A compass that points to true north, not just magnetic.

An online compass is a digital compass that runs inside your web browser instead of as a separate app. It reads the magnetometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope in your phone and turns them into a live heading in degrees — no download required. You open a page like this one, grant sensor access, and the dial updates in real time as you turn.

Open this page on your phone, tap "Enable live compass", and hold the device flat in your palm. The heading appears below the dial in degrees and as a compass point. For the most accurate results, trace a figure-eight motion to calibrate the magnetometer and keep the phone away from metal and magnets.

A calibrated phone compass is typically accurate to within about 1–5 degrees outdoors. The magnetometer itself is sensitive, and nearby metal, electronics, or a magnetic phone case can throw it off. Once you calibrate and step away from interference, readings usually agree with a physical compass within a couple of degrees.

Magnetic north is the direction your phone's magnetometer points — it follows Earth's magnetic field, which shifts every year. True north is the geographic North Pole that maps use. The angle between the two is called magnetic declination, and this tool corrects for it automatically so your heading lines up with a map.

Magnetic declination is the angle between magnetic north and true north at a given location. It ranges from roughly −30° to +30° around the world and changes slowly over time. In London it is near zero, while in parts of Canada it can exceed 15°. Because it varies by place, a GPS-accurate declination correction matters whenever you follow a bearing.

A magnetometer is a sensitive instrument. Phone cases with magnets, speakers, laptops, metal tables, car dashboards, and steel-framed buildings all bend the magnetic field around you. Move away from these, hold the phone flat, and trace a figure-eight to recalibrate. A few degrees of movement indoors is normal.

Hold the phone flat, then rotate it slowly through a figure-eight several times while keeping the screen facing up. This gives the magnetometer a full range of readings to calibrate against. Finish by holding still for a second. Repeat any time the heading looks unstable.

The dial keeps working offline once the page has loaded, because the heading is generated on your device. A laptop or desktop will not work for live headings, though — most have no magnetometer, so there is nothing to read. Use a phone or tablet; a computer still shows the demo dial and the sun and moon data.

Location is optional and only used to compute magnetic declination, the Qibla bearing, and sun position. All of the maths runs locally in your browser — there is no account, no backend, and no analytics. Your coordinates never leave your device, and you can always enter coordinates manually instead.

Yes. The Qibla finder uses your coordinates to compute the great-circle bearing to the Kaaba in Makkah, accurate to the degree, plus the distance. You can then follow that bearing on the live compass dial to face it.

In the northern hemisphere the sun is due south at local noon, so it casts shadows pointing north. At night, Polaris (the North Star) sits almost exactly above true north. This site's sun position tool gives the exact solar azimuth for your location and time, which is a reliable cross-check for any compass.

No. Everything runs in the browser, so there is nothing to download, no app store, no sign-up, and no updates to manage. It works the same on iPhone, Android, and most tablets.

Yes, it is completely free and there are no premium tiers or paywalls. Every tool on the site — compass, GPS coordinates, Qibla finder, bearing calculator, sun position, and sun & moon direction — is free to use.

Stand at the window facing outward, hold your phone flat, and read the heading. North is 0°, east 90°, south 180°, and west 270°. Gardeners use this to plan sunlight, and photographers use it to predict where the sun rises and sets.