Bearing Compass for Boaters

The compass apps on your phone all show a dial from above -- as if the phone were lying flat on a chart table. A real hand bearing compass is different: 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, a peak - The vertical card turns behind the dome glass, damped like the real liquid-filled instrument, and the lubber line reads your bearing - True or magnetic reference, 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 at once, because it is a cylinder, not a flat disc

MARK IT - One tap records the bearing with time -- and position if you choose - Keep a log, label each bearing, share it as plain text - HOLD freezes the reading while you write it down - Track a marked bearing over time and see, as a fact on the display, whether it is holding steady or drifting

MADE FOR THE WATCH ON DECK - Night mode: deep red illumination preserves your night vision - A degrees-of-error readout on screen at all times, plus a calibration guide -- check the instrument against a known landmark before you rely on it

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.

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