Compass

What it does

Hold up your phone and see which way you are facing, with the directions of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset marked on a compass dial.

What you need

• An iPhone with a compass sensor. It will not give a live heading in a simulator, and it is not available on the web.
• Location permission, so it can work out the directions for where you are standing right now. It always uses your device's current position, not a saved location.
• Once your position is found, the directions are calculated on the device. Nothing is fetched online.

How to use it

1. Allow location access when asked. If it is denied, the screen tells you to enable it in your device Settings.
2. Under Date, leave today selected or pick another date to see that day's directions.
3. Hold the phone and turn. The dial rotates under a fixed needle at the top.

Reading the results

• The large number is your live heading in degrees (000 to 359, where 0 is north), with a compass label beside it. It says FACING plus the compass direction. When you point close to one of the four events, the word changes to that event's name, for example SUNRISE.
• Colored marks on the dial show where each event happens.
• The Directions card lists Sunrise, Sunset, Moonrise, and Moonset, each with its direction in degrees and its clock time. A dash means that event does not happen on that date at your position.

Tips

• The date only changes the event marks. The heading always reflects where the phone points right now.