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Calibration on iPhone 5s Compass and Level Appears Incorrect

If you really want to check that something's truly level, get a proper level gauge not a gimmick app.

If you really want to check direction, get a proper compass or GPS not a gimmick app.

If you really want to take a decent photo or video for printing or posterity (rather than posting to social media), get a proper camera or camcorder.

If you want to make a phone call, get a phone.
 
Truffy said:
If you really want to check that something's truly level, get a proper level gauge not a gimmick app.

If you really want to check direction, get a proper compass or GPS not a gimmick app.

If you really want to take a decent photo or video for printing or posterity (rather than posting to social media), get a proper camera or camcorder.

If you want to make a phone call, get a phone.
Click to expand...

One should expect an accuracy that is correct to the resolution that Apple wish to display.

If they selected to show on screen an accuracy of just 1 degree then the device should be accurate to 1 degree.

If it's only accurate within a 5 degree margin of error, then simply show 0,5,10,15,20

Likewise if it's only accurate to 10 degree's do the same.

Don't display 1 degree increments and then build it, 7 to 10 degree's off.
That's shoddy for a 5 dollar item, let alone a 500/1000 dollar item

It's not the "Gimmic app"'s fault. It's Apple's either poor hardware, lower spec than previous models, or their poor quality control meaning back calibration at the factory.
 
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Truffy said:
If you really want to check that something's truly level, get a proper level gauge not a gimmick app.

If you really want to check direction, get a proper compass or GPS not a gimmick app.

If you really want to take a decent photo or video for printing or posterity (rather than posting to social media), get a proper camera or camcorder.

If you want to make a phone call, get a phone.
Click to expand...

You realise how stupid that sounds?

Why would you buy a level, gps, compass, phone, 4g modem, laptop, camera, watch, alarm clock, mp3 player, heart rate monitor + watch, calendar, if you could buy one device that does it well enough for 95% of your use.

Buy your standards, the iphone should not be able to do anything besides what a land line does, just portable, anything else, buy another tool.
 
8-Bits said:
I don’t believe the level function is a sensor problem. I tried the iHandy Level app; calibrated it to zero on a known level surface; and it will retain the calibration offset. Apple’s built-in level function does not appear to retain its calibration offset. If my observations are accurate Apple will be able to correct its software to fix this.

Now for the compass function, that is off by about 6 degrees with both Apple and third-party compass apps. Hopefully for Apple and 5S owners, this is just a problem with its new iOS 7 “pinball” compass calibration process and not a sensor hardware problem.
Click to expand...

"Apple’s built-in level function does not appear to retain its calibration offset. "

This works correctly for the built-in level does not have a calibration feature but just an offset adjustment. If you tap the screen to 0 it and then flip the level 180 degrees, the readout will be 2x.

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kdarling said:
Yeah, what are people thinking, that they should expect common features to work as well as they have for years on earlier models.

Heck, I bet some even expect the digital clock to be correct within a minute. Or the alarm to work on New Year's Day.

:rolleyes:

My guess is that it's the software in the M7 coprocessor, since that's a new part. Or the code interface with it from the main CPU. I wonder if there's a way to update the M7 code.
Click to expand...

Some people have nothing better to do than post stupid comments. We all paid big bucks for this iphone and Apple states that the compass and gyro performs a certain way and that's how it should be. They got on stage a couple weeks ago and told the world about the new M7 and here we are, it doesn't work as they stated. I was talking to an Apple Tech Supervisor yesterday and he told me that they are aware of this problem and has made it a high priority and that it's a wide spread issue. He also stated that it seems like a software problem and should see a fix real soon.

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Truffy said:
If you really want to check that something's truly level, get a proper level gauge not a gimmick app.

If you really want to check direction, get a proper compass or GPS not a gimmick app.

If you really want to take a decent photo or video for printing or posterity (rather than posting to social media), get a proper camera or camcorder.

If you want to make a phone call, get a phone.
Click to expand...

And if he really want to help or make a point / positive comment, do so. Do you really think people haven't tested the compass and level with real items....

Not sure what you're trying to say.
 
baryon said:
Uhm, can't you just calibrate it by double tapping the screen or something similar? That's why you have calibration, because these things tend to be off by default. How could there not be software fix? Even if the accelerometer is mounted wrong inside the device, all you need to do is add or subtract a few degrees from it via software and it should be fine.
Click to expand...

The problem is if they're all off by varying degrees, which seems to be the case. Mine is off by 2 degrees, so if a software fix was released to fix ones that are off by 5, then it would set mine off 3 degrees in the other direction.

I think either a recall or inviting people to come into Apple stores for hardware recalibration is going to be the likely solution. Unless there's some way of the software figuring out how much each sensor is off by.

And yes you can calibrate it by tapping on the screen, but that only fixes the gyro, not the accelerometer or compass, which are also off.

jrswizzle said:
Uhh, can't you "set" 0??

If you set it on a table and tap, the level resets to 0....

I may be wrong.
Click to expand...

Only fixes gyro, not accelerometer or compass.

It's also somewhat inconvenient and not safe to have to use a flat surface to calibrate a level. Seems kinda backwards dont you think?! What if the surface isn't actually flat? A level is supposed to tell you if something is flat - you're not supposed to tell the level!
 
benfranke said:
I made a video about this issue as there seems to be a lot of confusion around it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwHfB2Al9hU
Click to expand...

Great video, but some people will claim it's your fault. Steve Jobs did this with the iPhone 4's antenna issue, saying that all smartphones drop bars/calls if held wrong. He also began his 30 minute explanation by saying, "We're not perfect." That's the sort of response teenagers give when found to be doing something wrong, in an attempt to shift the blame back to the consumer: i. e, you are expecting too much.

Apple's June presentation highlighted the 5s's motion sensor, and it's not working. I can understand their silence on the matter, as a statement from them would cause sales to drop, as well as a stampede of returns. When my wife and I returned her 5s this past Friday, the manager of the local Verizon store did the return, and asked us not to talk about it too loudly, because she didn't want to face a bunch of returns. She was very nice about the whole thing, btw.

Apple made a big deal about games with their new hardware in June, and if games don't work well, it's all for nothing. Many will say, "I don't play games, so this doesn't bother me". That's fine, but many customers do play games, and they will be effected. It would be fantastic for all parties involved if a software fix could solve this, but my wife and I weren't willing to take that gamble.
 
SkyBell said:
By this point in time, I know I really shouldn't be surprised by things like this anymore, but I just can't help it - Is it really that much of a pain to use, oh I don't know, real, physical compasses and levels? :confused: I just find myself so often dumbfounded by these so-called "features" on electronic devices these days; they all kind of seem...incredibly non-essential.
Click to expand...

Here, you can use this then.

Nokia-1011.jpg
 
This is the kind of stuff that happens when your hardware and software teams are still compartmentalized for secrecy, and/or they're using prototypes that aren't anything like the real device.

"Here's another prototype box we built with a separate CPU and motion sensors. And here's a cable to connect it to your prototype iPhone box.

"See if you can get the main iPhone CPU in the 5S prototyping box to talk to the other CPU in the sensor box.

"Oh, and we're going to have to ask you to come into work on Saturday... mmm kay?"
Click to expand...

Or maybe it's like that Mars mission that failed because one group was using metric and the other was using English units. In this case, perhaps one group rewrote CoreMotion, while another group wrote the M7 code.

It's times like this, that become epic engineer war stories later on :)
 
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redbabe46 said:
Has it been confirmed that this is a hardware issue?
Click to expand...

Nobody knows yet.

If it affects all the sensors (accelerometer, gyro and compass) as reported, then the indication to me is that of an overall software problem on the M7 coprocessor or its communications with the main CPU.

Edit: One clue is that each phone reportedly has a different degree of faultiness. I'm trying to imagine a common hardware fault that could affect all the sensors. A shared wobbly reference voltage might do it, but even without looking at the spec sheets, it seems really unlikely that they don't have their own internal references.
 
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Truffy said:
If you really want to check that something's truly level, get a proper level gauge not a gimmick app.

If you really want to check direction, get a proper compass or GPS not a gimmick app.

If you really want to take a decent photo or video for printing or posterity (rather than posting to social media), get a proper camera or camcorder.

If you want to make a phone call, get a phone.
Click to expand...

But... where does it leave iPhone?
 
Waiting to see this get resolved before I upgrade :/
Granted my 4 is still working fine, so maybe I could wait until the 6 is released?
 
matttye said:
The problem is if they're all off by varying degrees, which seems to be the case. Mine is off by 2 degrees, so if a software fix was released to fix ones that are off by 5, then it would set mine off 3 degrees in the other direction.

I think either a recall or inviting people to come into Apple stores for hardware recalibration is going to be the likely solution. Unless there's some way of the software figuring out how much each sensor is off by.

And yes you can calibrate it by tapping on the screen, but that only fixes the gyro, not the accelerometer or compass, which are also off.
Click to expand...

Okay, but what if Apple released an update that allows you to calibrate all three sensors yourself? It could instruct you to place the phone on a level surface, then to point it north using a real compass, and then the Gyro can be calibrated already so that would fix everything right?

And sure, it's not a very elegant solution, but I'd prefer to calibrate mine rather than have to spend time to return it and get it repaired. Every digital measuring instrument should have a calibration feature, because problems like this are normal. They just have to add that small feature and it should fix all of these problems.

I can easily imagine that all iPhones have wonky sensors, except that they simply calibrate them individually in the factory before shipping. They might have just skipped that step or something this time. They do it with screens too.
 
Ries said:
You realise how stupid that sounds?

Why would you buy a level, gps, compass, phone, 4g modem, laptop, camera, watch, alarm clock, mp3 player, heart rate monitor + watch, calendar, if you could buy one device that does it well enough for 95% of your use.

Buy your standards, the iphone should not be able to do anything besides what a land line does, just portable, anything else, buy another tool.
Click to expand...
It doesn't sound stupid to me at all. I cannot imagine being out-and-about and needing to check whether a shelf is level. If I'm putting up a shelf, then I have my toolbox with me, and that has a level that is 100% accurate, not just 'good enough at 95%'.

My wife goes geocaching. She's found numerous caches with a dedicated GPS that her friend with the iPhone has completely missed.

And we have friends who've used their iPhones to take photos of their babies only to be disappointed with the results compared to ours. Why? Because they're taking photos through a pinhole onto a sensor smaller than my little finger nail, while we use cameras that have proper lenses, and larger sensors.

The iPhone may be useful for making calls (have they got the antennae working without that ugly 'bumper'?), playing games and music, sending emails, light surfing. That's all pretty good, and probably enough as it is. Why do apple feel the need to sully it with lame performance for non-essential apps?
 
I suppose I can understand the point of view that expects a certain amount of inaccuracy on a phone vs. real tools. What I don't get is defending Apple when a) they switched to a less expensive accelerometer, and b) it performs worse than before. This functionality is being used by an increasingly wide variety of apps. Measurement has more future application and potential than most other smartphone features... hate to see it go in the wrong direction.
 
Works fine

Mine appears off by up to 2 degrees if you just set it down, but if you rock the phone front to back it finds level exactly.

In the picture of the phone and the level, just tilt the phone forward you and back against the wall and it will read true.
 
I requested a refund for mine the day after I received it from Apple. The power button rattled and the gyro was a little off:

Factory: C3 (China)
Model: Space Gray (64GB)
Week: 39 (October 2013)

The Apple sales guy I spoke to was pretty chilled-out about the whole thing. Obviously it was a disappointment that the phone was below par, but all being well I'll get the money back in my account in the next week or two.

I'll probably hold-off 6 months or so and if the issues have been magically resolved by then I may buy another. I just didn't want the uncertainty regarding software or hardware issue (gyro) hence why the immediate return for refund.
 
This says it all really......

Apple under Tim Cooks does not even know which way is North and what level-headedness is.
 
bigger issue

This is a bigger issue than some of the posters here are getting at. No one reasonably expects the IPhone compass or level to be a super precision tool. However, we DO expect it to operate with enough precision that the existing software that uses it will function properly. Which for some users it clearly does not. Just look on YouTube for videos of cars in racing games driving is circles. Its at this level of imprecision that it becomes a problem.

Hopefully this is just a software fix, or maybe just apple adding a calibration tool.

My 4s is off by about 1* but its not enough to be noticeable in anything except the level tool.
 
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