What should I do if iOS 17.3 doesn't recognize my home as a familiar location?

I just learned today that you have to turn on Significant Locations. See About Stolen Device Protection for iPhone - Apple Support and go to the bottom where there is an asterisk that says, "Significant Locations is an option within Location Services: Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations."

You need to turn on significant locations inside system settings. Go to location services and scroll down to very bottom of this to system settings and toggle on Significant Locations. It should then learn your frequently visited places.

You may be home but your iPhone does not know that. Have you declared the location Home, Work, School, etc on your device?

Add or change your home address in Maps on your iPhone or iPad

1. In the Maps app, scroll to Favourites and tap Add.
2. Start to type the address you want to set as Home or Work, then tap the address when it's available.
3. Scroll down to Type and tap My Home or My Work. ... 
4. Tap Done.

Add or change your home address in Maps on your iPhone or ...

This feature just isn't ready for prime time.

I spend like 99% of time at my house, in a location with ample wireless and cellular signal, and yet it's not considered a "Familiar Location" by Apple.

Today, I had to reset my passcode, which required me to wait an hour. On a lark, I opened a chat case with Apple. The chat technician told me that, because I wasn't at home when I set up my phone, my home is not considered a Familiar Location.

I politely informed him that, first of all, I was at home when I set up my phone. Secondly, I told him, the Apple Support page (About Stolen Device Protection for iPhone - Apple Support) states that Familiar Locations "typically include your home, work, and certain other locations where you regularly use your iPhone" and that there's no indication that it's related to the location where you set up your phone.

He thanked me for checking the support page, and then escalated to a support technician on a call. This technician informed me that the entire Familiar Locations feature is automated and there's no way to modify it.

So, it's an automated feature in a black box, but it doesn't actually work. Which is just another way of saying that it's broken and probably not worth enabling. Bummer.

Adding a VPN, can make this far worse for users. VPN on iPhone is SO NOT necessary and for location access, can completely mask where you are actually. I know you're frustrated, but if you use a VPN, it may well be what is causing the location issue for you.

Yes, my contact card lists my home and work address.

I'm very glad that the feature works for you. But it's not working for a lot of us. And, unfortunately, as per Apple technicians, there's no current fix. Setting your home location via your contact card, or via any other manual process, does not impact the Stolen Device Protection Familiar Locations.

Hello~ Click on and read the User Tip authored by *LD150* as it explains well…

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250007287*

*When at a familiar place (home, work) then only passcode is required with no delay.

The iphone learns your familiar locations from Significant Locations, and you may find that, for recently reset or newly set up phones, you may be restricted at home too until it has established your significant places for that device. Turning off or clearing Significant Locations in Privacy and Security, Location Services, System Services, will turn off Familiar Locations.

~Katana-San~

It works fine for me as I can turn on or off Stolen Device Protection while at home or at work.

Go to Contacts and your contact card should be a the very top of the page. Does it list your home and work address in your own contact card?

或许是地区网络被覆盖了 系统分析不到都会以安全隐私理由来设置一个小时后才能更改资料 在这个时间里 你可以有时间去网络较好的安全地方去以更改 也可以设置系统位置分享把重要地图开启.

I am having the same problem where I am at Home, I have Home as a favorite and it is recognized as a "significant location" in Location services, but trying to turn off Stolen Device isn't recognizing that I am indeed home and forcing me to wait an hour. Looking at the Maps app, it says I am "10 feet away" from "Home", which of course I am and the exact number of feet changes depending on exactly where I am sitting at in my home. I have tried refining the location in Maps but to no avail.

I have read all of the support links listed in all of the and everything is configured correctly that it should know I am at my familiar place at Home...what's wrong??

Same for me. I’ve had this device for over a year and I come home every night. Yet sitting in my living room is not a familiar place. I looked into my settings and found 3 recent examples of familiar places. One was work, one was a fast food place I had lunch at yesterday, and one is a store I was at for about 30 minutes. BUT STILL NOT HOME.

Come on Apple this is ridiculous.

Hello~ Lots of things in play here. I turned Stolen Device Protection on and off and back on again because I met all of the requirements here as well…

About Stolen Device Protection for iPhone - Apple Support

We have no way of knowing how your device is configured.

~Katana-San~

yes, my iPhone should know its home as its set as home on Apple maps. I commute back here 3-4 times a day and I sleep here every day. Basically, 70% of my day is spent here and when I just went to adjust face ID it puts me on a 1 hour wait because I'm not at a familiar location. being Apple I would have imagined they would have done a better job with the feature before they rolled it out. Also, the fact there is no way to manually add a location is such an obvious oversight.

I’m so not pleased with this location issue. I am home but it has me 25’ away from home and thus requiring the hour before I can change anything. Not cool Apple. At the very least you should be able to set up preferred locations by WiFi. Something…ugh.

Unbelievable that we can't just tell our iphones the familiar location(s) we want. I don't want work to be a familiar location, nor do I want Apple tracking me everywhere (to determine my familiar location(s)). The only sig loc I want is my home. Come on, Apple, be decent.