Smart Compass

Quire Systems

About this app

Smart Compass is a precision-instrument bundle for the outdoors — magnetometer compass with true-north correction, tilt sensor, sun position, camera distance ranger, height estimator, and AR compass overlay. Built without the INTERNET permission, it works just as well in the backcountry as it does on the couch.

PRECISION COMPASS DIAL

The home screen shows a smoothly-rotating compass rose driven by your phone's magnetometer, automatically corrected for magnetic declination (the local difference between magnetic north and true north — computed from your GPS fix using the World Magnetic Model). The dial reads in degrees and cardinal direction (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW) and shows live accuracy status, magnetic-field strength in µT, declination, and tilt.

BUBBLE LEVEL

A two-axis bullseye level when you lay the phone face-up (perfect for picture-hanging, tripod alignment, or shelf-mounting), or a one-axis vertical-tilt indicator when you hold the phone against a wall. Live degree readouts for both axes.

SUN POSITION

See where the sun is right now — current azimuth, elevation, cardinal direction (NNW, etc.), plus today's sunrise, solar noon, and sunset times for your current location. A polar "where to look" diagram shows the sun's position relative to N / E / S / W. Useful for landscape photography, solar-panel alignment, sailing, and field naturalism. All math runs on-device using your GPS fix — no API calls.

CAMERA MEASUREMENT TOOLS

Three camera-based tools use the phone's inclinometer + camera together:

• Distance ranger — point the camera at the base of an object, set your eye-height with a slider, tap MEASURE — get the distance in metres. Uses trigonometry on the angle below horizon and your eye-height.

• Height estimator — two-tap measurement. Tap once at the base of an object, tap again at the top. The app combines the base distance with the elevation angle to give you the object's height. Useful for trees, buildings, walls, antennas.

• Camera compass — AR-style compass tape overlaid on the live camera viewfinder. Bearing reads at the centre crosshair as you pan. Great for orienting yourself in unfamiliar terrain.

PRIVACY-FIRST, FULLY ON-DEVICE

No accounts, no telemetry, no analytics SDK, no cloud sync, no crash reporting in this release. The app does not request the INTERNET permission — every sensor reading, location fix, and computation happens on your phone.

WHY THIS APP IS DIFFERENT

• Built natively in Kotlin with Jetpack Compose — fast, fluid Android 13+ UI
• True-north correction using the live magnetic declination from your GPS position — not a fixed value
• Per-permission justifications published in the privacy policy
• Landscape and portrait layouts are responsive on every screen, including the dial and camera tools
• Beautiful Tempo design system — Plus Jakarta Sans typography, considered colour, real attention to type and spacing

PART OF THE SPECTRUMIQ FAMILY

SpectrumIQ also publishes:
• Wi-Fi Analyzer — scan, channel analyzer, distance radar, coverage logger
• 5G Analyzer — carrier, cell, SIM info, RSRP / RSRQ / SINR, drive-test heatmap
• BLE Analyzer — BLE + classic Bluetooth scan, offline OUI vendor lookup
• GPS Analyzer — fix detail, sky plot, coord converter, speedometer

Each ships separately on Play Store. They share a codebase and the same privacy guarantees.

PERMISSIONS REQUESTED

• Precise location (ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) — used to compute the true-north correction (magnetic declination) and the sun's azimuth / elevation. Never transmitted off the device.
• Camera (CAMERA) — required for the distance ranger, height estimator, and AR camera-compass tools. No photos are saved or transmitted.

This app does NOT request the INTERNET permission. Full per-permission disclosure: https://quiresystems.com/privacy-policy

Made by Quire Systems. Feedback welcome at [e-mail].

What’s new

v1.0.1
• Updated for Android 16 (API 36) compliance
• Same on-device, no-telemetry privacy — nothing changed there
Privacy: https://quiresystems.com/privacy-policy