Our smartphones are pretty high-tech — they have a number of great sensors and radios able to connect to a bunch of different networks and signals. Because of this, if we lose our phone, it can be easy to simply log into an online account and track the phone.

Of course, it's only great if it works. A couple in Atlanta can attest to the fact that sometimes these trackers can be a little off, with the couple getting frequent visitors to their home from people looking for their lost phones. According to reports, both iPhone and Android users are being sent to this home in the search for their phones because of a bug in the tracking technology.

Police reportedly also targeted the home while they were on a search for a missing person. According to some experts, phone-tracking technology just isn't as reliable as it should be.

"Twice it's been a bit alarming. One because the cops had us sit outside our house," said Christina Lee, one of the people who lives at the home, in an interview with the BBC. "And again within the past three weeks. Three young men came by, really frantic, they were looking for someone who was missing. The minute Michael opened the door they were, 'like where is he?' "

While generally the people coming to the home have reportedly been well-tempered, Lee says her biggest fear is that someone violent or dangerous may show up at the home.

This isn't the first time that something like this has happened. Wayne Dobson, who lives in Las Vegas, began getting visits to his home from people who were using a similar tracking technology to locate where emergency calls had been made from mobile devices.

Problems arise because people think GPS technology is more accurate than it often actually is. For example, GPS inside a building isn't that accurate at all. When GPS isn't available, the device will use triangulation to identify where the three nearest phone towers are and how far away they are, after which the tracker will use the last known Wi-Fi signal.

"I have actually seen a person's location data hop around a map where a router has been relocated due to a house move and before the databases of the router's location have had the chance to be updated," said Professor Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity expert from Surrey University, in an interview with the BBC.

Via: BBC