Comparison

Compass & GPS vs PhantomGram

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Compass & GPS

This utility app helps you find your direction using the Earth's magnetic field. It displays cardinal directions, GPS altitude, and bearing, and allows location sharing. It also provides sunrise and sunset times for any selected date.

Highlights
  • Determines cardinal directions
  • Displays GPS altitude
  • Shows bearing (azimuth)
  • Location sharing
  • Sunrise and sunset times
  • Tilt indicator for accuracy
Features
Read full description

A compass is an instrument used to determine direction. This app helps you find your bearings while hiking, traveling, or when visibility is limited due to fog. The compass app determines the cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) using the Earth's magnetic field. This compass app displays GPS altitude. It also shows the bearing (azimuth) at the top of the screen. The application allows you to share your current location with others and view your position on a map. To view the aurora, use this compass app to find north in the Northern Hemisphere and south in the Southern Hemisphere. This compass app displays the tilt of the compass and helps indicate accurate directions. You can view today’s sunrise and sunset times. Select a date on the calendar to calculate the sunrise and sunset times for that date.

About

PhantomGram

Features
Read full description

PhantomGram — Paint the Airwaves Spectrum painting for amateur radio. Encode any image as audio and transmit it through your radio — the picture appears directly on the receiver's SDR waterfall display. No special decoder needed at the other end. The image IS the spectrum. HOW IT WORKS Spectrum painting exploits the way SDR waterfall displays work. A waterfall shows radio frequency on one axis and time on the other, with colour representing signal strength. PhantomGram converts each row of your image into a carefully crafted audio signal where pixel brightness maps to tone amplitude and pixel position maps to frequency. When transmitted via SSB radio, the receiver's waterfall reassembles the picture automatically. TRANSMIT Select an image from your photo library or camera, or use the built-in test patterns (bars, gradient, checkerboard, concentric circles). Choose a resolution preset — from QUICK (80×64, under 4 seconds) to SLOW (640×256, maximum detail). Adjust the frequency range with the dual-knob slider. The image is encoded automatically, a TX preview shows the picture as the receiver's waterfall will draw it, and the status line shows the send time. Tap SEND to transmit, and watch the cursor and timer follow the image down. RECEIVE Tap START and point your iPhone's microphone at a radio speaker or connect via audio cable. The live FFT spectrum shows incoming signal energy across the frequency band. Below it, a continuous waterfall display reconstructs the image in real time as it arrives. When the sender's header tone is heard, the status line says so. Adjust gain to brighten weak signals. Save decoded images to the built-in log for later viewing and sharing. FEATURES • Encode images as spectrum painting audio via inverse FFT with random phase • Adjustable frequency range (0–10,000 Hz) with sensible defaults for SSB radio (200–2,800 Hz) • Four resolution presets: QUICK, STANDARD, DETAIL, SLOW • Real-time receive decode with live FFT spectrum display • SDR-style waterfall colourmap (black → blue → cyan → green → yellow → orange → red) • Optional header tone, sent before the image and detected on receive • Status lines for encoding, sending and receiving • Received image log with save and share • Phosphor CRT aesthetic — green or amber display themes • Zero external dependencies — pure Swift and Accelerate framework DSP • iPhone speaker and microphone — no additional hardware required TYPICAL USE Connect your iPhone's headphone output to your radio's microphone input (or simply hold the phone near the mic). Tune your radio to an appropriate frequency, key the transmitter, and tap SEND. Anyone monitoring that frequency with an SDR receiver will see your image appear on their waterfall display. For receiving, tune your radio to the transmission frequency, connect the radio's speaker output to your iPhone (or use acoustic coupling), and tap START. FREQUENCY GUIDANCE • STANDARD (200–2,800 Hz) — fits within normal SSB audio passband • NARROW (500–2,500 Hz) — safe for most radio mic inputs • WIDE (200–3,500 Hz) — only if your radio passes full audio bandwidth • SSTV-FIT (1,500–2,300 Hz) — coexists with SSTV activity Part of the Phosphor suite, sister app to PhosphorRTTY and PhosphorCW, amongst others. REMEMBER: TRANSMIT ON LICENSED FREQUENCIES ONLY.

Screenshots

Compass & GPS4 screens
PhantomGram4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Compass & GPS at Free against PhantomGram's $0.99. Compass & GPS also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months) and device support (3 vs 1). PhantomGram's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Compass & GPS is free to download; PhantomGram costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Compass & GPS ships an update weekly, PhantomGram every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 15, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Compass & GPS versus PhantomGram: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCompass & GPSPhantomGram
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.7 (13K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews47.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings13K — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEONSOFTStuart Woolley

Bugs and requests

Compass & GPS

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Compass needle stuck or not moving
  • App freezes or crashes
  • Inconsistent performance across devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add option to disable recalibration requests
  • Improve compass accuracy and reliability
  • Integrate with mapping features

PhantomGram

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Compass & GPS

No in-app purchases

None

PhantomGram

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Compass & GPS free?
Compass & GPS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PhantomGram free?
PhantomGram costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Compass & GPS or PhantomGram have ads?
Compass & GPS shows ads; PhantomGram does not.
Which is updated more often, Compass & GPS or PhantomGram?
Compass & GPS ships an update weekly, and PhantomGram every 4 months. Most recently, Compass & GPS was updated on November 15, 2026 and PhantomGram on November 13, 2026.

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