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I understand location services uses my IP address to approximate my location. Unfortunately in my case it is always wrong by more than 300 miles. Since this is happening on my Mac Mini, which never leaves my house, I would like to manually set its location so that it ignores location services and always uses the location I specified. How can I do that?
Mac mini (M2, 2023)
The only way you could possibly get accurate location data is to use your cell phone as a WiFi hot spot and use its internet connection. This however would mean burning up data on your phones data plan.
The other option (I am not exactly sure if it will work) is get a WiFi hot spot device from a cellular carrier. Again, you would be using the cellular carrier data plan that would be paid for connection to the device.
Some internet providers supply modem/WiFi combos that have location data but you will be paying a monthly fee for them.
The only way you could possibly get accurate location data is to use your cell phone as a WiFi hot spot and use its internet connection. This however would mean burning up data on your phones data plan.
The other option (I am not exactly sure if it will work) is get a WiFi hot spot device from a cellular carrier. Again, you would be using the cellular carrier data plan that would be paid for connection to the device.
Some internet providers supply modem/WiFi combos that have location data but you will be paying a monthly fee for them.
The Mac has no built-in geolocation capability. Its location is determined by the public IP address of the routers it uses, which as you wrote can be off by hundreds of miles.
Short explanation here: Allow apps to detect the location of your Mac - Apple Support
Pull quote with emphasis:
"Your approximate location is determined using information from local Wi-Fi networks, and is collected by Location Services in a manner that doesn’t personally identify you."
Yes. The solution is as I wrote: wait.
We have no ability to control when, how, or even if Apple will update its location services database. The Apple Support document I provided above explains how it works.
Would you like to know more? Read Core Location | Apple Developer Documentation.
Excerpts:
The framework gathers data using all available components on the device, ...
So what components does a Mac device have?
... including the Wi-Fi ✅
GPS, ❎
Bluetooth, ✅
magnetometer, ❎
barometer, ❎
and cellular hardware. ❎
Summary: it has Wi-Fi and BT. Macs have no GPS or anything else to determine their location autonomously.
If a device using Wi-Fi or BT connects to the Mac, and their location is known, then Apple correlates their location to the Mac, and then its location becomes known. "Known" is more accurately defined as "inferred" since all that is really known are the locations of those devices. An iPhone's location is always known, unless of course its owner decided not to enable location services including cellular data. A cellular phone's location is always "known" because it has to communicate with the cellular network. Bluetooth is too broadly implemented to draw any generalizations regarding their geolocation capability, but conceivably you can have a BT device with GPS that connects to the Mac. In addition to being widely deployed iPhones are the usual method.
Yes, Apple Support's explanation is clear that it uses the IP address for location. Turning off location services can change the wrong location to an unknown location, but that does nothing toward fixing the problem.
The problem is the Mac doesn't know its location. Since my Mac is not a laptop, its location doesn't change, so the natural solution could be to manually set the location - but I don't know how to do that or if there is a way it could be done.
I would be open to another solution if someone knows of one, but so far I've not heard of one.
Yes, the WiFi is on and I am not using an ethernet cable. I am located in central Ohio but the location always states I am in Bowling Green, KY, more than 300 miles away.
As I have stated, my goal is to have my Mac to know its accurate location. If there is a configuration file that I could manually set, I'd be happy with that. I am also open to making some sort of change on my WiFi router, or other action, if it results in my Mac knowing its accurate location. However, simply waiting for Apple to do something it may or may not do is not a solution.
Thanks to anyone who can point me in the direction of an actual solution.
skorry wrote:
However, simply waiting for Apple to do something it may or may not do is not a solution.
Thanks to anyone who can point me in the direction of an actual solution.
It may not be the solution you desire. What you seem to desire is to have Apple fix it now!!! For you. Personally.
Wait.
John,
My goal is to have my Mac know its accurate location. I am open to any solution that achieves that goal, it doesn't have to be a solution from Apple. Any action or inaction that doesn't result in my Mac knowing its accurate location is not a solution, therefore waiting is not a solution.
I appreciate your eagerness to help, and you clearly have significant knowledge on how the Mac works. Your recommendation of waiting for Apple is noted. Still, I choose to look for another option.
Thank you
Solution: Buy an iPhone and connect it to the same Wi-Fi network as the Mac. That way, whenever Apple gets around to correlating your iPhone's location to your Wi-Fi router, and updates their Location Services database, your Mac's location will become known to Apple.
And... wait.
Right! You just have to wait for Apple will update its location services database, which they will do... eventually.
Are you confirming that there is no solution to this problem, or you don't know of one?
Is WiFi switched on? Where are you located?
How can I manually set the location on my Mac?
