Jump to content

I Phone Compass Calibration


acachebox

Recommended Posts

Since the last software upgrade I can no longer calibrate the compass as I move from place to place. This results in the navigate to cache function as being almost useless. I have contacted Apple without result as they did not even know of a need to recalibrate after moving some distance. We now have to use my Garmin Oregon as apposed to our 2 I Phones 

Has anyone else experienced this?

Another issue that renders Cachly very difficult to use it the fact it will not remain in navigation mode if you touch the scrrn for any reason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What phone and version of iOS did this start happening on?

6 minutes ago, acachebox said:

Another issue that renders Cachly very difficult to use it the fact it will not remain in navigation mode if you touch the scrrn for any reason.

This is normal iOS functionality, but is something that we are working to fix in 3.1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The phones are 5C and the version of the software is 10.3.1

There used to be a calibration option when you had moved location. This allowed you to rotate the phone while holding it level to roll a ball around the compass rose. One it was filled in the compass was calibrated. That option is no longer available and the compasses can be as much as 15 degrees between them. Which one would you expect to be the correct one if either?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, acachebox said:

There used to be a calibration option when you had moved location. This allowed you to rotate the phone while holding it level to roll a ball around the compass rose. One it was filled in the compass was calibrated. That option is no longer available and the compasses can be as much as 15 degrees between them. Which one would you expect to be the correct one if either?

Cachly has an option to turn on compass calibration, but I do think I heard somewhere that compass calibration is no longer needed in 10.3.

Does the iOS compass work correctly or is that not working either? It it is not working then this is showing there is something wrong with the compass on your phone rather than it being Cachly specific.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
On 6/18/2017 at 11:20 AM, barefootguru said:

Apparently you can force a recalibration by turning Location Services off & on.  https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/257005/how-to-see-compass-accuracy-and-recalibrate-the-compass-in-ios-10

It seams I'm not alone with my problem with the calibration of the compass within my I Phone.

I would again ask if there is anyone that has a fool proof means that allows them to use an I Phone while caching.

Yesterday while caching with 2 I Phones at at one of my own caches. One said it was 25 ft. in the wrong direction while I was standing within 5 ft. of the cache. The other lead me 7 ft in the wrong direction. The only consistency was the fact they were both off in direction. At another of my caches the compass had me headed in the right direction but wanted me to go 45 ft. beyond the cache.

I have just completed the above suggested means to force a re-calibration. One I phone was parallel the the road I was stand on. The other was off by 15 degrees. Both were set to magnetic north.

I have written Tim Cook twice about this issue. Have had several conversations with his staff on the subject. It is clear from those I have spoken to that they have no idea of how a compass works or what a compass is used for.

My next letter to Mr. Cook will have the comments from the link above to attempt to impress on him that this is not my problem in the miss use or understanding of what a compass is used for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have an iPhone 6 and a Garmin Oregon 700. When I carry them side by side, they are within a foot or two of each other.  Tree cover at the time you are looking for it, tree cover at the time the cache was originally placed, how well the individual placing the cache took a careful set of readings, sunspots, signal bounce with high buildings or high cliffs, etc will all determine the location when placed and now. 

The GPS is supposed to get you to the spot, not standing on top of it. Once you get to the spot, put your phone away and use your eyes and noggin to find the cache. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For those following this issue I have talked to other local caches that are having the same problem with the map not holding navigation mode. Any touching of the screen causes the map to revert to north orientation.

It was not clear if that was a problem in cachly or on the I phone. Since the problem also happens on the I Phone in Find My Car I have to assume it is an Apple problem.

That and the lack of an actual way to force the compass to calibrate kind of renders the I phone useless for caching.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, acachebox said:

the lack of an actual way to force the compass to calibrate kind of renders the I phone useless for caching.

You say this because the hundreds of thousands or millions of finds by iPhone users didn't really happen?

What did you really mean to say here? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every new post you change what the issue is.

You said you were on 10.3.1, now you're saying the problems started in 10.3.2  I've used both with no issues.

Nik's replied about 'locking' the navigation screen in a future version of Cachly so accidental touches are ignored.

You've been told how to force a recalibration, but persist in saying it can't be done.

Sounds like your Garmin is the best option for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes you are correct I did mention the problem started with 10.3.1 and that is correct. My bad.

And yes there was a post mentioning how to force calibration and that may work under some conditions. But we are using 2 I phones and when they show different things after that so called forcing of calibration that leads me to question which one might be correct.

Having just discovered the problem is in fact a function of the Apple software, as it appears in Apple maps, I hold my breath that Nik's will be able to solve it in future software, but we can hope he is can.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/21/2017 at 6:01 PM, acachebox said:

I hold my breath that Nik's will be able to solve it in future software, but we can hope he is can.

It hasn't yet been added to Cachly because it requires we develop our own follow modes. Meaning we write the code for the mode that follows the current user location, as well as the mode that follows with heading. 

Both of those modes are given to developers for "free" in the iOS Maps SKD. Meaning we don't have to write any code to make this all happen. Of course we could develop our own way of doing it, and allow "locking" of the follow mode. It isn't a question of being able to do it, but a question of how much time will it take to develop this feature, and how many users is it causing an issue for.

It seems to me that it is an issue for a small number of vocal users. But other users have never even noticed that it is a problem. It is the standard way that maps on iOS work, so at this point we do not consider it a bug. But, for sure it is on the feature list to look into developing on our own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Bumping this topic.  I am loving new 5.0 functionality, especially premium maps.   But navigation using the compass page continues to be frustrating to me, for reasons discussed in this thread.  In general, I have never had a satisfactory experience navigating with a GPS compass pointer in traditional compass mode because it never seems to point accurately despite calibration attempts.  I much prefer the mode where the device's motion (changing coordinates) determines which way is considered N (as is used on many standalone GPS units), and find it a much more accurate method of navigating to a target which is more than a hundred feet away or so.

Is this the "follow" mode you're discussing in the previous post?  I do see the three follow modes while navigating on the map page.  But nothing on the compass page.  If this functionality already exists, I would love to know how to use it.  Otherwise, please consider this a strong request for enhancement.  Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, markens said:

Is this the "follow" mode you're discussing in the previous post?  I do see the three follow modes while navigating on the map page.  But nothing on the compass page.  If this functionality already exists, I would love to know how to use it.  Otherwise, please consider this a strong request for enhancement.  Thanks!

The follow mode in my previous post is a different thing than the compass calibration.

What device are you using? Are you using it in a car (which has lots of metal) or have a case with a metal clip that could be affecting the compass?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the clarification about follow mode.  I'm currently using an iPhone SE, but have had similar issues with previous devices.  The most pronounced problems are indeed in the car, and so the metal would be a factor.  But I also have issues with it out on the trail with no metal around at all.  "Calibrating" the compass has no useful effect for me.  This all adds up to a good use case for the feature I am asking for:  provide an option to use device motion to determine North when navigating on the compass page.  I find it much more stable and accurate overall.  Is this possible?  I have been using my trusty Garmin handheld but would love to use Cachly more often to navigate since I already have it open to the cache info. 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, markens said:

But I also have issues with it out on the trail with no metal around at all.  "Calibrating" the compass has no useful effect for me. 

Does the iOS compass app also have these issues, or just Cachly?

1 hour ago, markens said:

This all adds up to a good use case for the feature I am asking for:  provide an option to use device motion to determine North when navigating on the compass page.  I find it much more stable and accurate overall.  Is this possible?  I

If this was added, it would have to be off by default. I know that users would be confused at a change like this. The only thing I dislike about using the GPS "course" reading is that it doesn't work unless you move, so if a user did turn in on they might be confused as to why the compass does not move when they rotate.

Anyways, I will add it to our list for consideration. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not used the ios compass app other than checking it at home, so good idea to compare it to Cachly.  I'll give it a try tomorrow when I'm out and about.  The compass app allows setting a target heading, so it will be interesting to observe how stable it is.  I'll post what I find.

The fact that GPS "course" reading only reacts to device motion is exactly what is good about it!  Compass mode has its use but so does this mode.  I agree it should be off by default.  Thanks for considering it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Quick followup regarding using compass:  I tried using both cachly compass screen and native ios compass app today while out on the trail.  Definitely worked better for me today than in the past.  Issue of using it in the car remains, so having an option for GPS course following will still be useful.

I tried tracking to the cache via cachly app on my watch as well.  How does it determine where to point?  Turning around had no effect.  Neither did starting to walk away from the cache (it still pointed "up" on the watch cachly compass screen).

Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/15/2019 at 6:00 PM, markens said:

I tried tracking to the cache via cachly app on my watch as well.  How does it determine where to point?  Turning around had no effect.  Neither did starting to walk away from the cache (it still pointed "up" on the watch cachly compass screen).

The watch app uses the GPS course data. The watch does not have a compass, so turning  while standing will not affect the UI at all. You have to start moving before it will update.

How long did you watch the compass while walking away? Remember that it might take a bit to update, the watch APIs and data are not as responsive as on the phone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Nic Hubbard said:

The watch app uses the GPS course data. The watch does not have a compass, so turning  while standing will not affect the UI at all. You have to start moving before it will update.

How long did you watch the compass while walking away? Remember that it might take a bit to update, the watch APIs and data are not as responsive as on the phone.

Ah, this all makes sense.  I only walked away 50' or so with the watch.  Thanks for the info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

APPLE's GPS ACCURACY / PERFORMANCE for iPhone 7 onwards is considerably worse than for the iPhone 6 ... my story might appear off track for this thread, but I suspect it is related and could well be the real reason for accuracy problems rather than 'compass calibration' per say ... this tale is not a problem with Cachly, but an iPhone issue.

In July 2017 after 'upgrading' from iPhone 6 to iPhone 7 Plus I noticed difficulty in homing in on some caches, trouble was being hundreds of miles from home immediately after changing the phone I couldn't be sure if the area had a 'weak' signal. Over time I was still having problems and also noticed instead of seeing the +/-5M satellite accuracy I was used to with my old iPhone 6, for the 7+ it never went below +/-8M and was very variable. Some months later out with a friend and his iPhone 6, he was laughing at me on & off all day saying I had lost the caching plot these days and why was I looking over there when the cache was here! Sometimes I was up 20/30M out!!

Whilst outdoors and using the Apple or Google Map App, my iPhone 7+ 'blue dot' would wander far & wide maybe 100M up the road & back - the pulsating circle around the blue dot would fluctuate wildly, increasing & decreasing in diameter. In direct comparison, the blue dot for my old iPhone 6 remained very stable at the current location, with only a small diameter pulsating circle indicating good stable satellite accuracy.

Eventfully I contacted Apple and initially experienced the anticipated wall of silence, but after a few calls, by chance, I was through to a more senior team member who took interest. He spoke to Apple's engineering team and had me carry out all manner of tests whilst noting data, later installing tracking software on my phone (I'm very trusting!). Nothing came back as a "real" reason for the change in GPS performance, but eventually they offered to replace the handset despite mine being well out of warranty by then. Initially the replacement phone didn't perform any better, still showing +/-8M satellite accuracy at best, but over time accuracy could settle to +/-6M or very occasionally/briefly to +/-4M. The blue dot/accuracy circle was also a little more stable than for the original 7+ handset, but absolutely nothing like as stable as the trusty iPhone 6! I had a good rapport with the Apple guy and even persuaded him to install a GPS Accuracy App on his own iPhone X ... his X also never showed better than 8M satellite accuracy and the blue dot not very stable!! I gave up at that point and these days take my iPhone 6 and/or Garmin Montana as backup on important caching trips, just in case. I suppose the positive that came out was me still finding caches despite my iPhone7+ rather than with it!! The poorer performing iPhone7+ has perhaps made me a better cacher? Mmmmm, maybe!

Seems to me that Apple changed either the GPS chip, or way they handle the information, after iPhone 6 ... so I have little confidence that any models 7 onwards will ever be as good as the 6 and earlier (my son's iPhone 5 GPS performs same as my iPhone 6). Real shame and crazy why Apple would deliberately dumb down the GPS performance. Hopefully at some point they will rethink their design and go back to the previous good GPS performance.

So, draw your own conclusion whether "compass calibration" or other system is needed, or whether Apple should restore iPhone's to their previously good general GPS performance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...