watchOS 9 Brings Updated Compass App With Waypoints and Backtrack

Apple with the introduction of the Apple Watch Ultra showed off a redesigned and more expansive Compass app, which, as it turns out, is available to existing Apple Watch models in watchOS 9.

watchos 9 compass app
Available today, watchOS 9 adds the redesigned Compass app to the Apple Watch Series 5 and later and the Apple Watch SE, though select features are limited to the ‌Apple Watch SE‌ and the Series 6 and later.

The redesigned Compass app features an analog compass that displays a digital view of your current bearing and direction. You can tap into a zoomed view that shows your bearing, elevation, incline, latitude, and longitude for more information.

If you have an Apple Watch Series 6 or later, you can mark points of interest in the Compass app using the Waypoints feature, which has customizable colors and symbols. The Waypoints app adds a little marker to your current coordinates, and all Waypoints show up on the main Compass view so you can find your way back to them.

watchos 9 compass app backtrack
You can also use a new "Backtrack" feature if you have a Series 6 or later. Backtrack uses GPS to record the path that you take, so if you get lost, you can find your way back later. watchOS 9 is available on the Apple Watch Series 4 and later and it can be downloaded now.

Related Roundup: watchOS 11
Related Forum: Apple Watch

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

Stromos Avatar
30 months ago
Wait us peasants get a cool new compass feature? That’s the most unApple thing I’ve heard in a long time!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
averagenerd81 Avatar
30 months ago

Wait us peasants get a cool new compass feature? That’s the most unApple thing I’ve heard in a long time!
That was one thing I really liked from the Ultra, but I am not forking over $800 for a watch. Very happy this is coming to us peasants!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
t0rqx Avatar
30 months ago
Too bad battery runs out to backtrack…
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
30 months ago
Very cool! I thought this was only coming to the Ultra.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gund1234 Avatar
30 months ago

They know how many, which and what kind of watches are active currently and which one need to be forced to upgrade.
i don't think it is fair, Apple products last longer then most other products and Apple is working hard to support software upgrades to older devices in general.
Apple does somethings that i don't like (repairability/upgradability) but not supporting products and forced upgrades in not one of them. We have to give them credit where it is due.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chickeneaster Avatar
30 months ago

Huh? Since when does the apple watch has a compass app? My series 7 on the watchos 9 RC doesn't have a compass app
It's had one since the series 4 or 5
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)