Does My Cell Phone Have a Compass

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• #1

After earlier having problems with the radar on the dji app i had some suggestions that the compass on my Galaxy S5 could be out of sinc especially as it is only two days old so i found a way to check and recalibrate the compass without the need for any compass checker app, this works for any of the Samsung Galaxys and i think any android phone. This is what you need to do.
1. On your phone dial on the telephone keypad *#0*# This brings up a "secret" service menu.
2.You will see a list of tiles, press the middle one named "sensors"
3.Now in real time you can see all the sensors on your phone, the compass is the circle at the bottom with a line through it pointing to north.
4.If the compass on the phone is calibrated correctly the line going through the circle should be coloured Blue with a little number 3 next to it. No need to go any further because your compass is properly calibrated so press back twice and you return to your homescreen.
5.If like mine you have a green line going through it and a little number two this means it is not properly calibrated on one axis, do as follows.
6. Move your phone in a horizontal figure of eight a few times, preferably outside not near any magnetic fields.
7.Now look at the line going through the circle and it should turn Blue with number 3 next to it, once done back out of the menus by pressing back twice.

If the compass is seriously out then it will say next to the circle "compass needs calibration" You just need to do the figure of eight dance until the line turns blue with a 3.
Everyone should check if the compass is true on their smartphone/tablet because the radar function is so important to flyers. My Galaxt S5 is only 2 days old so if your smartphone is fairly new maybe you should check. Like our phantoms the compass on our phones can also be disrupted by magnetic interference so should check it now and again.
We got the "phantom compass dance" already, now we have the phone dance!
Link from the net, they speak of the s5 mini but it is the same process for all android phones. http://www.solvemix.com/index.php/a...ini-how-to-calibrate-the-compass#.VAOaiGOzkeI
This is something i learned today and never knew it before, i took it for granted that the compass on the phone was calibrated correctly but you check now and again in future.

• #2

Re: Here an easy way to check your android smartphone compas

Thanks for the tip, UKFlyer. I didn't know about the secret service menu. I too use the figure of eight wave to calibrate my phone's compass, it seems to work very well.

• #3

Re: Here an easy way to check your android smartphone compas

Not the same process for all Android phones... The *#0*# code is different across all devices... And many of them have the service menu blocked by the carrier and you need to root the device to enable it...

You can go to the Play Store and there are a bunch of apps with compass calibration included

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brothers.compass

• #4

Re: Here an easy way to check your android smartphone compas

DBS said:

Not the same process for all Android phones... The *#0*# code is different across all devices... And many of them have the service menu blocked by the carrier and you need to root the device to enable it...

You can go to the Play Store and there are a bunch of apps with compass calibration included

It works perfectly on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, but I did buy an 'unlocked' phone from an internet supplier, so that could explain it, eh?

• #5

Re: Here an easy way to check your android smartphone compas

Thanks UKFlyer, that trick worked on my S3...I'm not sure I had a problem or not, but a good item to add to the preflight checklist.
I wonder if there is a similar calibration for iOS?

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• #6

Re: Here an easy way to check your android smartphone compas

Glad to be of some help, i for one never realized you should check and calibrate your compass on your smartphone. I thought it just knew!
I do like how you can check your compass on most android phones with the code i mentioned, worked a treat on my stock non-rooted s3 and s5.

• #7

Re: Here an easy way to check your android smartphone compas

To calibrate a compass on an iOS device, select the built in compass app - it will automatically ask for a calibration upon start up.

• #8

Re: Here an easy way to check your android smartphone compas

Thanks for the tip.

Samsung S3

My Dji app radar has been working fine but I decided to check anyway.
It was reading 1 with a red line pointing in the opposite direction (south) so I tried your recommended calibration technique with no success.
I tried a few things but what ended up working was the 'Power to noise test' I moved in a figure 8 and only got a red 'Fail' but it changed to Blue and 2. I tried again a few times with no change. Finally I ran the 'Power to noise' test again and left the device stationary and got a Blue 3 pointing to north.

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• #9

Re: Here an easy way to check your android smartphone compas

From what i've read on the net you keep on doing a horizontal figure of eight until you get the blue line and a 3 next to it, i had to do about 2 figure of eights and it was set.
It seems there are different way to set up the 3 axis on the compass, found this way as well.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AQJxE9fG2k[/youtube]

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Does My Cell Phone Have a Compass

Source: https://phantompilots.com/threads/here-an-easy-way-to-check-your-android-smartphone-compass.24458/

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