Apps That Require iPhone 3GS Magnetometer Hit App Store
June 26, 2009
The iPhone 3GS is the only Apple device that sports a magnetometer, which is basically a fancy word for digital compass. Apple already ships the iPhone 3GS with a Compass app, but it is pretty basic and straight forward. Thanks to all of those hardworking iPhone developers out there, we are now finally starting to see some iPhone 3GS specific apps that take advantage of this feature in more unique ways.
A new app called Magnetism uses the magnetometer to detect magnetic fields. It is able to do simple tasks, like detect metal objects behind walls, or you can use it to see your friends influence on the Earth's magnetic fields. It is also able to keep track of all of this data on an easy to read graph.
A+ Voice Compass is another interesting iPhone 3GS specific app. As the title states, it is compass app that tells you your orientation via voice. Simply launch the app and start moving, every time you change your heading it will notify you so you will never have to actually look at the app.
These are just two early examples of what the App Store has to offer, but of course there will be many others. We also stumbled upon some other basic compass apps like ezCompass, but they don't seem to offer anything extra outside of what the built-in Compass app has to offer.
If you find any other worthy magnetometer apps out there, feel free to leave a comment below, because there is no doubt there will be many more to come.
