Compass Apps: Horizontal Motion Only?

[PeteCress]

I want something to give me a numeric heading when sailing - so I can watch how speed varies as heading changes at a given mainsail setting.

But all the Compass apps I have tried are sensitive to tilting of the phone - as opposed to just rotation.

This becomes problematic in a boat as small as the one I sail as it gets thrown around by chop. i.e. the bow goes up-and-down, tilting the compass on a fore-aft axis.

Is the sensivity to tilting built in to the Compass sensor API, or should I keep looking for one that only responds to rotation?

 

[AZgl1500]

I use a couple of them, have not noticed rotation to make much difference.
but, I have never had my motorcycle get as much rotational force as your small boat will in heavy swells.

* GPS Status & Toolbox - Android Apps on Google Play
I use this one first to calibrate the phone to the sat locations.
You can use it as a compass also

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.compassfree
This one has a rotating bezel you can move to set your heading.



I just tested these two that have been on my phone for years, I have thrown a lot of the bad ones out, and these are all that is left.

 

[PeteCress]

* GPS Status & Toolbox - Android Apps on Google Play
I use this one first to calibrate the phone to the sat locations.
You can use it as a compass also.

That one is instructive in that it shows "Pitch" and "Roll" - which were the terms-of-art I was struggling to come up with.

Looks to me like there is something inherent in the Android/magnetic compass that affected by Pitch and/or Roll. present.


Edit 2016 07-30 20:40:

Looks like susceptibility to Pitch and Roll are device-specific.

Comments above came out of trying the app on my now-retired Samsung Note 1 (7000).

Put the app on my new Note 4 (901C) and Pitch and Roll are not affecting heading.

Go figure....

 

[dontpanicbobby]

There's a company called Navionics that put out a couple of boating GPS apps in the play store. 1 is free with ads the pro version is 9.99usd. Try the free one and let us know what you think.

 

[PeteCress]

There's a company called Navionics that put out a couple of boating GPS apps in the play store. 1 is free with ads the pro version is 9.99usd. Try the free one and let us know what you think.

Will do as soon as I acquire a device.

No way I am rising my new Note-4 on the water - but I see quite a few small tablets in the $100-150 range and word is that they all have magnetometers.

Next task is to install the GPS Test app on some of them and see which ones are immune to the Pitch/Roll problem.