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

[konqerror]

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*

Nope, I know what I'm taking about. In a mass evacuation, you aren't going to have time to navigate. Your goal to survive is to get out as fast as possible. Subways, and other public spaces, are engineered for specific high-flow evacuation paths and that is the way you need to follow. Modern public spaces use techniques such as staged evacuations, where alarm times are offset, and directional evacuations, where specific guidance signs and paths are activated.

If you pull out your phone like you're thinking in your head, you will be trampled or delayed and die.

Your fundamental problem is you missed that I was talking about the OP's comment about being lost in the wild and won't admit it.

 

[deeddawg]

Gawd we've gone into Full Internet Argument idiocy now...

 

[andrew12]

Still having a really hard time thinking of a time that I'd EVER need a compass

Get out more! There’s a whole world outside of shopping malls and such...

 

[pdaholic]

Gawd we've gone into Full Internet Argument idiocy now...

I’m pretty sure that's a given for every news article on this site.

I love compasses! Nobody needs a compass! If you don’t use a compass, you have no life! My life is clearly superior as I sit at my desk anonymously berating you on this computer! Yaaay me.

 

[Ankaa]

Isn't it kinda cute how people are so amazingly excellent at making issues out of non-issues?

You don't need a compass? Just ignore it and keep wearing your favorite magnetic watch band.

You need a compass daily? Choose a non-magnetic band.

You need a compass sometimes but also reeeaaally like those magnetic bands? Swap the band during the few occasions you do need a compass. It's so easy on an Apple watch.

The compass isn't a compelling reason enough to upgrade your Watch 4? Well so lucky for you that no one is actually forcing you to buy the new watch and let me let you in on a secret: you'll actually survive even if you don't have the latest and newest gadget.

 

[macnmac]

only reason im upgrading... guess i wont be now... oh well

 

[brinary001]

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.

That I understand, I just don't get how one could see entire constellations so easily in such a bright and densely-populated city like LA.

 

[tridley68]

I don't need a compass everyone is always telling me where to go.

 

[Doctor Q]

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

Serious answer: Here in Los Angeles we can see the "main" stars. We don't see fainter stars, due to the city lights. And we have to leave the city if we want to see the Milky Way up there.

The metro stop where I use my compass happens to be in Hollywood, where you might see a different kind of star.

 

[Waughy]

Seems like it's just Apple covering their arses, saying it "may" affect the compass. It's possible, but not definite that it will have an effect.

 

[Unami]

So I guess that's a "hard no" on EMP protection then...?
Looks like I have to restructure my zombie apocalypse plan again.

you‘re planning on using EMP against Zombies? I‘ll stay with axes and chainsaws - i hope one of the next iphones comes with one of those built in.

 

[Unami]

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.

imho, those kind of clever & sophisticated terrorists have yet to emerge. in the actual tokio subway attacks they did not target the evacuation paths with sarin gas. that would have been kind of pointless and too much effort anyway.

either way, good luck using a compass in a subway station with lots of metal and the magnetic fields of the electricity powering the trains.

but the compass makes absolute sense when you‘re hiking mountains with no gps-reception to calibrate your offline-map.

 

[Futurix]

Still having a really hard time thinking of a time that I'd EVER need a compass

Every time you open Maps app (Apple, Google, Here, etc) and see which way your phone is pointing towards - you are using a compass.

 

[theluggage]

So Apple is bad because cannot change the laws of physics?

One of the laws of physics is that if you don't use magnets in the watch band, then they won't be there to muck up the compass. Maybe there's another one that says the only way of making an easily removable watch strap is ti use magnets, but I've never heard of it...

I travel a lot. I have NEVER needed a compass.

If you've used a GPS for directions then you've probably used a compass (see below).

Hasn't GPS superseded the compass?

GPS can tell you where you are - and it can tell you which direction you are <i>moving</i> in as long as you are moving at 1 m/s or so (given that GPS is accurate to a few metres)... which is fine in a car, but not so much on foot where you can easily stop and turn on the spot (as you do if you're trying to work out which street to walk down). That's why most serious smartphones also have electronic compasses (magnetometers) to improve the working of the navigation software.

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...

Have you never played with a compass and a magnet? Even the sort of permanent magnets available when I was a kid would completely swamp the relatively weak terrestrial magnetic field that compasses measure. The sort of insanely strong rare-earth magnets that get used for fastenings today (and which aren't really safe for younger kids or stupid people of any age)... well, pro tip, use a cheap crackerjack compass that you don't mind destroying.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_deviation

...and that's just to account for <i>stray</i> magnetism that any iron or electrical equipment near the compass puts out accidentally. Not a super-strong actual magnet 10mm away from the compass.

 

[brinary001]

Serious answer: Here in Los Angeles we can see the "main" stars. We don't see fainter stars, due to the city lights. And we have to leave the city if we want to see the Milky Way up there.

The metro stop where I use my compass happens to be in Hollywood, where you might see a different kind of star.

Ahhh okay. I too live in a city, not quite nearly the size of yours but a pretty big city nonetheless, and I would say it's about the same story here; you can see the usual stars you'd expect to see anywhere and even other planets depending on the time of year, but anything else and yeah you have to go out to the country.

 

[theluggage]

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.

Or in daytime, just get a regular watch, point the hour hand at the sun... er... its somewhere behind all those skyscrapers... but then, getting a GPS signal in a man-made canyon.

I have a brilliant idea - someone should write a Watch app that points out the positions of the sun and major constellations based on on the current time so you could use them to navigate even when you couldn't see the sky. That would totally work...

 

[omihek]

You're not living then.

Yeah he dead for sure

 

[redpandadev]

I travel a lot. I have NEVER needed a compass.
[doublepost=1568652931][/doublepost]
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.

Sure, but which direction do you need to go on that street? "Towards 22nd" might take a whole block to figure out (in some cities, a block could be a 5 minute walk) whereas "East" can be instantly determined. I can absolutely see the need and desire for a compass.

 

[JimmyHook]

Of course there are people who think Apple should have changed the fundamental laws of physics... seriously. That’s next level brand hate for no logical reason. It’s not even ironic. It’s physics.

 

[bruinsrme]

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

You don't wear a metal watch band that loosens with activity, hiking?

I agree on the sport loop choice

 

[incoherent_1]

Curious to see real world effect, if any.

If I know Apple, warning it may not work is akin to saying “it’ll probably work just fine for 97% of use cases.”

It’s the issues they don’t warn you about that are the usually the trickiest.

 

[farewelwilliams]

either way, good luck using a compass in a subway station with lots of metal and the magnetic fields of the electricity powering the trains.

compass on my iphone worked fine when i visited japan a couple of years ago.

 

[PeteS1963]

You don't wear a metal watch band that loosens with activity, hiking?

I agree on the sport loop choice

I don’t have a metal band but I do have an Apple leather loop which of course is magnet. It’s a very smart band and I only wear it for formal occasions. Obviously it’s not cheap and I don’t think it would stand up well to hiking, perspiration, rain etc. So if I’m out in the wild that loop stays at home anyway.

 

[nickgovier]

.

 

[dona83]

Compasses are useful on hikes. I'd also probably just wear a sport band or loop on hikes.