Ipone 4 compass

[+mwahppets]

My iphone 4 compass is frequently pointing in the wrong direction, however if i turn round then it moves. Is this a common error or a faulty iphone?

[ao318]

Are you standing still or moving around when it points in the wrong direction? Generally, you need to be moving at a rate of about 2-3 mph to get an accurate reading from the ccompass.

Edited November 8, 2010 by ao318

[+northernpenguin]

Are you standing still or moving around when it points in the wrong direction? Generally, you need to be moving at a rate of about 2-3 mph to get an accurate reading from the ccompass.

 

No, you don't. The iPhone 4 has an electronic compass. If the readings are off, move away from interference sources and wave the phone in a figure 8 pattern to recalibrate it.

[+RRLover]

Are you standing still or moving around when it points in the wrong direction? Generally, you need to be moving at a rate of about 2-3 mph to get an accurate reading from the ccompass.

 

No, you don't. The iPhone 4 has an electronic compass. If the readings are off, move away from interference sources and wave the phone in a figure 8 pattern to recalibrate it.

I have an 3GS, I found charging it and using the iHome IA5 alarm clock thingy has

done some weird stuff to the compass. I suspect the magnet structure in the speakers.

On-line I purchased an 30 pin male to 30 pin female cord so as to get some distance twixt

the two.

My suspicions arose when I noted that anywhere w/in 5-6 feet from the clock unit the

compass would point straight at it, I think keeping the phone just a couple inches from

it over night affected the compass. It usually took a couple hard resets simultaneously,

and some vigorous shaking, and a re-cal. to get its wits about it.

With the addition of the new cord and an "In your face" clamp on clip it's feeling much

better now.

 

Norm

Edited November 9, 2010 by RRLover

[+Apty]

I have the same problem bsirrell. Sometimes it points the right way, sometimes it points south.

I like to use Geosphere on my iPhone 4 and so I just watch the distance to ensure it's decreasing to make sure I know I'm heading towards the target.

At first I was excited about using my iPhone 4 as the GPS side of caching, but sometimes it just doesn't change the distance no matter how far I move, so I've reverted back to my OLD Nokia 6110 Navigator, whish I have enhanced with a bluetooth GPS receiver.

[+mwahppets]

I tried using it today and the compas just wouldnt play ball. Waving around for ages! now i am at home its absultely fine. I think i will just file my phone compass next to my chocolate teapot collection.

[+northernpenguin]

I tried using it today and the compas just wouldnt play ball. Waving around for ages! now i am at home its absultely fine. I think i will just file my phone compass next to my chocolate teapot collection.

 

Assuming you're not using the compass in your car (major league interference in there), bring a relatively strong magnet with you and bring it close to the iPhone while the compass is running. That should trigger a "Calibration Needed" message and you can calibrate it properly then.

 

Also, if you are adding an external battery pack or using a battery boost case, that can cause interference too.

 

Last resort, hard reset the device and try over. Or, wait until iOS 4.2 comes out ( most likely on Friday) and try that first - loading it should cause the device to rebuild the compass calibration dataset over again,