HandBearing: Marine Compass

The compass apps on your phone show a dial from above, as if the phone lay flat on a chart table. A real hand bearing compass works differently: you hold it up at eye level, sight your target over it, and read the bearing off the side of a floating vertical card. HandBearing puts that instrument on your screen. SIGHT AND READ - Hold your phone up and aim at a lighthouse, a buoy, a vessel or a peak - The vertical card turns behind dome glass, damped like the real liquid-filled instrument, and the lubber line reads your bearing - True or magnetic reference, with the reciprocal bearing always at hand - Lay the phone flat and the same card shows its top face, a round compass rose; tilt it in between and you see both, because it is a cylinder MARK IT - One tap records the bearing with the time, and your position if you choose - Keep a log, label each bearing and share it as plain text - HOLD freezes the reading while you write it down - Track a marked bearing over time and see on the display whether it holds steady or drifts MADE FOR THE WATCH ON DECK - Night mode: deep red illumination keeps your night vision - A degrees-of-error readout is always on screen, plus a calibration guide: check the instrument against a known landmark before you rely on it GOOD TO KNOW The phone's magnetic sensor is affected by nearby metal, electronics and magnets. Base navigation decisions on your vessel's proper instruments, charts and official information. This app is not a substitute for required marine equipment.