Best Compass App for Android: Free Picks Without Ads
Compass by Philipp Bobek is free with no ads or purchases. Google Maps also shows which way you face, and many Galaxy phones have an Edge panel compass.
A compass app is only as good as the sensor it reads. Most phones have that sensor, and if yours does, you may already have a working compass without installing anything. Get an app when you want a bearing in degrees, true north, or a tool that keeps working with no signal.
We read Google’s and Samsung’s help pages for the built-in tools, then went through the Google Play listings of the compass apps. Of the seven apps this article listed in 2019, only Smart Compass and Spyglass can still be matched to a listing with confidence.
The compass already on your phone
Google Maps
Open Google Maps and tap Your location at the bottom right. The blue dot marks where you are, and the beam attached to it shows which way the phone is pointing. In a town, with street names on the map around you, that is usually all the compass you need.
Google’s help page treats a wide beam, or one pointing the wrong way, as the sign that the compass needs calibrating. The steps are further down. While navigating, tapping the compass icon turns the map to your point of view.
Samsung Galaxy phones
Samsung puts a compass in the Tools panel of the Edge panel, the strip of shortcuts that slides in from the side of the screen. Swipe the Edge panel handle, tap the gear icon and tick the Tools panel if it is not already selected. If you cannot find the handle, look under Settings, Display, Edge panels. Samsung notes that the Edge panel is not available on every model and software version.
Other makers ship compass apps of their own, and we have not checked each one. Search your app drawer for “compass” before you install anything.
Does your phone have a compass sensor?
A compass app reads the magnetometer, a chip that measures the earth’s magnetic field. Android’s developer documentation names it as the sensor for building a compass and says most phones and tablets have one. It also says Android does not require manufacturers to fit any particular sensor. The compatibility rules for Android only strongly recommend a magnetometer.
So a phone can be sold without one, and some are. Samsung’s spec sheet for the budget Galaxy A06 lists an accelerometer, a fingerprint sensor, a light sensor and a proximity sensor, and stops there. The sheet for the Galaxy A06 5G adds a gyro sensor and a geomagnetic sensor, which is Samsung’s name for the same chip.
No app can make up for the missing part. Smart Compass says at the top of its listing that every compass app needs a magnetic sensor, and tells you to check your phone’s specifications if the app does not work. The developer of Trail Sense is blunter: a missing sensor is hardware, and no app can fix that.
To find out, look up your phone on its maker’s website and read the list of sensors. You are looking for “magnetometer”, “geomagnetic sensor” or “compass”. Google’s spec pages for Pixel phones list a magnetometer.
If yours has none, GPS is the fallback. GPS Compass Navigator, free with ads, says in its listing that it fully supports phones without a magnetometer. The same listing explains the catch: on such a phone the arrow updates only while you are moving, and you should keep the top of the phone pointed the way you are going. That fits Android’s documentation, which describes a GPS bearing as the direction the device is travelling, unrelated to how it is held.
How to calibrate the compass on Android
Google’s method needs no settings menu:
- Open Google Maps.
- Move the phone in a figure 8 until the beam on the blue dot becomes narrow and points the right way.
Google says you only have to do this a few times. There is a second method for when you are outdoors: tap the blue dot, tap Calibrate and follow the instructions. Maps then uses the camera to place you, and Google’s tip is to point it at buildings and signs across the street instead of trees or people. Google says Maps may or may not open this calibrator, depending on Street View availability. Both methods are on Google’s location accuracy help page.
On a Galaxy phone, open the Compass in the Edge panel, tap Calibrate and move the phone in the patterns shown on screen. Samsung’s support page also suggests restarting the phone first and turning on Use location data in the Tools panel settings.
Then look at the phone’s case. Smart Compass, Digital Compass and PixelProse all warn in their listings that a case or cover with a magnet in it throws the reading off. Other strong magnetic fields do the same. One listing names computers, car instruments and radios.
Compass apps compared
| App | Maker | On Google Play | What its listing offers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compass | Philipp Bobek | Free, no ads, no purchases | Magnetic and true north, a sighting mode when held upright, sensor status |
| Compass (without Ads) – GPS | MixxApps | Free, no ads, no purchases | True and magnetic north, coordinates, altitude, a level, magnetic field strength |
| Trail Sense | Trail Sense | Free, no ads, no purchases | A hiking toolkit that never uses the internet: compass, beacons, backtrack, sunset alerts |
| Compass | PixelProse SARL | Free, in-app purchases | True north, altitude, sunrise and sunset, saved places, Qibla |
| Spyglass | Happymagenta UAB | Free, in-app purchases | Compass with offline maps, waypoints, augmented reality view, rangefinder, star finder |
| Compass 360 Pro | Go Prachi Labs | Free, in-app purchases | 3D compass, waypoints, Qibla, a dial in Hindi, Tamil and other languages, land area measurement |
| Smart Compass | Smart Tools co. | Free with ads | Camera view, map and satellite modes, metal detector, GPS speedometer |
| Digital Compass | Axiomatic Inc. | Free with ads, in-app purchases | True and magnetic heading, full-screen map, slope level, magnetic strength |
| Compass Steel | SimplyWerx | Free with ads, in-app purchases | True and magnetic north, sun and moon positions, altitude, night mode |
Most of these offer both magnetic north and true north. Magnetic north is what the sensor feels. True north is the one on maps, and the app works it out from your position. PixelProse’s listing says the two can be as much as 20 degrees apart in some parts of the world. That is why a compass app asks for your location. The MixxApps listing says the permission is optional, and only needed for true north, your address and your coordinates.
Free with no ads
Compass by Philipp Bobek is the one to install if all you want is a compass. Its listing is a few short lines and says you will get exactly what you expect. It points to magnetic or true north, shows degrees and the cardinal direction, and reports the state of the sensor. Hold the phone upright and it becomes a sighting compass for taking a bearing on a distant landmark. The listing says it has no advertisements, no trackers and no unnecessary permissions, and Google Play shows no ads label and nothing to buy.
Compass (without Ads) – GPS from MixxApps puts more on the screen: your address, coordinates and altitude, a level, the tilt angle and the strength of the magnetic field around you. A tap opens your position in Google Maps.
Trail Sense is for walkers. The developer says it does not use the internet and never will, so everything comes from the phone’s own sensors. You can place a beacon and navigate back to it, retrace your steps, use a photo as a map and be warned before the sun sets. The listing is honest about limits. The compass only appears on phones with a compass sensor, and you are told to carry a backup.
Free with in-app purchases
Compass from PixelProse corrects for the gap between magnetic and true north, shows altitude and sunrise and sunset times, and lets you save places and get a direction back to them. It also has a Qibla compass. The same company’s Compass & Altimeter says it works offline and without network access, and it reads coordinates in several formats, the British National Grid among them.
Spyglass is the heavy one. Its listing describes a compass with offline maps, waypoints you can save and follow arrows back to, an augmented reality view over the camera, a rangefinder, a sextant, and a finder for the Sun, the Moon and Polaris. On Android it is a single free app with a paid unlock for the premium features, and the developer says some features from other platforms are still to come.
Compass 360 Pro from Go Prachi Labs is a toolkit too, with a Qibla compass, a GPS camera and land area measurement in units such as acres, bigha and guntha. Its dial can show directions in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Urdu and other languages while the app itself stays in another language.
Free with ads
Smart Compass lays the compass over the camera view or a map and includes a metal detector, which its maker presents as a way to confirm the magnetic sensor works. The paid Smart Compass Pro removes the ads and adds a Qibla finder and a car locator.
Digital Compass from Axiomatic shows true and magnetic heading, your address and coordinates, a full-screen map and a slope level. Compass Steel adds the positions of the sun and moon and a night mode. Its listing says the ads go away with a small in-app donation. There is a Compass Steel 3D from the same developer with a dial modelled on a marine compass.
Which one to pick
- You want to know which way to walk in town: Google Maps. The beam on the blue dot is enough.
- You want a plain compass with no ads: Compass by Philipp Bobek. Choose the MixxApps one if you want coordinates and altitude on the same screen.
- You hike where there is no signal: Trail Sense, with a real compass in your bag as its developer advises.
- You need the Qibla: Compass from PixelProse, or Google’s own Qibla Finder, which runs in the browser.
- Your phone has no magnetometer: GPS Compass Navigator, knowing it can only point while you are moving.
Smart Compass and Spyglass both include a speedometer. If speed is the reason you are here, see our guide to speedometer apps for Android. Spyglass also bills itself as binoculars, and we explain what a phone can and cannot do there in binocular apps for Android.
What happened to the old list
Smart Compass and Spyglass are still on Google Play and are covered above. Digital Field Compass and Compass 54 no longer turn up in a search of the store. Altimeter GPS Pro is now a name shared by several apps, and we could not tell which one the old article meant.
Apps called Compass 360 Pro and Gyro Compass exist today, but we could not tie either to the 2019 entries. Compass 360 Pro from Go Prachi Labs is in the table on its own merits.
Quick answers
Does my phone have a compass?
Probably. Android’s documentation says most phones have a magnetometer, but it is not compulsory. Check the sensor list on the maker’s spec page for “magnetometer” or “geomagnetic sensor”.
How do I calibrate the compass on my Android phone?
Open Google Maps and move the phone in a figure 8 until the beam on the blue dot narrows and points the right way. Take off any case with a magnet in it first.
Which compass app has no ads?
Compass by Philipp Bobek, Compass (without Ads) – GPS and Trail Sense carry no ads label on Google Play and have nothing to buy. Compass from PixelProse and Spyglass have no ads label either, but sell in-app purchases.
Is there a compass app for a phone without a magnetic sensor?
GPS Compass Navigator says it works on phones with no compass sensor. Its listing adds that the arrow then updates only while you are moving.
Does Google Maps have a compass?
Yes, in two forms. The beam on the blue dot shows which way the phone is facing, and the compass icon during navigation turns the map to your point of view.
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