Free Digital Compass

Free Digital Compass — a compass in your browser

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Heading not started

Allow motion access to read your heading. Nothing is uploaded — the sensor is read in your browser.

How to give motion access
iPhone & iPad
Tap Enable sensors and choose Allow on the “Motion & Orientation Access” prompt. Dismissed it? Open Settings → Safari → Motion & Orientation Access, switch it on, then reload this page.
Android
Chrome grants this automatically — there is no prompt. It does require a secure https:// address; over plain HTTP the browser blocks the sensor outright.
Opened from another app
A link tapped inside Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or a banking app opens in that app’s own stripped-down browser, which usually blocks motion sensors. Use the “Open in browser” option, or type the address into Safari or Chrome directly.

Calibrate the compass

Move your phone in a slow figure-8

Heading units

How it works

A browser compass is not a trick or an approximation — it reads the same magnetometer your phone already uses to point the map the right way round.

Your phone has a magnetometer

Every modern phone measures the Earth's magnetic field to orient itself. That is the sensor a compass in the browser reads — the same one your maps app uses.

The browser reads it directly

The heading is computed on your device from the motion sensor API. There is no server round trip and no calibration upload, so the dial keeps working with no signal at all.

Nothing leaves your phone

No geolocation, no account, no analytics. We never ask where you are — a compass needs a direction, not a position.

What is a free digital compass?

A free digital compass turns the phone in your pocket into a directional instrument. Instead of a magnetised needle floating in a housing, it reads the Earth's magnetic field with the magnetometer the device already has, and draws the result as a live dial — nothing to buy, nothing to sign up for, nothing to install.

That last part is the real difference. A digital compass used to mean a handheld device, and later a dedicated app from an app store. This one is a web page. Open it, tap Enable Compass, and the heading appears — updating continuously as you turn.

An accurate digital compass is not a laboratory instrument and should not pretend to be. A phone magnetometer is typically good to within a few degrees once calibrated and clear of metal, and much worse next to a speaker or a car dashboard. The dial reflects that rather than hiding it — the guide to accuracy and calibration covers what to expect and how to fix a reading that has drifted.

An online digital compass with nothing to install

Most places offering a digital compass online free of charge want something from you first — an install, a newsletter, or a dial buried under advertising. Here the instrument loads first.

There is no cost, no account and no premium tier — no paywall, trial or upsell, and no advertising or analytics code. Add it to your home screen and it opens full-screen, running with no network connection at all.

That combination — an online digital compass that is free, install-free and offline-capable — is why people reach for it in a car park or on a hilltop. See how to use it for the two-tap setup.

Digital compass for direction: reading a bearing

A heading in degrees is measured clockwise from north: north 0°, east 90°, south 180°, west 270°. The dial shows the number and the matching direction, so you can read it either way.

Hold the phone flat, screen up, with the top edge pointing the way you are facing — that top edge is what gets measured. Tilting the handset introduces error, because the sensor must work out which way is level before it can say which way is north.

For a digital compass for direction you can hold on to, tap Lock. The current heading freezes as a target bearing and the readout switches to your deviation: how many degrees off you are, and which way to turn. That is the difference between a compass that reports and one that guides.

One caveat before you trust a bearing off a paper map: this dial reports magnetic north, not true north. Applying your local declination by hand is covered in magnetic vs true north.

Where a phone compass gets used

A compass in the browser gets reached for in a handful of situations, and each has its own rules about how much the reading can be trusted.

In the car

Placement decides whether a digital compass for car use means anything. A dashboard or magnetic mount puts the handset centimetres from steel and a speaker, where an error of 20 degrees or more is normal. Put the phone on the passenger seat, recalibrate with a figure-8, and treat the number as a rough heading — enough for bearings in a new city, not enough to navigate by.

For Vastu

Vastu Shastra reasons from the directions of a building, so a digital compass for Vastu is a natural fit for checking which way a room, doorway or plot faces. Stand clear of window frames, appliances and reinforcing, and take the bearing from the centre of the space. Note that this dial reports magnetic north with no declination correction, while Vastu practice generally works from true north — add your local declination if your practice needs it.

On a smartphone

The digital compass on smartphone browsers is the same sensor your maps app already uses. On Android, Chrome grants access automatically over HTTPS. On iPhone, Safari asks once — tap Enable Compass and allow Motion & Orientation Access. That is the entire setup for a digital compass for Android or iOS: no app to install, no permissions beyond motion, and no location access requested.

Watch, device or DIY module

A digital compass watch is a wearable with its own magnetometer. A handheld digital compass device is a standalone instrument. A digital compass module is a chip such as the HMC5883L that you wire into a microcontroller. All three are hardware; this is the software version that needs none. Where a bearing error has safety consequences, use a proper instrument.

What makes a good digital compass app

"Best" depends on what you need it for, but a few things separate the best digital compass app from one you delete after a minute.

  • It shows the heading immediately, not after a splash screen and a permission funnel.
  • It admits when the reading is unreliable rather than printing a confident number over a bad sensor.
  • It does not need your location to point north — a compass needs a direction, not a position.
  • It asks for no account, no subscription and no advertising identifier.

Those are the tests this one is built to pass. The dial is the whole of the first screen, calibration appears only when a reading has drifted, and nothing you do here leaves your device. If a heading looks wrong, the fix is almost always magnetic interference.

Digital compass FAQ

The questions people search for most about digital compasses — what they are, how they work, and how to get a reliable heading out of the one in your pocket.

Compass basics

What is a digital compass?
A digital compass measures direction with a magnetometer instead of a magnetised needle, and shows the result on a screen. The one on this page runs in your browser: it reads the sensor your phone already has and draws a live heading in degrees, with no app to install and no account to create.

How does a digital compass work?
Your phone contains a magnetometer — a sensor that measures the Earth's magnetic field along three axes. Combined with the device's orientation sensors, that is enough to work out which way the top of the phone is pointing, and the heading is shown in degrees measured clockwise from north. The reading is calculated on your device and is never sent anywhere.

What is a digital compass app?
An app that shows a compass heading on a screen, usually one you download from an app store for a phone or a watch. This site does the same job in a web page: nothing to download, nothing to update, and the same page works on iPhone and Android. If you want an icon for it, add the page to your home screen and it opens full-screen like an installed app.

What are the three types of compasses?
  • The magnetic compass — a magnetised needle that swings into line with the Earth's field. Baseplate and lensatic compasses are both this type.
  • The gyrocompass — finds true north from the Earth's rotation rather than from magnetism, which is why ships carry one: a steel hull does not throw it off.
  • The digital compass — reads a magnetometer electronically and shows the heading on a screen, which is the type running on this page.

What are 10 uses of a compass?
  1. Finding which way you are facing when there is no map to hand.
  2. Keeping a straight line across open ground, open water or a featureless car park.
  3. Following a bearing you took earlier — tap Lock to hold the course.
  4. Taking a bearing on a landmark and walking to it.
  5. Working out which way a room, doorway or building plot faces, as Vastu and feng shui both require.
  6. Navigating with a map, which is what a compass is really for.
  7. Finding north when the sun and the stars are hidden.
  8. Aiming a camera, a satellite dish or a solar panel at a repeatable angle.
  9. Checking which way a slope, a runway or the prevailing wind faces.
  10. Teaching direction to someone who has never had to think about it.

Using it

How do I read a digital compass?
A heading is measured in degrees clockwise from north: north is 0°, east 90°, south 180°, west 270°. Hold the phone flat, screen up, with the top edge pointing the way you are facing — that top edge is what gets measured — and read the large number in the middle of the dial, with the matching letter beside it.

How do I calibrate a digital compass?
Move the phone through a figure-8 pattern three or four times, rotating your wrist as you go, and keep it away from computers, speakers, magnets and metal while you do it. Tap Calibrate under the dial and the guide tracks the movement and tells you when it has collected enough — around ten seconds. Recalibrate whenever the dial starts to drift, or whenever the Calibrate control highlights itself.

How do I use a compass on my phone?
Open this page, tap Enable Compass, and allow motion access when the browser asks — iPhone and Android handle that prompt differently, but both ask only once. Hold the phone flat and clear of metal, with the top edge pointing where you are facing, and read the heading in the middle of the dial. That is the whole of it: no setup, no sign-in and no app.

How do I use a digital compass on Android?
Open the page in Chrome and the heading appears — Android grants sensor access automatically over HTTPS, with no permission prompt and nothing to install. Hold the phone flat and away from metal, and if the dial drifts, tap Calibrate and move the phone in a figure-8. Adding the page to your home screen makes it open full-screen and keeps it working with no signal.

How do I use a mobile compass to find direction?
Turn slowly with the phone held flat until the heading you want is showing, then walk in the direction the top edge is pointing. To hold a bearing, tap Lock: the current heading freezes as a target and the readout changes to show how many degrees off you are and which way to turn.

How can I see my current direction?
The number in the middle of the dial is your current direction, updating as you turn. If you cannot look at the screen, switch on Spoken heading under the dial and the compass announces the direction as it changes, in 15-degree steps.

Can I use a compass without a map?
Yes. On its own a compass tells you which way you are facing, which is enough to hold a line across open ground, check which way a building or a slope faces, or find north when the sun is hidden. What it cannot do without a map is tell you where you are — a compass gives a direction, not a position, and this one never asks for your location.

How do I check which direction my house faces with a mobile compass?
Stand in the middle of the room, hold the phone flat, keep it clear of window frames, appliances and reinforcing steel, then read the heading the top edge points to. Take a reading from two or three positions and let them agree before you settle on one. Note that this dial reports magnetic north with no declination correction, while Vastu and most property conventions work from true north — add your local declination if your practice needs it.

Your phone

Can I use a compass on my phone?
Yes, provided your phone has a magnetometer, which nearly every modern smartphone does. This compass runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install on either iOS or Android. On a laptop the answer is usually no — most have no magnetometer, and the compass says so rather than showing a number it cannot stand behind.

Do mobile phones have a compass?
Almost all of them: a magnetometer is standard hardware because map apps need it to turn the map to the way you are facing. If your mobile has one, this page will show a live heading as soon as you grant motion access — no app store involved.

Does my Android phone come with a compass?
Most Android phones carry the magnetometer, though some budget models leave it out. Even where the sensor is present, Android rarely ships a compass app for it, which is why a page like this one is useful: it uses the sensor your phone already has without waiting for an app that was never installed.

How do I check if my phone has a compass?
Open this page and tap Enable Compass. If the dial moves as you turn, the phone has a working magnetometer. If it does not move, the compass tells you the sensor is unavailable instead of showing a stand-in number.

How do I get a compass app on Android?
You often do not need one — open this page in Chrome and it works as a compass immediately, with nothing to install. To keep it, tap the browser menu and choose Add to Home screen, and it opens full-screen and runs offline. If you would rather have a store app, check what it asks for first: a compass needs the magnetometer, not your location, your contacts or your files.

Permissions, magnetic versus true north and privacy are covered in more depth in the full FAQ, and accuracy and calibration covers what a phone magnetometer can really do.

About Free Digital Compass

Free Digital Compass is a single-purpose tool: it tells you which way you are facing, as fast as possible, on the phone already in your hand. No install, no account, no onboarding — open the page and the dial is there. It is built as a progressive web app, so it can be added to your home screen and works offline once loaded.

Precision is honest rather than flattering. A phone magnetometer is typically good to a few degrees in the open and much worse near metal, so the compass stays quiet while the reading is trustworthy and says so plainly when it is not.

More about the project, or get in touch.

Keep reading

How to use it

Grant motion access, hold the phone correctly, and read or lock a bearing.

Accuracy & calibration

What a magnetometer can really do, what interferes with it, and how to fix a drifting dial.

FAQ

Magnetic vs true north, offline use, permissions, privacy and spoken readout.
Open the compass