Bad Apple Maps data leads to droves looking for lost Apple products at same Texas address
An apparent Apple Maps address mishap led multiple confused and angry people to one Texas man's home -- all claiming Find My says their lost device is at his address.
Find My can be a useful tool, when Apple Maps is accurate
Apple's Find My application lets users track their various Apple products and compatible accessories. It is especially useful when a device goes missing or is considered stolen.
According to a report from Inside Edition, a man named Scott Schuster from Texas has been bombarded by people looking for their lost Apple devices. They show up at random hours throughout the day and night, claiming Find My shows his address.
None of the missing devices are in or around his home. Even more bizarre, the Find My map shows different locations around his area but lists his address.
In an Instagram post, he points out that an image shows a set of AirPods at a location a half mile from his home, but his address is shown. The same post states that he intends to sue Apple if this problem isn't resolved.
That likely means his home was one of the first with a registered mailing address. The neighborhood has the updated Apple Maps data with Look Around enabled, and he's lived in his home since 2018.
AppleInsider reached out to Schuster to clarify the details of his situation. In the time since the initial report, he has figured out the likely cause.
Every home in his neighborhood has the same address in Apple Maps -- his address. So, no matter where a device was lost in that region, it would show his home address.
He has filed a report with Apple Maps to get this corrected. Schuster is concerned that one day, the wrong person will show up with violent intentions, so he hopes to get the problem resolved quickly.
Read on AppleInsider
Find My can be a useful tool, when Apple Maps is accurate
Apple's Find My application lets users track their various Apple products and compatible accessories. It is especially useful when a device goes missing or is considered stolen.
According to a report from Inside Edition, a man named Scott Schuster from Texas has been bombarded by people looking for their lost Apple devices. They show up at random hours throughout the day and night, claiming Find My shows his address.
None of the missing devices are in or around his home. Even more bizarre, the Find My map shows different locations around his area but lists his address.
In an Instagram post, he points out that an image shows a set of AirPods at a location a half mile from his home, but his address is shown. The same post states that he intends to sue Apple if this problem isn't resolved.
An Apple Maps problem
It wasn't initially clear why Find My would default to his address. Schuster had a theory -- his home was a model for tours when the neighborhood was being built.That likely means his home was one of the first with a registered mailing address. The neighborhood has the updated Apple Maps data with Look Around enabled, and he's lived in his home since 2018.
AppleInsider reached out to Schuster to clarify the details of his situation. In the time since the initial report, he has figured out the likely cause.
Every home in his neighborhood has the same address in Apple Maps -- his address. So, no matter where a device was lost in that region, it would show his home address.
He has filed a report with Apple Maps to get this corrected. Schuster is concerned that one day, the wrong person will show up with violent intentions, so he hopes to get the problem resolved quickly.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Our neighbor across the street doesn’t talk to us anymore because I got sick of her being, um, let’s use the word rude, always accusing us of having her missing AirPods. First, how would we have gotten them? Second, after like the third time of me explaining what the blue circle means, and the dot in the middle doesn’t mean the precise location, and how to play a sound? I’d had it. Not for the comedic events of her thinking we had them, but her rudeness. I mean, she clearly found them, not at my house the previous times. Also, zero apologies.
i’m amazed he’s not been shot by the public or the popo.
if he was a certain hue he’d likely been murdered by now.
The saddest part is that this guy has no control or ability to opt-out of being subjected to the failings of a technology that threatens his existence. He could be using a flip phone and have no internet connection and driving a 1967 VW Beetle and still be unknowingly at risk based solely on his geolocation.
If stupid-simple technology like this can put your life in danger, imagine what it’s going to be like once we get more AI in the loop. Yikes.
Second - didn't this happen already last year to some poor schmo that was near the geographic center of the country in Kansas or something? How is this still a thing with Apple's location services?!?
The inaccuracy of a basket of wikipedia editors but the "authority" of unbiased AI. Ha!