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This compass is a very bad design. What’s most important thing in a compass? The arrows and the four cardinal points, Norths indicators a little extra. None of those are the most visually highlighted elements.
 
This compass is a very bad design. What’s most important thing in a compass? The arrows and the four cardinal points, Norths indicators a little extra. None of those are the most visually highlighted elements.
Tell me you’ve never used the compass without saying you’ve never used the compass
 
I was camping and fiddling with my watch last weekend (you can long press on the side button and backtrack comes up) when I discovered backtrack. An hour later we had hiked up part of a mountain and parted ways with who we were following as they wanted to go further but my kids were done. Suddenly I realized I didn't know the best way back. I remembered this feature and it worked like a charm! I was so happy that I remembered it and it wasn't frustrating!

Maybe I'll be used at the next Apple Watch event...only I don't think my life was on the line :).
 
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It blows my mind they have this feature but don’t overlay the information on a map. Every time I’ve used gaia to retrace my route seeing the route on a solid topo or satellite imagery is critical to accurately navigating back the way I had come. Granted that is usually in complicated terrain with lots of cliffs and no trails, but isn’t the backcountry what this watch is all about. 🙄
Finally someone said it. I'm actually returning the watch for this EXACT reason. For a watch that was designed for backcountry, etc, it requires internet connection for maps, and backtrack won't even show a line of where you've been.

Guess I'm sticking to my Epix2. Shame, I really love the design and the speed of the watch.
 
Wondering if it would also work on a bike or if it needs the foot movement, now that would be seriously cool
I did it last night on my bike, yes it works but difficult to ride and look at the screen in the dark😁 I also could not get out of backtrack, it got stuck until I restarted it.
 
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Wow, a real useful feature. Is there a limit to how long the track can be? Miles?
 
It automatically shows my vehicle parked as a blue dot in this compass app. That’s cool.
 
I didn’t realize this feature need to start with recording before it works. I was under the impression that the watch / GPS system will provide the stepback info to the wayfinder marker(s). Now I am a bit confused the purpose of wayfinder marker.
 
I think you’re trying to be funny but saying that people who can exercise with an Apple Watch aren’t real athletes is elitist, ableist, and narrow-minded.
have no idea how you came to that conclusion. casual athletes would be fine with their phone.
 
Sometimes you dropped your wallet or key and you forgot where you had been before. You want to go back the route you had been to try to search for what you have lost. This will help you remember where you had been and follow your track.
 
Finally someone said it. I'm actually returning the watch for this EXACT reason. For a watch that was designed for backcountry, etc, it requires internet connection for maps, and backtrack won't even show a line of where you've been.

Guess I'm sticking to my Epix2. Shame, I really love the design and the speed of the watch.
The reason I can think of is privacy. You wouldn’t want someone secretly turning this on and being able to see the exact route you took unless they literally retraced it with the watch themselves. I can see how they may have beta tested with a map and many people raised this concern and this was their solution.
 
The series 6, 7, and 8 all have the same SIP. The processor on the 5 is not as fast as the 6+ watches. People get mad when Apple leaves out features on older devices, but they get mad and suggest a conspiracy when Apple adds new features that slow down devices.

Ultimately, for this to work it has to do a bunch of stuff in the background. The 6+ watches have more processing power to handle such a task comfortably, where the 5 probably doesn't have as much wiggle room.
This much I knew but I didn’t really think leaving breadcrumbs would have been taxing on system resources. But again, I have nothing to base that on so it very well could be resource intensive.
Time to upgrade! :D
haha, not yet. Haven’t had any compelling new features to tempt me. Backtrack was something I likely would not use in the near future, it was more curiousity as to why it won’t be supported on the S5 since it has compass capability.
It…is. Just go to the compass app
Notsureifsarcasmornot….

“On Apple Watch Ultra, Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Series 6 and later models running watchOS 9, you can use the redesigned Compass app's Backtrack feature to track your route and then help you retrace your steps in case you get lost.”
 
Just noticed that for simplicity sake on an AWU you can set the Action button to immediately start backtrack so a lot easier to start on a beginning of a walk
 
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