How Accurate Is Find My iPhone

How Find My iPhone works

Apple’s Find My app can help you locate your Apple devices. It does this by using GPS, Wi-Fi, and cellular signals, as well as Bluetooth from nearby Apple devices.

The Find My app can help you track your:

• iPhone
• iPad
• MacBook
• Apple Watch
• iPod Touch
• AirPods
• AirTags

When you open the app, you’ll see a list of your devices and items and a map showing their last known location and distance from you.

If your device is turned on and connected to Wi-Fi, has a cellular signal, or can access GPS, it’s usually reliable—but if you’re in an area of low signal, your device has run out of battery, or you don’t have a Wi-Fi connection, it might not work so well.

How to use Find My:

1. Tap the Find My icon on your iPhone, iPad, or macOS computer.
2. Tap Devices. Tap on your iPhone or other device to show where it is on the map. If you’re looking for an AirTag, tap Items.

If you’ve lost your iPhone and don’t have another iOS or macOS device, you can log in to iCloud to access Find My.

If you’re worried about someone tracking you with your iPhone, find out how to know that your phone is being tracked.

How accurate is Find My iPhone in different conditions

So, now we know how it works, just how precise is Find My iPhone? Well, that depends.

Find My works best if your phone is turned on, connected to Wi-Fi, and in an area with a good cellular signal. In these conditions, it can be accurate to within five meters or less.

It may still work in less ideal conditions, but it might not give you an exact location.

For example, if you’re in a forest with low cellular signal and trees blocking access to GPS satellites, it could have errors of several hundred meters, depending on the situation.

And if your phone is turned off, Find My might not have an accurate location—it might show your last known location instead. That’s because your phone can’t connect to your cellular network or access GPS when it’s off. But, if it was around other Apple devices when it powered down, Find My can use its Bluetooth signals to show your phone’s last known location. (This is also how to freeze location on Find My iPhone, in case you need to hide your current location from someone for your own safety.)

Find My works by combining signals from GPS, cell towers, Wi-Fi networks, and Bluetooth—together, they can give an accurate location. So, as you can imagine, it works best in busier, more populated areas—if you’re in the middle of the countryside with no Apple devices close by, there’s nothing that can pick up the signal.

If your phone is on but not connected to Wi-Fi, the GPS and cellular signals might give you an approximate location—but this could still help you find your iPhone.

Find My might not work at all if your phone is jailbroken. This is because jailbreaking modifies iOS and can interfere with some of Apple’s built-in features. So, if you want to make sure Find My iPhone works on your phone, avoid jailbreaking it. Jailbreaking your phone will also void your warranty and open you to security and privacy risks.

But what if you don’t know whether your phone is jailbroken? If you have a used phone or you share a phone, it might already be jailbroken, even if you didn’t do it yourself. You can check your phone for jailbreaks with Clario Anti Spy. With just a few taps, the app’s Device system check will alert you if your phone has been jailbroken.

How to check your iPhone for jailbreaks:

1. Download Clario Anti Spy and sign up for a subscription.
2. Open the app and, under Device system check, tap Scan.
3. When the scan is complete, look at the Jailbreak detector to see if your phone is jailbroken.

How to know if Find My iPhone location is precise

There are a few ways to check how accurate Find My iPhone is each time you open the app. For a precise location, you want to see a small location dot or pin and a real-time update.

If you see a large location circle, or the last update was several days ago, it could be a sign that Find My doesn’t have an exact location. A large circle shows the approximate location of your iPhone.

You might also see a message indicating that your device can’t be found, such as:

• No Location Found
• Location Not Available
• Location Services Off

Can Find My iPhone be wrong

Find my iPhone can be wrong sometimes. For example, if your device runs out of power in an area with no other Apple devices nearby, it won’t be able to show its last known location accurately.

If your iPhone dies, does the location turn off? Your phone won’t connect to GPS, cellular networks, or Bluetooth when it’s off, so it won’t update its location when it’s powered down. This means that if someone else has your phone and it’s turned off, they could move it to another location—and Find My wouldn’t know.

If you’re worried about your phone getting stolen and someone else accessing it, learn how to block your iPhone when lost.

How to improve Find My iPhone accuracy

So, now we know that Find My iPhone can be wrong sometimes, how do we fix the issue? After all, if you lose your phone, you want to be able to locate it easily.

How to make Find My more accurate:

• Make sure your phone is turned on and Wi-Fi is enabled
• Make sure you’re somewhere with a cellular signal
• Don’t jailbreak your device
• Keep Location Services enabled (you can do this by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services)
• Don’t use Low Power Mode—this can turn off Location Services

I’ve just mentioned Location Services, so I’ll explain that a little more. Location Services is the feature that helps Find My and other services know where your iPhone is. It uses GPS and cellular signals, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi to work out your location. If you disable it, Find My won’t work.

How to turn on Location Services on your iPhone:

1. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
2. Tap Location Services.
3. Enable Location Services.

Conclusion

Just how exact is Find My iPhone? As I’ve explained, it varies. If you keep your phone in populated areas, turned on, and connected to cellular networks and Wi-Fi, it can be accurate to within five meters—but if you’re in an area with low signal and poor access to GPS, it could be out by several hundred meters.

But sometimes, especially if your phone runs out of battery power or your device is jailbroken, Find My iPhone can be wrong—or not work at all. To make sure you can locate your phone, avoid jailbreaking your phone. Clario Anti Spy can help you check for jailbreaks, meaning you’re more likely to find your phone safely in future.