Stolen device protection: home location not recognised

[OSXphoto]

Hi all,
10 days ago we returned home after a 4 week trip. On three of our iPhones, two FaceID models that we had on the trip and one TouchID model that had been turned off for four weeks, trying to change some settings invoked the stolen device protection "secure delay" procedure (the FaceID models) and one just would not let me change my TouchID print at all. The message I got was that I could only edit those settings while at a "familiar location".
But I was right at home, the Maps app showed my location as "Home", and before the trip I never had any troubles.

Please let it sink in that all three units had the same issue.

It's been 10 days since and I thought I'd give it another try. And today all three units did not have this issue anymore.

So I started thinking: could the "stolen device protection" have implemented some kind of "cooling down delay" for the "familiar locations"? Like if the unit has seen a long period of absence from home, it won't immediately lift the "secure delay" measure? I specifically mean could this be purposely designed by Apple?

Apple help page doesn't mention any of this.

I asked Apple Netherlands today but the guy said he suspected a sync issue after 4 weeks of absence. But when I confronted them with the fact that 3 units had the same issue he just said he couldn't think of anything at that time.

 

[BigBlur]

That would be my guess. You haven’t been at that location for four weeks, so it makes sense that iOS would no longer consider it to be a significant location.

Significant locations are synced between devices using the same Apple Account. Is the phone that was off using the same Apple Account as one of the others that was with you? If so, that would explain why it didn’t think it was at a familiar location.

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But I was right at home, the Maps app showed my location as "Home"

I believe this is just going by the address on your contact card. Nothing to do with familiar locations or Stolen Device Protection.

 

[OSXphoto]

Significant locations are synced between devices using the same Apple Account. Is the phone that was off using the same Apple Account as one of the others that was with you? If so, that would explain why it didn’t think it was at a familiar location.

No. The phones we took with us on the trip were mine (14PM) and my wife’s (15). My work phone (SE3) stayed at home, switched off.

But the SE3 had been off for four weeks, which may trigger the delay just the same