Apple Watch Bands With Magnets May Cause Interference With Compass on Series 5 Models

[deeddawg]

So one of the two selling points of series 5 is potentially not useable by people if you have the wrong band.

Big stretch from "may cause interference" to "will cause interference sufficient to make it unusable".

I've had experience with magnetic phone mount affecting iphone compass readings. The magnet had to be in exactly the right spot to have an effect. Moved a half inch one way or the other and the compass worked fine.

So yea I expect if you fold up a milanese loop with your wrist out of it and the magnet right under the watch it may have an effect. While actually wearing the watch the magnet is likely going to be far enough away not to have a discernible impact. Folks will of course find out on Friday -- so I could be wrong -- but my expectation is is again much ado about nothing.
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I travel a lot. I have NEVER needed a compass.

... and therefore *nobody* needs a compass or would find it useful.

Gotcha.
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Sure you can use maps and wait for the GPS to kick in, but it’s easier to just look at your watch and know your heading.

for clarification -- even then you have to *move* in a direction before GPS determine your direction of movement. GPS technology only figures your location -- any direction is figured out from you moving.

 

[BlackHillsBigfoot]

I have a series 4 and Garmin Fenix 5x. I got the series 4 because the wrist based HR, is far superior to the crap Garmin puts on its Fenix series.

I ordered the series 5 just because it has compass. I need a compass because of the environment I operate and play in. Now I won’t have to wear the Fenix on my other wrist. The only thing the Fenix has going for it is the 24 hr battery life while tracking on GPS.

The Apple Watch is turning into a great fitness watch.

In short some people need the compass.

 

[Pakaku]

Either those are some strong magnets, or that is one sensitive piece of compass hardware. Or maybe I don't understand magnetism as much as I thought I did...

 

[PeteS1963]

No one needs a compass

I’ve been using my Apple Watch to navigate when out in the woods. With a suitable mapping app it ALMOST works really well. However, a map without knowing which way is north is practically useless. Adding a compass opens a whole new world of navigation applications.

 

[CarlJ]

As long as the magnetic-based bands don't throw the compass permanently out of whack (or until some sort of complicated reset is done), this doesn't seem like much of a problem. "May" cause interference doesn't mean it necessarily will, it more likely means Apple is covering themselves to prevent a "magnetgate" class action suit when someone (and some law firm) finds out that Apple can't bend the laws of physics.

 

[PeteS1963]

If I’m out in an environment where I’ll need a compass I tend to wear something like the sport loop anyway.

 

[Brien]

Guess I'll switch from the milanese to a link band for the S5. Wanted to do it anyway but now I have an excuse

 

[jonblatho]

I’ve been using my Apple Watch to navigate when out in the woods. With a suitable mapping app it ALMOST works really well. However, a map without knowing which way is north is practically useless. Adding a compass opens a whole new world of navigation applications.

An angle I haven’t really seen yet: The addition of the compass also brings the Watch a lot closer to being able to exist separately from the iPhone in this regard. Add in the numerous changes in watchOS 6, and…well, it looks like they’re starting to paint a picture here.

 

[myapple2019]

Unless an Apple Watch wearer needs a compass for their daily activities or life and a compass is truly a life and death matter, the compass issue with the series 5 is not a big deal.

 

[twinlight]

I only trek with modern buckel. Guess I am going to be lost now..

 

[Spock]

Sure, and that is why most smartphones also have a compass (or to be precise a magnetometer), because they all needed that one new feature at some point on their sales sheet. [/sarcasm]

A magnetometer is just one more useful sensor (like gyroscopes, accelerometers, barometers, etc.). Where you could be right is about the timing (ie, why did the Watch get a compass this year and not last or next year). Your critique also fails to differentiate between the magnetometer and the Compass app. The magnetometer serves all navigational purposes and is not just there to feed a compass app. And the Compass app gives access to a couple of other useful data (GPS coordinates, elevation, incline).

I didn’t mean to say that a compass was pointless by any means. For me, it’s not a compelling enough reason to upgrade from my 4 but it wouldn’t be something that I wouldn’t like to have in a series 6. The always on screen has me tempted though.

 

[deeddawg]

Unless an Apple Watch wearer needs a compass for their daily activities or life and a compass is truly a life and death matter, the compass issue with the series 5 is not a big deal.

Agreed. For me it's in the "nice to have" category. I have a couple of use cases where having an onboard compass to tell me which direction I'm facing relative to the on-watch map would be nice, and more effective than GPS movement based direction. Yet I've survived pretty well so far without it.

I still think this article looks much more like a mole hill than a mountain.

 

[farewelwilliams]

The Apple Watch already has a GPS receiver. The inconvenience of having to walk forward to determine your orientation is negligible if you're truly lost.

plenty of people use maps in the orientation they're facing with the device. you need a compass for that feature.

try using a tokyo subway. GPS doesn't work well underground. you'll know how crazy handy it is to have a compass to immediately tell you which exit to take.

 

[MisterSavage]

Being able to adjust the band's tightness so minutely with a magnetic strap is more important to me. My driver for upgrading to an S5 is the AOD.

 

[farewelwilliams]

So, for all those times you are unfamiliar with the city, but somehow know what *heading* your destination is from the subway exit, but not say the street name you want.

Sounds like you've never taken a Tokyo subway. Maps will tell you which direction the exit of the station is, but you have no idea if you're facing that way when you exit since the train has turned directions and the stairs can be spiraling (and also since GPS can't accurately tell which direction you're moving underground). Sure the Maps app tells you to exit the name of the gate, but often the gates have two separate gates facing opposite directions. Can't tell you how many times I've exited the wrong gate of the same name while in Japan.

About 10 million people use the Japan subway everyday and lots of people visit between Osaka and Tokyo.

 

[konqerror]

plenty of people use maps in the orientation they're facing with the device. you need a compass for that feature.

try using a tokyo subway. GPS doesn't work well underground. you'll know how crazy handy it is to have a compass to immediately tell you which exit to take.

I understand that, but it's not limiting in an emergency, as the OP was referring to. Being lost in the Tokyo subway isn't an emergency.

The Japanese are specifically developing an indoor GPS extension anyway, called QZSS IMES, that some devices already support. May be one of their Galapagos ideas that don't take off.

 

[manu chao]

I have a series 4 and Garmin Fenix 5x. I got the series 4 because the wrist based HR, is far superior to the crap Garmin puts on its Fenix series.

I ordered the series 5 just because it has compass. I need a compass because of the environment I operate and play in. Now I won’t have to wear the Fenix on my other wrist. The only thing the Fenix has going for it is the 24 hr battery life while tracking on GPS.

The Apple Watch is turning into a great fitness watch.

In short some people need the compass.

I also like the addition of elevation data. The Apple Watch already had that information from its GPS and barometer readings but AFAIK there was no first-party way to display it. There probably were third-party apps that could display that information but I hadn't yet found them in my cursory searches.

Elevation data can be as useful for orientation purposes as a compass if the terrain is sufficiently varied. I once navigated in a minor snowstorm where the path had disappeared largely via an altimeter. I wonder/hope that Apple is using both GPS and barometer data (coupled with weather information) to determine elevation. GPS alone is less precise, add steep mountains with limited visibility of the sky and it doesn't get better.

 

[farewelwilliams]

I understand that, but it's not limiting in an emergency, as the OP was referring to. Being lost in the Tokyo subway isn't an emergency.

? Tokyo subways have had many disasters. Terrorist attacks, the Great East Japan Earthquake, and fires are a few. I'd constitute those as emergencies.

 

[konqerror]

? Tokyo subways have had many disasters. Terrorist attacks and fires are a couple. I'd constitute those as emergencies.

And how would a compass help you from dying in a sarin gas attack? You need to carefully read the thread again.

 

[manu chao]

I travel a lot. I have NEVER needed a compass.
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So, for all those times you are unfamiliar with the city, but somehow know what *heading* your destination is from the subway exit, but not say the street name you want.

I've come up from a subway in an unfamiliar location several times and got out at the right exit but then walked down the correct street in the wrong direction.

 

[farewelwilliams]

And how would a compass help you from dying in a sarin gas attack? You need to carefully read the thread again.

scenario:
i'm at Tokyo station
i receive an emergency alert on my watch "Sarin gas in north Tokyo Station"
i'll go south. thanks compass for telling me which way is south while underground where GPS doesn't really work.

 

[konqerror]

scenario:
i'm at Tokyo station
i receive an emergency alert on my watch "Sarin gas in north Tokyo Station"
i'll go south.

You're saying that unlike every other metro system in the world, Tokyo subways have no engineered and marked high-capacity evacuation routes, and thus safety in a fire or terrorist attack is based upon people doing ad-hoc navigation in an emergency?

 

[brinary001]

I use it when I emerge from a subway station, to make sure I know which way I'm facing. Unless the stars are out, in which case I can go by the positions of the constellations.

Really? You can see the constellations in LA? Not being sarcastic btw I just genuinely wouldn't expect that

 

[konqerror]

Really? You can see the constellations in LA? Not being sarcastic btw I just genuinely wouldn't expect that

Navigation in coastal California is easy. There's always water on one side, and mountains on the other. Just identify one and you're set. Also as a result of this, cities are more 1-D than the rest of the country.

 

[farewelwilliams]

You're saying that unlike every other metro system in the world, Tokyo subways have no engineered and marked high-capacity evacuation routes, and thus safety in a fire or terrorist attack is based upon people doing ad-hoc navigation in an emergency?

you mean that a terrorist isn't going to target the evacuation paths with sarin gas? you do know those evacuation paths are static so when the employee activates the emergency protocols, it's likely going to falsely lead some pedestrians in the direction of the exit of where the gas is. the data you receive on your watch is dynamic and live and can tell you exactly what to do.

also interesting how you ignored the other emergency scenarios that completely destroys your argument.

it sounds like you're stubborn and not willing to admit when you're wrong. feel free to reply i'm not going to read anymore from you. wasting so much time. *sigh*