How does a compass work on a smartphone?

A simple example of using only a compass

A large shopping mall parking lot is one of the easiest examples.

After parking your car, take out your phone and launch the compass app. Face away from the building you need to enter. Now you know the direction you need to go when exiting the building to get back to your car. Remember this. When you exit the building later on, go that direction and you will be led in the direction of where your car is.

As "connected" as we like to think we are, we're really not

Smartphone navigation is great - when it works. When it fails, it likes to do so in spectacular fashion.

It is nothing short of amazing that even when a phone can determine location by cell tower, Wi-Fi and GPS all at once that it still manages to "get lost", leaving you lost when you need navigation working the most. And the navigation doesn't break just a little bit. When a phone doesn't know where it is, it really doesn't know where it is.

Using the phone's compass does not rely on towers, satellites or data. As long as you're not in a metal box (like an elevator), it will work.

Does a compass give you perfect cardinal direction? No, and it never has. But it's good enough to at least point you mostly where you need to be.

It's better that nothing, and if you need it, it's there.

Published 2020 Nov 17