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Compass Direction & Map GPS is Better Than The Stock App
Any chance I have to highlight an up-and-coming young developer who is doing great work I’ll take. Rihab Mehoob has recently released his latest apps,…
Any chance I have to highlight an up-and-coming young developer who is doing great work I’ll take. Rihab Mehoob has recently released his latest apps, a revamp of the stock compass. It may sound minimal, but it allows plenty of focus to come to the design of the app beyond just the functionality.
Apple kept things basic with its pre-installed Compass app. You get a white compass overlaid a black background. Not too much else going on. Rihab’s option though looks fantastic. My favorite view combines the real-time GPS information with a map. You can see the grid layout of the map below the compass interface.
When navigating, you can see your heading and what degree you’re facing. By showing it with the map, it gives you a better sense of where you are and where you’re headed. Certainly more intuitive. That’s not all though. The map view will automatically show when the phone is horizontal, but as it is lifted, it switches to a more scenic view. It will show the direction you’re specifically facing and overlay it on top of a picture of where you are. When navigating in highly-visited tourists spots, this is awesome to use.
If you search for compass apps on the App Store, you’re going to see a ton of options. Most of them are garbage. Big, terrible heaps of garbage. They take the compass API, put it on a background or make the text larger and try to sell it for a buck. Rihab looked to make an app that is a notable improvement on what Apple offers. This app takes advantage of many of Apple’s native features. As you use the app you’ll notice the soft, subtle haptic feedback. Button presses feel more responsive as your phone taps you back. It also supports 3D Touch, or Haptic Touch since Apple killed 3D Touch off a couple years back and replaced it with a long hold.
This app is great for accessibility users too. The app fully supports VoiceOver to make interacting with the app easy for those who are visually impaired. I’m just saying, most apps don’t take these things into consideration. It also isn’t easy to highlight this VoiceOver support either. These things matter and I hope users appreciate the added time and effort.
My wife and I travel frequently and we use the stock Compass app more than most. What 20- year-old Rihab has created is a much more pleasant experience.
But enough about other people's apps.
