# How accurate is the "Find my iPhone" app? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 17, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823 "2018-01-17T13:34:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/21 "2018-01-18T15:41:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s obviously some level of correction going on with the navigation apps, as if I take an unexpected exit (that is, say I’m on the interstate, and instead of continuing onward as the app is telling me to, I exit for gas), it takes several seconds or more for the app to figure out I’m not on the main road anymore. It’ll have me on the main road until I’m maybe a good 20-30 yards out, and if I’m simply on a parallel road (like a frontage road), it may not even notice until I turn perpendicular to the highway. And then there are errors in some nav systems that show me driving through the row of houses that are along the street I’m on. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/22 "2018-01-18T17:10:22Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > Why not? I mean, if an anonymous tip gets called in that someone has “a bunch of drugs or guns” at their house, \*that’s \*enough for a search warrant, right? I’m trying to answer this on my phone without my reading glasses. I will endeavor to be accurate but I can’t guarantee it will be coherent. The short answer is hell no an anonymous tip is not enough for a search warrant of a house. It’s the start of PC but not enough. There is various case law dealing with structure and residences, cars, and someone standing on a corner and anonymous tips. Basically it’s no. As with any question about the law you can what if it to death. Your find a phone app is not enough for a warrant. One issue is the accuracy question. Another is if a crime even occurred. One recent call I had was a guy called up saying he misplaced his phone sometime during the night and it was now coming back to an address in town. Alcohol made the events of the previous evening hazy. Did he drop it? Was he robbed? A judge won’t issue a SW on flimsy information. So I knocked on the door. It was an Uber driver trying to figure out which drunk he had the night before left his phone in the car. Let’s say that someone is robbed at gunpoint. The phone comes back to an address. Still not enough. SWs are a lot more complicated than they are on tv. Is it a multi family house? If not how many people live there? Anyone fit the description of the suspect? Anyone with a history of robbery? You better believe the defense is going to try to suppress the evidence from the search and they will use the inaccuracy of the app as a reason. You better have as much probable cause as you can get before going in for a SW. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/23 "2018-01-18T17:14:03Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > Why not? I mean, if an anonymous tip gets called in that someone has “a bunch of drugs or guns” at their house, \*that’s \*enough for a search warrant, right? No, it isn’t. See [Illinois v Gates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_v._Gates) if you want more details. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/24 "2018-01-18T19:23:26Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > My daughter used it to find her phone in a dept store, in someone’s pocket. They had slipped it out of her purse. And then (dumb criminals) hung around the store, the loud tone it sounded convinced the thief to hand it over. He left really quickly after that. Very cool! What device did she use to find her phone? ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/25 "2018-01-18T21:08:33Z")
I use the “Play Sound” feature of “Find my iPhone” at least several times a week - one of us is always misplacing one or more of two iPhones and two iPads. So far we haven’t misplaced all four at the same time, as long as we can find one we can use that one to find the others. “Find my iPhone” is quite accurate when the phone is outside (assuming GPS is enabled). My wife and I frequently use it to figure out where each other are so we know things like when to start dinner. On the iPad, since there is no GPS, the accuracy is at the mercy of location services (known wifi networks). ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/26 "2018-01-18T21:37:45Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > I use the “Play Sound” feature of “Find my iPhone” at least several times a week - one of us is always misplacing one or more of two iPhones and two iPads. So far we haven’t misplaced all four at the same time, as long as we can find one we can use that one to find the others. Try this : you can go one further. Both Google Home and Alexa can be set up to find your phone. I just say “Alexa, find my phone” and she calls it. Google Home has even more advanced features if you have an Android phone or are signed into google on your iphone. (Google Home can make it ring even if the ringer’s off, etc) Both companies are pushing these products, you can get either one for under 30 bucks. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/27 "2018-01-18T22:36:50Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > I use the “Play Sound” feature of “Find my iPhone” at least several times a week . Ditto. Well, maybe not several times, but probably once a week. The thing that annoys me about it is I wish it had a different sound. It’s sometimes a real pain in the ass to tell where that pinging sound is coming from. (Unfortunately, it doesn’t help when the phone is out of batteries. One day a few weeks ago, my youngest daughter (almost 2) was apparently playing with the phone and left it somewhere. It took me the better part of the next day to find it. I was just ready to buy a new phone and then I somehow – and I have no idea how – found it in the side pocket of a storage ottoman.) I’m actually a little surprised to find out the iPad doesn’t have a GPS, especially since the first experiment I ran in this thread, its location was more accurate on Find My iPhone than the iPhone with a GPS’s location (and my iPad is WiFi only). That said, the app also has a pretty good bearing (it’s’ about 45 feet off) on where my desktop and laptop are, and those also don’t have GPS. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/28 "2018-01-18T23:04:54Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > My wife and I frequently use it to figure out where each other are so we know things like when to start dinner. Truly a _husband location device,_ as I refer to it. How to you cause your phone to look for hers? ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/29 "2018-01-19T04:29:19Z")
_On the iPad, since there is no GPS, the accuracy is at the mercy of location services (known wifi networks)._ As a blanket statement, that simply isn’t true. The GPS on my iPad works quite well, even when I’m boating and nowhere near cell or WiFi services. I use it with the Navionics marine navigation app and it works great. [Does the iPad have a “real GPS” in it?](https://ipadpilotnews.com/2015/12/ipad-real-gps/) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823/30 "2018-01-19T04:53:44Z")
> [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > _On the iPad, since there is no GPS, the accuracy is at the mercy of location services (known wifi networks)._ > > As a blanket statement, that simply isn’t true. The GPS on my iPad works quite well, even when I’m boating and nowhere near cell or WiFi services. I use it with the Navionics marine navigation app and it works great. > > [Does the iPad have a “real GPS” in it?](https://ipadpilotnews.com/2015/12/ipad-real-gps/) Per that article, only iPads with cellular capability have a GPS chip. WiFi-only iPads (which I assume is what Marvin has) do not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-accurate-is-the-find-my-iphone-app/806823.md?page=1)