Demagnetization of Phone Compass

[samunars]

Hi guys, newbie here. There's something I've been wondering about for a while.
Lately I got a magnetic air vent holder in order to use my phone as a navigator.
I also recently bought a new phone and this one, unlike the former, has a built-in compass.
I'm really unsure whether using the phone holder could possibly affect the performance of the compass to the point of damaging it permanently.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think there's any way of shielding the magnetic field? Thank you
p.s. now I'm temporarily using my old phone for navigation but being old both in software and hardware makes it very annnoying

[ScratchCat]

It will not. Phones don't have miniature compasses in order to tell direction, they have tiny circuits / systems which are moved by a magnetic field and from this are able to deduce the direction.

This could not be affected by a magnet in the long term.

From experience from keeping my phone next to a 1.5 Tesla magnet for a year, no change at all.

[Valkyrie Lenneth]

Digital compass – The digital compass in a smartphone such as the iPhone acts like a magnetic-needle compass and its accuracy, just like a traditional compass, can be affected by a strong external magnetic field

 

Magnetometer – The magnetometer in your smartphone allows your device to detect the strength and direction of magnetic fields. It works with the digital compass but is also used by many other available apps. This particular gizmo could be susceptible to really strong magnetic fields.

 

short said

 

the big magnet will damage ur phone's compass/magneto meter, the small one will not

 

If your compass is affected your phone should display an alert. ( u can set it up )

 

 

 

[Pythons]

25 minutes ago, samunars said:

Hi guys, newbie here. There's something I've been wondering about for a while.
Lately I got a magnetic air vent holder in order to use my phone as a navigator.
I also recently bought a new phone and this one, unlike the former, has a built-in compass.
I'm really unsure whether using the phone holder could possibly affect the performance of the compass to the point of damaging it permanently.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think there's any way of shielding the magnetic field? Thank you
p.s. now I'm temporarily using my old phone for navigation but being old both in software and hardware makes it very annnoying

The short answer is no.

The long answer is maybe

Firstly, it's quite difficult to 'shield' a magnetic field.

Secondly, I don't think that something designed for phones (that have 'compasses') would disrupt your phone too much.

 

You'd have to have a very strong magnet to start affecting your phones components.

 

Hope this helped!

[EpicGeekonFire]

I've switched to Kenu mounts for my cars. My cousin was using a magnetic mount and her iPhone does not know which way it is even pointed anymore... I am sure if we took the stupid magnet glued to the back of the phone it would start working again but the whole magnet thing isn't even that great.