Many people use the iPhone location service to share their current location with friends and family. Also, several apps rely on the iPhone location service to tell your current location. But wait, is the iPhone location sharing accurate?
The iPhone location service is more accurate than most people give it credit for. Typically, it can predict your location within 15 to 20 feet of your iPhone, making it highly reliable.
Note that the exact precision of your iPhone location service varies depending on the iPhone’s model and the device’s signal. When the internet connection and GPS signal on your iPhone is weak, the accuracy of your device’s location will diminish.
Keep reading to learn more about the iPhone location service.
How Does iPhone Determine Your Location?
When using the iPhone location service, it is best to do it outside with a clear view. Determining your location with your iPhone is best under a clear view of the sky, as this is when you get the strongest Wi-Fi or cellular signal to get better location precision. When you use the iPhone location service, the iPhone can determine your location using three main things; GPS, cellular towers, and Wi-Fi mapping.
Method #1: GPS
The first method your iPhone will always attempt to use to determine your location is the GPS. GPS or Global Positioning System is a utility that provides you with positioning, navigation, and timing services popularly known as PNT services. The GPS comprises three main segments: the user segment, the control segment, and the space segment.
Your iPhone uses the GPS service first because it can approximate your location better than other methods. Things like the weather and physical obstructions such as trees and buildings may affect the signal of GPS. Although using the GPS service alone is not always perfect, your iPhone combines data from the GPS service with other locating services.
Additionally, GPS service is powered by satellites, constantly moving around. So, there is a high likelihood that the accuracy of your iPhone GPS will change by the second. So, though a good GPS signal can approximate your location within 15 to 20 feet, a weak signal can cause the accuracy to diminish substantially.
When your iPhone is unable to get a good GPS signal, it may rely on other methods to approximate your location, with a warning that accuracy is weak.
Method #2: Cellular Towers
In addition to using the GPS service, your iPhone can approximate your location with cellular towers. Cellular towers provide services to your device for making calls and getting cellular data connection to the internet. The iPhone can use cellular towers to approximate your location by pinging the nearby cell tower within where you are.
When your iPhone pings those cell towers, it measures your signal and distance from them to get a rough estimate of where you are. This method is often called cellular triangulation because it pings at least three cellular towers, placing you in the middle and calculating your distance from each tower.
The triangulation system is what emergency services use to determine the location of callers, which is pretty neat. Based on data from the FCC, the cellular triangulation system can predict your precise location up to 3/4th of a square mile. However, a field test shows cellular triangulation can be typically accurate within 150 to 300 meters in a more dense location with several cell towers.
Cellular tower triangulation is far less accurate than the GPS; however, there are times when they are more reliable to use, and your iPhone falls back on it in times of need.
Method #3: Wi-Fi Mapping
Lastly, your iPhone can approximate your location using Wi-Fi mapping. This explains why anytime you want to use the iPhone location service; it always asks you to turn on your Wi-Fi. This is not because your iPhone needs to use the Wi-Fi to connect to the internet but because it wants to use it to triangulate your location based on Wi-Fi networks around your area.
Wi-Fi mapping on your iPhone is similar to cellular triangulation, but this method is more accurate. Most of the time, your iPhone uses Wi-Fi mapping in conjunction with the GPS service to get a much more precise approximation of your location; this process is often called the Wi-Fi-assisted GPS.
It is possible to approximate location by mapping Wi-Fi networks in the area by knowing what Wi-Fi network is near your device. It’s even better when you have many Wi-Fi networks around, as it helps the triangulation process better approximate your location.
The Wi-Fi triangulation system can approximate the location of your device within 2 to 4 meters, which is pretty much the most accurate way to determine your precise location. Sadly, Wi-Fi triangulation is not always dependable, especially when you don’t have enough Wi-Fi network within your area to triangulate your precise location.
Conclusion
Conclusively, the iPhone location service is pretty accurate. Generally, all iPhone locations can tell your location to approximately 15 to 20 feet through different means. So, you can ease your mind when using the iPhone location service as it is accurate and reliable.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are not getting as accurate location prediction as you should, it could be because you don’t have a strong enough signal. Try upgrading your mobile carrier or changing your Wi-Fi internet connection. Also, ensure your iPhone is updated to the latest iOS. Your date, time, and time zone should also be automatic to ensure you get the correct information from the GPS and cellular towers.
A poor internet connection can cause your iPhone to get your location wrong. Most of the time, your iPhone will predict your location correctly. However, suppose you do not have location sharing permission enabled; it can cause a technical glitch and approximate your location wrongly due to poor signaling.
