will ultimately overwrite the onetime data in Apple ’s Wi - Fi positioning database . The only fuss is there ’s no way to hump how long .
Change the internet name . Apple seemingly relies on clue from Wi - Fi router , including the singular identifier ( the BSSID or basic service set identifier ) and the human - readable and broadcast web name . Consumer routers do n’t countenance you modify the BSSID , which is assigned uniquely at the factory . But you may update the name , which may prompt a database update , too . ( On a Mac , concur down the Option cay and pick out the Wi - Fi scheme menu , and an advance dropdown appears that lean the BSSID of the router to which you ’re presently connected . )
This Mac 911 article is in response to a enquiry submitted by Macworld reader Jeff .
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