How to use the Compass app on an Apple Watch

2 min read · 7 steps · Updated 3 October 2026

The Compass app turns the watch into a hiking instrument: direction, height above sea level and exact coordinates, without a phone signal. It can also hold a direction for you and warn you when you reach a chosen height.

These steps are for recent versions of watchOS. The pictures are simplified diagrams of the watch screen, not screenshots.

Step by step

1. Open the Compass app

   Press the Digital Crown and tap Compass. Hold the watch flat. The centre shows your bearing and the bottom your elevation.

   Done

2. Change the view

   Turn the Digital Crown up to see your heading as one large arrow. Turn it down again for the dial with your waypoints around it.

   Done

3. Read the details

   Tap the Info button. The list shows your bearing with the direction and degrees, your incline, and your latitude and longitude. Those coordinates are what a rescue service asks for.

   Done

4. Set a bearing to follow

   Tap the Info button, tap Bearing, turn the Digital Crown to the direction you want to walk in and tap the tick. The dial then shows how far you have turned away from it.

   Done

5. Set an elevation alert

   Tap the Info button, tap Set Target Alert, turn the Digital Crown to a height and tap the tick. The watch shows how far above or below that height you are and tells you when you reach it.

   Done

6. Mark a place

   Tap the waypoint button and label the spot, for example the car park or the tent. More in how to find your way back with Backtrack on an Apple Watch.

   Done

7. Switch to true north

   Open the Settings app on the watch, tap Compass and switch on Use True North. Paper maps are drawn to true north, while the compass shows magnetic north by default. In the same place you can change the coordinate format.

   Done

Good to know

If the screen turns red and shows a radar animation, the compass cannot work. The usual cause is a magnet nearby, often in the watch band itself: leather loops, Milanese loops and some sport loops have magnets. Location Services may also be switched off.

On the iPhone, Compass Calibration must be on: Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, System Services.

A watch compass is a help, not a replacement for a map and a real compass on serious trips. Batteries run out.

To make the battery last a full day out: how to turn on Low Power Mode on an Apple Watch.

In short: Compass app, Digital Crown up for the big arrow, Info button for bearing, incline and coordinates. Set a bearing or a target elevation there. True north under Settings, Compass.