Why is the map/location for 2 step verification completely wrong?

Oh Apple is always "watching" or "here" if you will. I posted "following" on a thread once and received an e-mail saying my post had been deleted since it didn't contribute to the topic. 😐

It is very frustrating that the "location" for apple ID verify is for me 350 miles away. How on earth can this POSSIBLY be the IP address I am using? I have only started having this trouble since I changed my apple password. And since I currently live in a very small city and the city it keeps pinging me from is millions population, the odds that someone *might* be attempting to hack me from that city are very high so the whole thing just stinks.

To be clear, this was your question. You knew the why of that question.

You have restated your question and now it is against the terms of the community to answer it.

Apple does not allow discussions on this community about policy or decisions they have made. Their yard, their rules.

So ... Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

How on earth can this POSSIBLY be the IP address I am using?

Seriously?

This has been explained technically several times.

Your ISP provides this data to Apple. Apple does not issue, control, manage or configure your IP address.

the odds that someone *might* be attempting to hack me from that city are very high

However, the odds that someone "might" be attempting to hack you at the exact same moment you asked for a verification code are not.

Doubtful? Ask for a second code. The chances that your hacker is in step with your code requests are even less.

Search for your assigned IP address here >>> https://db-ip.com/ This is the data given to Apple.

The address is not your home, but in fact where the nearest servers are based. I live in Melton, and my nearest servers are in Richmond or St.kilda for TPG, depending on which ones are busier handling data. It has nothing to do with your modem, but with where the internet is sourced from for your local telephone exchange. For instance they don't make internet in Melton, it is obviously generated at a large facility, not an exchange.

To prove i'm right, go to speedtest.net and test your internet connection, it will show you which server it connects to and I bet you my little 16 points it goes where ever the location map is showing more often than not in the past.

The other thing to make note of is, if you do a Speedtest.net test through your iPhones safari browser, where is your iPhone going to test your mobile?

Speedtest.net doesn't show you you a map of where you are and who is it pinging? It is pinging the nearest server. If you actually tested what I'm saying you would be able to check if the map location for the 2 factor authorisation is the same name as the Speedtest servers. Like the other guys say though, if you are concerned that much and can't understand that no one is hacking your phone as they actually require one of your apple devices with your Apple ID logged in and to know your password even if you have changed it since any old devices.

Basically you are stressing too much about something you don't understand enough of, your not going to get satisfaction through this forum. So best idea would be to call Apple support and get them to explain this to you and if not satisfied ask them if they will take your feedback over the phone. As yes I will admit initially I thought similar to you, signed out of all my apple devices, changed my password and still the same map.

The answer as to why the Geo location "only" shows you the server location and not also your physical phones location is a mystery only calling Apple is going to resolve any time soon and you can let us all know what we are secretly also now dying to know.

Lol

Good luck and stress less. Maybe ask apple to provide clearer information on this matter in there knowledge article about what the location map is actually linking to and it will be another one of the little facts that doesn't really change the 🌎 in a big way, just our understanding of it.

I owned an ISP that serviced 3 states from 1994 to 2015. IP address location information for all three states would have shown 1 city. It would have required us SWIPing off blocks to each city. The cost of keeping that external database up to date has no value as it isn’t required for any law or fcc rule. 3rd parties db of ip info is compiled from user reporting and other methods, which translates to “has errors”. Plus every time an ISP reconfigured a Radius server, your blocks handed out could change. So the whole concept of anyone knowing with any reasonable reliability where an IP address is located (apple or the 3rd party db) is not reasonable. The only person who knows is the person on the ip.

So if you feel the same that the maps are useless, file a feedback requesting they change this to actual GPS or the IP address and only fall back to ISP/3rd party location if no GPS is available.

Thank you for actually trying to explain instead of assuming it's obvious 🙂.

For me, the location that shows up changes as well. For example, just now I had two verification processes done within 10 minutes, same location (same wifi or IP for that matter, I believe). But the first location was in Texas, and the second one was in Virginia. I am currently in Washington state.

Is there a reason to why the location changes? Does the connection switch servers?

I don't know these facilities or processes very well, so I'm very curious. Thank you.

So, then how do you explain that the database you give, gives me the right location, while the location in the 2 step verification not only gives me a location about 150 km from here, it also alters with another location that's even further?

I understand that 150 km is not that much to American standards, but Apple has users all over the world. Here in the Netherlands it's close to half my country. In the end, showing location in 2 step verification is pretty useless this way. When I consistently see an off location, while I know there is an "understandable" reason (like, annoyingly, after each minor OS update), next time I'll ignore that location. If that location is consistent, one might call it somewhat acceptable. But since the location also seems to change, I've ended up ignoring location at all. Hence, useless....

Funny enough this issue exists as long as 2 step verification exists. We're several updates further and nothing has changed, hence Apple doesn't seem to bother.

Hopefully, if everybody that reads this, starts using the feedback link you provided, they might start bothering....

If it's true that Apple use db-ip, then they must be using an old version of the data.

db-ip reports my location as Devon, UK.

2FA reports my location as Middlesborough, UK.

My location is actually in Cornwall, UK.

This process does not use GPS. The post near the top listed as Apple Recommended clearly explains this.

So you asked a question you knew the answer to?

Find my IPhone does use it.

But this is not Find My Phone.

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Why not use the GPS in the device? Only 1,000 other apps use it

The answer to that question is not known to us.

It may well be that you are going through a wifi access point that is new or otherwise hasn't yet been assigned a correct location yet.

First of all it is two factor authentication that prompts you with location, so if you search for article Apple added explanation to that question that in case of 2 Factor, location information is not taken from location of the device (Apple Maps), but from location reported by your ISP as location for your IP address.

"What if I don’t recognize the location shown in my sign in notification?

When you sign in on a new device, you’ll get a notification on your other trusted devices that includes a map showing the approximate location of the new device. This is an approximate location based on the IP address the device is currently using, rather than the exact location of the device. The location shown might reflect the network you're connected to, and not your physical location.

If you know you’re the person trying to sign in but you don’t recognize the location shown, you can still tap Allow and continue signing in.

However, if you ever see a notification that your Apple ID is being used to sign in on a new device and you're not the one signing in, tap Don’t Allow to ensure the sign in attempt is blocked."

I wished Apple would show the actual ip address, so you could actually see where it's coming from.