If you lose your iPhone in the greater Houston area, don’t show up at Scott Schuster’s house expecting to get it back. The resident of the city’s Richmond suburb says he doesn’t have it: not your phone, not anybody else’s. But that fact hasn’t stopped Apple Maps from directing a large number of grumpy strangers to his doorstep for years, according to multiple reports.
Via the “Find My” phone tracking app and Apple Maps, a small technical glitch has created big problems for Schuster, as first reported by the local ABC News affiliate KTRK. People on the hunt for their missing iPhones and attempting to use Find My to hunt them down have been, time and time again, erroneously sent to the software engineer’s house since he first moved there in 2018, according to KTRK.
“There are plenty of irrational people if they are angry, drunk, had a rough night and lost their phone and thought it was stolen,” Schuster told the outlet. His biggest concern? “Someone coming to he house potentially with a weapon,” he said. So far, luckily, that hasn’t happened. But still, doorbell camera footage reportedly shows multiple frustrated strangers at Schuster’s stoop inquiring after their devices.
“The cops are on the way, so you may want to talk to me before they come here,” one resident was recorded saying on camera, per KTRK. “I lost my cell phone, and I clicked Find My iPhone, and it says it was at this address,” another explains on camera.
Although nothing has been proven yet, the Texan technologist has his own theory about why his address shows up as lost smartphone central. His house was a model home for his neighbourhood when it was first built. Subsequently, Apple Maps seems to have assigned every home in the neighbourhood to a single shared address: Schuster’s. No matter where a phone is within the expanse of his suburban region, Apple’s apps combine to suggest its at his house.
He told KTRK, Inside Edition, and Apple Insider that he’s contacted Apple support through multiple avenues to try to get the mysterious problem resolved. So far, the company hasn’t fixed it. In an Instagram post viewed by ABC, Schuster said he was considering filing a lawsuit against the company.
Gizmodo reached out to Apple to confirm Schuster’s account and for more information. The company did not respond as of publication time. If Apple does offer a response, this post will be updated.
Schuster’s saga isn’t the first time that Apple Maps has had directional issues. All the way back in 2013, the navigation app was directing people to drive onto an airport runway.