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Original poster

Find my iPhone

107 replies

whatth · 15/05/2022 08:45

My DP went out last night with friends. He was very late back so I quickly checked Find My iPhone to see if he was in his way. We both do this if either of us are later than anticipated. His location early in the evening was showing as in a town 50 miles away. He has just got a new phone. When he got back I asked him about it and he looked surprised and said he'd no idea why and had never been to that address. I checked it again this morning and his phone was showing him as at home. Can this happen with iPhone locations?

OP posts:
springbreak22 · 15/05/2022 09:42

Hate peoples controlling behaviours with these stalking apps.

However that aside I think something is off, certainly by the way he's reacting.

Moaningturtle1 · 15/05/2022 09:43

I’ve never known find my phone to be that much out.

Ariela · 15/05/2022 09:47

Where did he buy the new phone?

LadyEloise1 · 15/05/2022 09:51

So the old phone is stating he was in a town 50 miles away where his ex lives.
Hmmmm🧐

pastypirate · 15/05/2022 09:59

I use find my iPhone all the time as dd1 is quite young but gets the bus to school. We find if it's not working it won't show any location.

I do find it shows signal black spots so it can say you are stationary when you arnt but it catches up after a few minutes. The black spots I assume are where the signal is interrupted. For sone reasons 2 of the supermarkets here block the signal.

It's never shown my family more than half a mile than where they are at an absolute maximum.

Jollyandbright · 15/05/2022 10:00

Find My is very accurate within a few meters.
if the phone has very poor signal it can be out by a 100 meters or so but it’s still still accurate to the rough area.

When a device shows as being ‘last active’ that means the device was either turned off at that location or put onto airplane mode at that location.
It’s a feature that was added to help you find the last location your device was before it was switched off if lost or stolen.

there is no way a phone that is turned on in a drawer at home would show as being active somewhere that far away, it just wouldn’t happen with an apple device, they don’t work that way.

Ariela · 15/05/2022 10:02

Where did your DH buy his phone? If in a shop in the town 50 miles away, then surely the chip was put in new phone at that point and phone still shows as at that location because new phone has not got the app?

Original poster
whatth · 15/05/2022 10:03

Phone was bought online. I don't know what to do. I've been cheated on so many times...

OP posts:
Original poster
whatth · 15/05/2022 10:04

But despite that I have trusted him completely.

OP posts:
MrsDrSpencerReid · 15/05/2022 10:04

Sometimes my DH’s will briefly show him being in the middle of the bay (about 1km away) before showing up at his workplace after a few seconds, but it’s never been out more than that.

The fact that his ex lives in that town doesn’t sound great OP but at the same time, if he were up to something then I would think he wouldn’t be open to you being able to access his phone on find my iPhone?

Tomikka · 15/05/2022 10:05

whatth · 15/05/2022 09:22

Thanks everyone. He is saying that his old phone whose location is still on, was in his drawer all night at home. His new phone that he had with him, didn't have location turned on. He's got angry with me now. How can a phone in his drawer show him in this town but this morning show him at home?

Find my phone will show an identity for each device, even if that is just a number, as attached

Some distance variation is valid - for example on my screenshot the dot is ‘my location’ in the house and the phone icon is out on the grass, despite me searching find my phone using the same phone

It can also give entirely false locations depending on the WiFi network it is on, for example I was at an event in the middle of a field in Essex run by a European organization and we were all shown as being in Germany and the photos on my phone still show as Germany

It’s possible but highly unlikely that a false location was given 50 miles out

For his old phone showing a different location last night but the home location now:
If the old phone has not been used since he was with his ex then it is semi plausible that it’s last location was there, and then if turned on again now would appear at home - (With ‘send my last location’ turned on)
For this to be the case it must have been turned off at the address 50 miles away

You can view either ‘significant locations’ or ‘frequent locations’ (naming depending on iOS version) in an iPhones settings. This does not show everywhere but shows a log of regular locations and a time stamp

Find my iPhone
Original poster
whatth · 15/05/2022 10:06

MrsD yes that would be a bit stupid! However there was some confusion over which phone had location services switched on.

OP posts:
Iamnotamermaid · 15/05/2022 10:14

iPhones use mobile, Wi-Fi, GPS and bluetooth to determine location. If it is not accurate there is a blue circle around the marker. The smaller the circle, the greater the precision. The arrow at the top indicates location services is on.

50 miles is a big deviation, unless he was in an area with zero wifi or mobile signal. But even so....I have found mine pretty accurate in remote mountain ranges, boats, ferries etc. I would say the calibration is completely out but it is accurate when he is at home. Make sure you are tracking the right phone, just in case.

Otherwise go with the flow and keep an eye on it.

trainnane · 15/05/2022 10:19

A few times I've used it to see if my DH has actually got a train back from somewhere yet etc or DC to see if they are heading home. I don't think that's that unusual. But it's always been accurate

Buildingthefuture · 15/05/2022 10:22

Find my iPhone can go a bit wonky….we recently went to Europe for a city break and my phone showed me as still being there 3 days after we came back as did my DHs phone? So it could be plausible, maybe. I’d be doing some digging though…..

Blaze1886 · 15/05/2022 10:27

I've got the "Find My" app and it's not reliable

My DM visited us recently, she lives ten miles away and the app was showing her as being at her home when she was stood right next to me!

loveyoutothemoon · 15/05/2022 10:29

He's been to see her at some point (or the town where she lives), whether it was last night or recently, it would correct itself if it was wrong quite quickly like another poster has said but it would be a small number of days. How long ago did they split up?

Didimum · 15/05/2022 10:31

What bothers me is him being angry at you. A partner should never be so defensive over something that is plausibly very very strange. People are completely blindsided by affairs and cheating all the time; ‘angry that you would doubt me’ is naive at best and suspicious at worst. If this happened with my phone and my husband was worried by it, I would do everything I could to make all the reassurances possible - I would understand how confusing it would be for him. I did, in fact have a situation in which my husband became suspicious of something regarding my phone (genuinely innocent, but could be seen as ambiguous), and I immediately offered up all my devices to him and listened to what has bothered him.

I have no idea about location services and I don’t use them and they aren’t used on me, but your situation would be enough for me to keep my eyes peeled.

Onwards22 · 15/05/2022 10:34

This is why I completely disagree with partners using these tracking apps on each other.

It could be completely wrong or it could be right - but either way the trust has now gone and you’ll never know the truth.

Why did you not just text asking if he’s ok as you’re going to bed or whatever?

icelollycraving · 15/05/2022 10:40

Following on from my earlier post, just had a look for dh. It showed him in his location where I know he is, at a football match with Ds. Then fleetingly at his work which is 10 miles from there. Then jumped back to proper location.

MrsColinRobinson · 15/05/2022 10:42

Using this to locate my teenage daughter, it regularly identified her in Africa. She was definitely in the south west of England.

Butterfly44 · 15/05/2022 10:45

@MrsRobinsonsHandprints that's your viewpoint and a total over exaggeration. Our whole family have used it for years and there's certainly no issues around it!

@whatth long time user here, yes it can be inaccurate depending on service. It can show somewhere else then maybe few mins later back to where expected. It's shown me to be out the house when I've been at home before. It's signal related.

FinallyHere · 15/05/2022 10:50

The new phone didn't have location services on.

Find my iPhone gets its information from
location services

If locations services are not switched on then the location cannot be accurate.

Any info that the phone shows about location on the new phone cannot be anything but random, since it is not getting accurate updates from location services.

LadyEloise1 · 15/05/2022 10:52

@whatth "....I've been cheated on so many times..."
Oh my goodness. That is a very sad thing to write. Flowers
Have you been cheated on so many times by your present partner ?
Personally I couldn't be with someone who cheats.
Are there children involved ?

cottagegardenflower · 15/05/2022 10:55

Jury is out on this one. If he takes the app off the phone and refuses to reinstall then I would be suspicious.