Directional arrow in Navigate button not working

[+clues-uh]

When I’m walking toward a cache along trails or in the forest I usually press the Navigate button, there is an orange line to the cache, a blue dot showing my location, and a bit of a blue arrow that will move when I rotate my phone parallel to the ground and show me which direction I should be walking in. The arrow was always reasonably accurate and I could figure out which direction to walk in, which was always very helpful when I was hiking in the bush. 
 

After a recent app update the graphic for the blue dot and blue arrow has changed slightly, the arrow is now incorporated within the dot, which is fine, but the arrow is no longer even remotely accurate. It does not show the direction I’m walking in, more often than not it is pointing in the opposite direction or at best is at a 90 degree offset. While trying to bushwhack my way through the bush and back to my parked car on the road today the app pointed me in absolutely the wrong direction and led me 200 metres deeper into the bush. The app was completely useless in helping me navigate my way back to the road. 
 

Can this be checked on and fixed? It is an app feature that is essential to cachers’ well-being when hiking on trails and bushwhacking in the forest!

[+Max and 99]

44 minutes ago, clues-uh said:

When I’m walking toward a cache along trails or in the forest I usually press the Navigate button, there is an orange line to the cache, a blue dot showing my location, and a bit of a blue arrow that will move when I rotate my phone parallel to the ground and show me which direction I should be walking in. The arrow was always reasonably accurate and I could figure out which direction to walk in, which was always very helpful when I was hiking in the bush. 
 

After a recent app update the graphic for the blue dot and blue arrow has changed slightly, the arrow is now incorporated within the dot, which is fine, but the arrow is no longer even remotely accurate. It does not show the direction I’m walking in, more often than not it is pointing in the opposite direction or at best is at a 90 degree offset. While trying to bushwhack my way through the bush and back to my parked car on the road today the app pointed me in absolutely the wrong direction and led me 200 metres deeper into the bush. The app was completely useless in helping me navigate my way back to the road. 
 

Can this be checked on and fixed? It is an app feature that is essential to cachers’ well-being when hiking on trails and bushwhacking in the forest!

When you stand still and rotate your phone, does the arrow move as well? On your settings, do you have keep North up toggled?

 

I usually watch the distance to make sure, I'm heading in the right direction. 

 

When you navigate back to your car, are you using a waypoint, and navigating to that?

[+clues-uh]

Yes, when I stand still and rotate my phone the arrow does move, but somewhat randomly (for example, if I turn 90 degrees the arrow will spin 180, or 270). Trying it just now I turned my phone just under 180 degrees and the arrow did a complete 360.

 

I do keep North toggled up. I will experiment by switching that setting.

 

The distance still works, so I can figure out if I’m going I the right direction by trial and error (walk 20 meters and see if the distance decreases, and if not then try another direction … it’s not ideal!). And the compass button also still works showing the correct-ish direction, at least it’s much more reliable. I’m talking only about the small blue arrow that shows up when I press navigate, NOT the green compass. 
 

I normally do not set a waypoint for my car when I’m only walking 200 meters in the bush to a cache, I figure the phone should be able to get me back to my car just fine if I can see the road on my map. I will set waypoints for longer bushwhacks. I don’t want to have to set a waypoint every time I leave my car and head into the bush. (I do a lot of bushwhacking in all seasons when I cache, it’s definitely one of my favourite things and there are a lot of caches hidden off-trail in Ontario).
 

It has never been a problem in the past and I’ve been using the app on my phone to cache for over 10 years. It’s only recently that this problem has started. 

[+Max and 99]

We just took a look while out in the field. Consistently while, the blue arrow shows the direction I am walking, regardless of where the geocache is. 

[+clues-uh]

I was out again today and tried various settings. The blue arrow works fine when I take off the “Keep map North up”. So I will keep that toggled off; it’s a small price to pay to avoid getting lost in the woods!

[+-OZZ-]

iOS app version 9.63.0

 

 Most of the time my GPS location is shown pulsating blue dot but on several occasions on Saturday my location was shown as a directional arrow, rotating with my movements. 

 

Today is just the normal pulsating blue dot. What makes the arrow appear?  

 

 

Edited November 4, 2024 by -OZZ-

[+hzoi]

I normally see a blue dot with a directional arrow on the Android app.

 

If this wasn't previously available on the iOS app, I'd say the arrow is an improvement.

[+janrei_]

On my iPhone, the directional arrow appears when I start navigating to a cache or waypoint, but only if I use the "Street" map. Then I can change the map type during the navigation and the arrow stays there.

I don't use the official app regularly at the moment. So I can't say if the behavior has changed recently.

[+Max and 99]

Yesterday the arrow was pointing in the opposite direction of the way I was going. 

[+Freima]

I'd love to have an arrow! All I see is a blue dot with a tiny 'arrow' that is, for me, too small to see. How do you get an arrow like the one in the screenshot? Is it a specific setting somewhere? It would be really useful to have an arrow.