You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Updating WiFi router location in Apple's database?

I recently moved and the WiFi location database still shows my router in my old residence, which is the wrong state. How do I update Apple's WiFi location database?

Posted on Sep 28, 2012 6:52 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 7, 2013 6:03 PM

This worked for me. Go to the Apple Maps app on your iphone, ipod or ipad while on your wifi. Touch the blue dot/pin showing our current wrong location. Then touch the > arrow inside the blue circle to bring up the menu for that pin showing our wrong location. Then select "Report a Problem". Next, click "Pin is at incorrect location". Then the next button. You will be told to drag the pin to the correct location. If you are a long way off, such as another state, it helps to zoom out, drag around and find your current location on the map. Drop the pin and click send. About 24 hours later, your home wifi will be corrected to your "new current" location on all your Apple devices.

30 replies

May 9, 2013 11:02 PM in response to chcn

Thanks for coming back with that information. From a couple of other threads I read it seems like it can be a long wait, if it happens at all.

I've got a WiFi/3g iPad that finds my home location, via wifi, so keep hoping that my location (rural France) will make it to the database. Neither of my Macs, nor the iPad touch know where they are!

If anything ever changes I'll post back noting how look it took for it to happen.

May 10, 2013 5:58 AM in response to Paul_31

I'm curious how you know that your WiFi/3g iPad is finding your home location <i>via WiFi</>. The 3G iPads have built-in GPS receivers, and as far as I know, if Location Services is turned on, so is the GPS, so it's impossible to know if it's determining your location using WiFi, cell towers, GPS, or a combination of all three. Am I wrong?

May 10, 2013 6:02 AM in response to chcn

No, I think you're right and my description is wrong. What I meant (not what I said 🙂) is that my iPad is only connected to the internet via wifi when I'm at home - 3g is never turned on, but it finds my location, presumably using the built-in GPS.

The Macs and iPod touch obviously have no GPS, but used to happily find my home location via wifi with my old router.

May 10, 2013 6:07 AM in response to Paul_31

Ah, yes. I should have deduced that's what you meant from the other information you provided.


Anyway, I rather liked the idea that this might be a way to update the WiFi database, but I'm now thinking it probably doesn't do that, at least not directly. It might actually go into a queue for manual processing like other map error reports, in which case, good luck ever getting it fixed.

May 10, 2013 10:47 PM in response to Paul_31

It's started working!!


Well, that's a pleasant surprise, woke up this morning and Location Services is now working on all the devices at home. It's 10 days since I got my new router so I don't think I can complain.

When I got the router and found this thread I went through the steps you described above and I reckon they've worked in my case. Thank you very much.

Aug 2, 2013 4:02 PM in response to chcn

Just moved my old router from my house to parents' house about 2 hours flight away, and it still shows the location as my house, I only have WiFi devices (MBP, iPad WiFi and iPod touch), but I'll try updating using the same method above anyway.


I'll post here if there's any changes within the two weeks I'm staying here.

Aug 7, 2014 8:56 AM in response to DirkAkron

Thank you. After 14 years of ownership, 3 cellphone service providers, and 2 medical emergencies I finally decided to get internet service for my cabin. But when the wifi location on an iPad came up 2 states away my first thought was that this would be way, way worse in an emergency than Yahoo Maps putting my address nearly a mile away down the street. I've followed your clear instructions, seen the precise Iowa address at which my router must have been registered and am confident the database will be updated by my next visit. Plus, I don't need to call a tech. Super! Thanks!!!

May 31, 2015 2:31 AM in response to vdavidoff

I have the problem that neither my Retina MBP or wifi iPad have had the correct location for over two months now. They are in the wrong country. They both think they are still at my UK house in Sussex, UK, whereas I have been in the south of France since early April this year. Both of my iPhones have updated correctly via their GPS. I cannot connect my MBP and iPad to my iPhones, as in France, a hotspot connection to your 4G data plan on your phone is an additional paid service, which I don't have, as it is not required.


I have had a couple of long discussions with Apple over the last ten days and got up to the third level genius. They were stumped after trying all sort of things and deleting various plist and cache files. They suggested I registered the MAC addresses and geolocation of my local modems with Skyhook, which I did. I was then a bit of a party pooper, when I reminded them that Apple no longer used Skyhook as a location driver and hasn't done for over two years. My house in France is a bit isolated until later in the year, when other temporary residents turn up at their nearby houses for the summer season, so there are no other wifi signals for triangulation purposes. This is not a satisfactory situation, as if either of my devices were stolen, they would report the wrong location on "find my device". Location used to work perfectly when Apple used Skyhook. Apple needs to put a MAC geolocation reporting service in place like Skyhook still offers. Your location used to update between two days and a week after you reported a new MAC geolocation to Skyhook. If Apple's geolocation service is not satisfactory, as from lots of comments on the internet, it does not appear to be, then maybe they need to start paying Skyhook's service fee again.


Wilson

Updating WiFi router location in Apple's database?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.