Compass AR vs Earwake
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Compass AR
This utility app provides precise directional, altitude, and speed readings on a clear interface. It offers augmented reality views of the sun and moon's paths, along with location data and weather information. Pro features include time scrubbing, AR tracking, and speed recording.
- AR sun and moon tracking
- Precise direction and altitude
- Live speed and acceleration
- Sunrise, sunset, and golden hour
- Location and weather data
- Time scrubbing for celestial paths
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CompassPlus is an instrument. Direction, altitude, speed — one screen each, in numbers big enough to read while you walk. COMPASS · A large heading and a dial. True North or Magnetic North, switched any time. · The Sun and Moon are marked on the dial, with sunrise, sunset and elevation. · Scrub time (Pro) by year, month, day, hour or minute and see where the Sun sits at that moment. When you are not on Now, the app says so, and one tap brings you back. · A coordinate card: decimal degrees or DMS, tap to copy, with the place name. · A level, so you can tell whether the phone is flat. · When the magnetic field is disturbed it tells you, and walks you through the figure-eight calibration. ALTITUDE · One big number, colored by how high you are. · GPS + Barometer fused, GPS alone, or automatic — your call. · Meters or feet, with the vertical accuracy beside it. · Pressure, temperature and wind, while you are here. SPEED · Live speed and acceleration, from GPS speed, the motion sensors, or both fused. · It works out whether you are still, walking, running, cycling or driving, and tells you how confident it is. · Tap once to record a stretch (Pro). The average is integrated over time rather than averaged across readings, so the minutes spent parked do not drag it down. Max speed and duration are kept with it. FIND SUN / MOON IN AR (PRO) · Hold up the phone and the Sun and Moon are drawn on the real sky. · It draws the whole day's arc: where it rose, the path it takes, where it sets — including the stretch below the horizon. · The Moon's path drifts a little each day. The gap in the arc says by how much. · When the target is off screen, the edge points you toward it. · Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset and the golden hour sit on the arc. · Drag to move the reticle onto the real thing — slowly to fine-tune, quickly to move far. Exposure stays automatic, and a lock is always one tap from released. SETTINGS Which screen opens first, north reference, altitude source and unit, coordinate format, speed unit, whether to show accuracy. Set it once. PRICE Free to download. Direction, altitude and live speed — with weather, the level and coordinates — stay free. The AR finder, time scrubbing, widgets and speed recording make up CompassPlus Pro: a one-time purchase, not a subscription, with future updates included and Family Sharing on. No ads. ABOUT LOCATION Location and motion data are used on the device to work out direction, altitude and speed. Nothing is uploaded to my server — I don't have one. Place names go through the system geocoder, and the weather reading comes from Apple Weather (WeatherKit). Those are the only two places your location leaves the phone; both use coordinates alone, and both go only to Apple. REQUIREMENTS iOS 26 or later, iPhone only. Barometer-fused altitude needs a device with a barometer. AR needs an ARKit-capable device and camera access.
Earwake
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Save reusable wake setups and challenge the actual name-and-phrase matcher against calls and near misses before choosing a profile. HOW IT WORKS 1. Open Profiles and capture your current Set Up or load the clearly labeled phrase example. 2. Add recognized-text trials with your expected trigger result. Run text rehearsal and compare results across sensitivity levels. 3. Save the rehearsed profile, export its report, or restore its complete setup. Restoring always leaves Earwake disarmed; review Set Up and arm it yourself. Name and phrase listening, sound triggers, wake styles, dismiss challenges and event history remain available. Profiles preserve their settings and add controlled disarmed restoration. WHAT TO KNOW Text rehearsal tests the matcher only. It does not test microphone input, speech recognition, ambient sound detection, volume, alarm delivery or waking reliability. Earwake needs to stay in the foreground to listen. Use a separate reliable alarm for critical wake times. Profiles do not schedule background operation. iPhone and iPad.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Compass AR at Free against Earwake's $0.99. Earwake's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). On ads and device support 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 AR is free to download; Earwake costs $0.99 up front. Compass AR sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Earwake asks for nothing beyond the download.
Compass AR ships an update fortnightly, Earwake every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Compass AR | Earwake |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 飞 吕 | Robert Corbin |
In-app purchases
Compass AR
- Sponsor · A Lunch$0.99
- CompassPlus Pro$2.99
- Sponsor · A Coffee$2.99
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- Sponsor · A Resupply$6.99
Earwake
No in-app purchases









