wrong location

Yesterday I got this Email message.


You recently requested to reset your password or unlock your Apple ID. Click the link below to continue.

Reset Password or Unlock Apple ID

If you didn’t make this change or if you believe an unauthorized person has accessed your account, go to iforgot.apple.com to reset your password immediately. Then sign into your Apple ID account page at https://appleid.apple.com to review and update your security settings.

Apple Support


I changed my password yesterday but it said a device near Seattle was using my account, but I live in Phoenix. Said the same thing today.


I don’t know enough to decide what is going on.


Comments appreciated. Thanks.

Posted on Apr 22, 2021 9:31 PM

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Posted on Apr 22, 2021 10:46 PM

Many networks, notably cellular phone networks, carry internet traffic on their own "wires" to a central location and hand off-net traffic to the public internet at certain gateway nodes. It is quite likely that your carrier took your request and handed it off to Apple in Seattle. The most important thing to remember here is that you can account for every event and action that occurred yesterday. I would not worry about this.


Of course, should you get that "Someone is trying to log in to your Apple ID from..." pop-up when you are not expecting it, you should reject the request and change your Apple ID password.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 22, 2021 10:46 PM in response to MrHoffman

Many networks, notably cellular phone networks, carry internet traffic on their own "wires" to a central location and hand off-net traffic to the public internet at certain gateway nodes. It is quite likely that your carrier took your request and handed it off to Apple in Seattle. The most important thing to remember here is that you can account for every event and action that occurred yesterday. I would not worry about this.


Of course, should you get that "Someone is trying to log in to your Apple ID from..." pop-up when you are not expecting it, you should reject the request and change your Apple ID password.

Apr 23, 2021 9:17 AM in response to Shichimi

For the original poster: if it's in the same country and close in time to some change you made, you're fine.


Do enable two-factor authentication on your Apple ID, if that's not already enabled, as that increases the difficulty of re-using exposed or phished credentials.


For Schichimi: I am well aware of IP routing and of the "fun" that can arise with BGP when it's working and when it's leaking, and of the disincentives for and costs of improved geolocation accuracy. And you're quite correct that the presenting IP address for the carrier is what is showing up here in somebody's geolocation database, and which could potentially be a carrier NAT gateway, or where the device IPv6 block was geolocated, or otherwise.

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wrong location

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