Photos App on iPhone XR Shows Incorrect Location

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Level 1

4 points

Photos App on iPhone XR Shows Incorrect Location

I have a unique problem with my iPhone XR and the Photo app. On January 30th I took a photo and the GPS location was correctly listed on the top of the screen as the location I was at. Prior to that all other photos had the location listed correctly.

Today I took 5 photos and discovered that the photo location at the top of the screen was listed as "Home". I have no idea why the photo location suddenly was incorrect and not listed as my actual location. The only thing I have identified as "Home" is my actual home address which is on the Google Maps app on my iPhone, and Mac. Any other photo taken prior to today identified the location as the actual town where I was at.

Oddly enough in the Photos App on my Mac the location that was identified as "Home" on my iPhone was correctly shown as my actual location when I selected "Get Info" for the photo. I recently updated my iPhone to IOS 13.3.1 (not sure the exact date, but after January 30th).

Incidentally my wife's iPhone XR, also on IOS 13.3.1, does the same thing. Her latest correct photo location was February 6th and a photo taken yesterday identified the location as "Home".

If anyone else has experienced this problem or can explain why this has happened I would appreciate some help in fixing it.

Thanks

iPhone XR, iOS 13

Posted on Feb 19, 2020 8:57 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,663 points

Feb 20, 2020 12:27 AM in response to gordonvp

Photos iOS 13 is showing smart addresses, based on the Contacts. It will show a location as "Home", if it recognises the address as your address from your own Contacts card.

Or the address of your parents might be shown as "Family Home". Or the place of work as "Work" in a search.

Is the location where you took the photos listed in your Contacts as one of your addresses?

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,663 points

Feb 20, 2020 7:42 AM in response to gordonvp

Does your wife use the same AppleID as you? Then her contacts will be merged with your contacts.

It is hard to say, when changed Contacts will be used to update the locations. My Contacts and photos are syncing with iCloud across my devices, but all are using different system versions, it is a mixture of iOS 9 up to iOS 13, and macOS 10.14 to macOS 10.15. So the algorithms for naming the locations are different on all devices, but all iOS 13 devices and macOS 10.15 devices are showing the photos with my current Home address as a location as "Home" by now, for most newer photos, but still not consistently for all older photos.

I am only looking at the pins on the map, if they are correct, and not so much at the names of the places.

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Answer 3

gordonvp Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 20, 2020 7:21 AM in response to léonie

So the issue is with Photos 13 and Contacts addresses? I have 2 address under my name for our 9 month Northern house and a 2nd address of our Florida winter home, both using Custom Labels. I removed both of those addresses and took a random photo inside the house and it still shows the location as "Home" (I am in Florida currently). Is it somehow getting the Northern address from family members listed under my name (i.e. my wife contact on my phone with her Home address?

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Answer 4

gordonvp Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 20, 2020 8:01 AM in response to léonie

No, my wife has her own Apple ID. I sync my devices (iPhone & MBP through iCloud) as you mentioned and both devices are on the latest IOS & OS versions.

Yes, if the pins on the maps are correct, on the MBP info, I'm not too concerned. I do more organizing of photos in Mac Photos than in IOS, however the MBP Photo albums are still sync'd via iCloud to IOS Photos.

Unfortunately there's no way to show that same data (maps) on IOS Photo 13 photos, at least not that I've discovered. I'll have to read more about Photos IOS 13 smart address on the web.

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Photos App on iPhone XR Shows Incorrect Location

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