Compass vs FlyBy Nav
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Compass
Provides a digital compass using your device's magnetic sensor or a sun-based calculation. Ideal for outdoor adventures like hiking and camping, offering reliable direction finding even without magnetic interference.
- Magnetic compass functionality
- Sun compass for direction finding
- Works without magnetic interference
- Suitable for hiking and camping
- Utilizes device sensors
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This application adds the a compass to your device. It either uses the built in magnetic compass (if available) or provides a sun compass (You just have to see the sun and know the time to determine the north direction). Use it for all your outdoor activities whether it's hiking, biking or for a boy scout camp. The sun compass is not affected by magnetic anomalies.
FlyBy Nav
This app simplifies flight planning by allowing users to input departure and arrival points, along with wind data. It provides a comprehensive overview of flight details including track, heading, distance, speed, ETA, and fuel burn. Users can access a vast database of airports and navaids, plot routes on a map, and utilize weather information.
- One-screen flight detail display
- Fast waypoint database search
- Great circle route plotting on map
- Offline airport and navaid database
- METAR and TAF weather access
- User-defined waypoint saving
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Flight planning is as easy as tapping in your point of departure, arrival and winds! In one screen, FlyBy Nav displays track, heading, distance, ground speed, time enroute, ETA, and fuel burn. - Fast database search and lookup of waypoints. - Search function lets you search for an airport using its identifier, name or city name. - Stores your favorite aircraft cruise performance numbers. - Plots your great circle route on map. - Quick Charter Quote feature. - Track units in either Magnetic, True, or Grid - Sunrise/Sunset and Azimuth feature. - METAR and TAF weather access. - 55,000 Airports and Navaids included (offline). - Save your own user waypoints. - No subscription charges. Please visit our web site for more detail and screen shots of all the program features.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: FlyBy Nav at 100% against Compass's 12%. FlyBy Nav also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.0). Compass's advantage is monetization model (free vs paid) and chart position (#174 vs unranked). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Compass costs $0.99 and FlyBy Nav $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
FlyBy Nav holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 12% of Compass's written reviews are positive against 100% of FlyBy Nav's.
Compass ships an update every 6 months, FlyBy Nav every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Compass | FlyBy Nav |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | $0.99 |
| Rating | 3.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 11.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #174 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Piet Jonas | Lonnie Ganz |
Customer experience
Compass
FlyBy Nav
Bugs and requests
Compass
Reported bugs
6 issues- Compass needle doesn't move
- Inaccurate direction readings
- App doesn't work on iPhone/iPod Touch
- App is slow
- App uses location services and Google Maps, subject to distortions
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- App doesn't work on overcast days or at night
Requested features
2 requests- Add text to main display indicating "Point iPhone at the sun"
- Remove unnecessary website buttons
FlyBy Nav
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Compass
No in-app purchases
FlyBy Nav
No in-app purchases
