Spyglass Reviews

I just downloaded Spyglass for remote area use in a very vast forest hunting area, but first I decided to test this on my property because getting lost and not able to find your vehicle is a very scary feeling!!! I put up a post holding it up in the air with a concrete block, I add the current location as taught by the videos, I walked 200 yards away, Spyglass showed the post that it was on the ground in front of me on the ground when the post was 200 yards behind me. At first I thought I did something wrong, I tried it again marking the post area from the ground or to the tip of the post in the air. Still same result, I tried a different target which was my personal vehicle, this time I saw the marker to my truck literally glitch slowly moving to the east. I thought Spyglass would help me get to my vehicle i mean it said off road, wilderness, but I guess they DIDNT MEAN OFFLINE! I was shocked that Spyglass wasn’t dont what I thought it would. I’d like a developer to contact me, in the meantime I’ll be buying a map a REAL ALUMINUM COMPASS, and ranger beads!

This was a good app. I even paid for the full version. Then one day I launched Spyglass and was met with “your Subscription Has Expired.” Basically saying, you paid the price we ask for our app, but now we want more money from you. How about NO! I will bought a hand held compass. Buy once and done. Just like the original agreement I had with this developer. I hate Subscriptions for apps, especially ones I already paid for.

Update; AppDeveloper says; “It OK to hate subscriptions, but they are necessary…”.

In other words, we don’t care that you don’t want to pay for your app multiple times, or that we violate our original agreement with you. We like the money, so you lose.

I am personally offended by intrusive advertisements! This would’ve been a five star app. Unfortunately, like way too many other venues, they seem to think that aggressive intrusive advertisements are the same as having someone stick their finger down your throat! Because I get really pizzed when I’m trying to look down on Spyglass real quick at a stoplight and this full-page dam ad covers the face of Spyglass until you shut it manually! And it doesn’t do it just once it is artificial stupidity as opposed to artificial intelligence! I don’t know maybe these ad developers are on crack or some thing.

No “map only” function. Sometimes I just want to view the map without the compass blocking my view, and also have the altitude/coordinates track that marker live.

Which brings me to problem 2, a huge one: you better be on location to mark a waypoint, otherwise this compass has no idea what the elevation is. Leaving you to completely guess how much of a climb something is.

This isn’t a replacement for proper orienteering, but even on my day hikes I’d like to know if a certain planned route is doable on app, since it’s more than capable of accessing the elevation data. This is a glaring omission by the developer(s), who have otherwise done an excellent job.

Leading to Point 3: elevation difference on target marker is a forgotten feature as well, apparently. Why I would only want to know straight line distance is beyond me. That’s practically useless on its own in the mountains. So I’m 700’ off target but have a 1000’ elevation difference (55°grade). PRETTY IMPORTANT TO KNOW.

Please fix these inconveniences and I’ll update the review with to reflect this excellent utility.

Great work. The compass gets in the way sometimes. It would be nice to turn it off sometimes. The only other feature I would like to see is the ability to enter a saved point and specify another saved point as a destination and it give a distance. At present I have to enter my saved points into another app to obtain a distance, big pain. This is the only reason I cut a star.

I’m having a lot of fun and getting plenty of use from Spyglass but I’m wondering about a couple of things which annoy me to the point that I can’t give it five stars. When adding a new destination via a map location, is there a way to also have the correct elevation of that specific location included? When I add a location, the correct GPS coordinates are there but I believe it is using my current elevation and not the elevation of that desired location.

Also, I read the manual and it mentions a Car Mode but I do not see that option in settings. Has it been removed? Is there an alternative? It appears the manual is a bit outdated.

I’m still trying to learn the full Protektorat of Spyglass. Other than what I mentioned above, I’m loving it!

this app has many unique and useful features setting it apart from other navigation tools. The use of virtual reality display, offline capability, and datum library add-on shows great potential. I am disappointed in the accuracy of the waypoint display compared to other VR apps like my star finder. Otherwise, I would use it in my search & rescue operations. I recommend that the developer build on this great concept and improve the accuracy.

This is one of those rare apps that you come across every so often that truly demonstrates the power of what an application on a smart phone can do. I personally have only come across a handful of apps that are what I consider "elite".

Spyglass works flawlessly. The design is very slick and minimal which I equate to quality. I could honestly see this application being something that you would see on a screen in the cockpit of a jet aircraft. After using Spyglass for only a short time, it becomes obvious that the creator of Spyglass has the Swift/Objective-C programming language mastered. I honestly wish that the author of Spyglass would create a Celeste you'll start tracking app as I know it would be five stars as well. By this up with confidence if you are looking for a top-tier application that turns your smart phone into a precision measuring instrument.

Bit of a learning curve but not too daunting. Sweet to have this level of functionality right in your pocket. Can’t wait to see what future options and upgrades bring us. You know the developers are not done maxing out Spyglass.

As you may notice iOS had disabled the it’s own compass app,and made Spyglass a must-have tool, although the interface of PRO version could be simpler and easier for amateur like me. I wish I can copy-paste my location info (incl. GPS coordinator) to SMS and other apps.

Out of the blocks - what a great-looking app! The UI is totally hip for those into sci-fi tech and it's on my phone. Spyglass does what it says and lots of personal options to be fiddled with which gives hours of “playtime”. All that under the free model.

Now the cinch - Pro FREE - are you kidding me? Sweet and generous. Simply a beautiful, functional app. Well done all the way around.

I love Spyglass! Whether I’m in the Northern Territories of Canada flying in a float plane and have more information on my phone with Spyglass than the pilot did on his instrument panel, or being on a golf course and arguing about if a green is higher or lower than the fairway Spyglass shows up and does it! The combination and features is outstanding and one of my favorite apps on my phone.

The ONLY thing that’s a drawback about Spyglass is that if you’re truly out in the middle of nowhere without internet service, the map overlay won’t work.

But that is not this app’ fault, and everything else here is *superb*. This is a professional-grade compass, and then some. Sextant, inclinometer, rangefinder, and other goodies.

Oh, and the maps issue? You can download offline ones if you plan ahead. Highly recommended.

We have used Spyglass
In all the national state parks that we have visited - and where I could definitively mark the spot where I found a new dinosaur foot print up in the Delicate Arch trail which was great fun. I only wish whoever made Spyglass could make a replacement for the Intellicast computer weather site which is now gone. Thank you for this wonderful app who ever you are. My husband who went to MIT (astronautics) loves Spyglass also.

Calibration using visual land marks, satellite aerial map and sun make this a very accurate tool. Accuracy is there if you know how to set it up. Metal is no longer an issue when finding an azimuth. Remote tree and building heights is another favorite use of this powerful tool. Take the time to learn Spyglass. Still using frequently and am really impressed. One improvement would be an option for large text for Bering. Or a separate azimuth mode with larger bearing text.

Update:
Years later I still use Spyglass. In fact, it’s only app I pay money for. It is worth it to me. I install communications equipment, and when I have to set specific directional antenna path, I use this tool where I can literally put my phone on the back of the antenna and hit the target, after a local calibration. It works so good.

Such an interesting and helpful source of information on long drives. However, I have one suggestion: in car mode, using trajectory for bearing is essential. I hope the developers will incorporate a similar function for horizon calibration. Since there is no reliable mount that will eliminate shifts in a phones vertical movement, a user can never be confident in the accuracy of the horizon calibration. I imagine a calculation with the shift in elevation could provide adequate data. I would prefer reliability and consistency over precision with this feature while enabled. Thanks for reading!!

As apps do more and more, and become increasingly complex, it’s essential to have some sort of user guide if you’re to use all the capabilities. this app does, and has done so for years. I appreciate that.

In addition, the this app developers keep Spyglass up to date, and add *real* improvements periodically, not just pretty pictures that take up space but don’t improve functionality. I appreciate that as well.

There’s a small but steep learning curve to use Spyglass. But you’ll quickly see what it’s all about, and you’ll start nodding your head and smiling, as I did when I first used it.

This is a powerful app without crass commercial distractions. It is a powerful navigational tool. Valuable to hikers, hunters, rock hounders, cyclists, automobile GPS, boaters, and any others who wish to use the most comprehensive compass based navigational tool for iOS.
Built in accurate calibration with celestial objects, moon, sun, and Polaris (viewed thru your device's camera) is in addition to the GPS compass toolset that other navigational apps use.
Great map overlays, satellite maps, and ability to share locations to other this app users. You can also share to users of tomtom , wayze, google maps, and other GPS and maps systems.
Very cool.
As long as you have battery life, you will never be lost with Spyglass.
There is a learning curve. If you can read and comprehend on a 20th Century 7th grade level, then you can learn how to use this app. Great videos and comprehensive manual. Use them to get the most out of Spyglass .
I rarely leave reviews, but Spyglass deserves its props and unabashed accolades. Bravo to the this app team.
Top quality, the definitive compass and navigational tool. Buy it and be done in this genre of apps.

Don’t Panic 🌍👍
It’s a little confusing but it’s safe update.
If you’re new, this is great app and you should definitely try it out.

Kudos to the creator of Spyglass for taking care of the longtime users.
If you’ve been burned by other apps, it’s understandable but don’t worry this dev is managing a transition as well as possible with Spyglass Store framework. I upgraded mine successfully.

There is:
this app, this app Pro, and this app Plus.
If you paid for to upgrade previously to Pro grab the new version, ignore the expired subscription notice, and Restore Purchase in Spyglass ’s settings menu. You will have Pro again.
If you had just this app before v3,31 it looks like (ie I may be wrong) the developer is giving you Pro as well, which is generous.
There is also an option to subscribe right now to Plus at a discount for maps and places when offline. The Pro features do not need a Plus subscription.

I really enjoy Spyglass. It’s very cool, has never given me problems, and does what it says. The creator is still maintaining it all these years on and hopefully this transition helps keep it profitable to do so for many more to come.

Back to normal with OSM maps after an app deletion, reinstallation. It may have been a map caching issue. Funny thing is, I had only been using OSM maps. Once Spyglass was updated to the newest version, the USGS Topo maps were there and enabled. Toggling to OSM maps numerous times, restarting the devices did not clear the issue. This was on two different devices…both devices required Spyglass deletion, reinstallation to get them back to normal. App rating changed back to 5 stars.

The “Open Street maps” that I used exclusively are now gone and are now instead USGS topo maps…what happened to the OSM @ Happymagenta maps??? Sorry guys but I dock you three stars for removing a great map option with an “update”.

I’ve had Spyglass for years and use it often. I appreciate the developers consistent and continuing efforts to keep it current and add improvements. Helps me in work determining line of sight while setting up radio links. Highly recommend it.