I picked up one of those nice little magnetic phone mounts.

It’s basically a magnetic ball/socket that you stick to your dash, then you add a little metal plate to the back of your phone (or case).

Pretty handy if, like me, your in-car sat nav is crap and out-of-date so you often end up using the phone instead.

BUT… I can’t help thinking that having a large powerful magnet so near sensitive electronics is a bad plan.

Granted there is no actual magnetic media in there (like a hard disk) but as I understand it a moving magnetic field can induce voltage. Plus there must be a magnetometer in the phone somewhere to do the compass and I can’t imagine the tilt sensors would benefit much from becoming magnetised either.

Thoughts?

Drive north and see where you end up.

BUT… I can’t help thinking that having a large powerful magnet so near sensitive electronics is a bad plan.

Doesn’t seem to be a problem in most things with electric motors.

Thousands of people use them, me included. No issues with phone or car.

Not so worried about the car. It’s has plenty of room for shielding etc and it won’t be that close to the magnet.

But the phone will be and it is full of microelectronics and, presumably, at least one magnetometer.

Thousands of people use them, me included. No issues with phone or car.

iPhone? Does the Compass app still work reliably?

Never had the phone go wrong or get flaky for no apparent reason?

I’ve been using one for ages, no problems with phone and my wellness has also increased due to the magnetic healing energy

Probably helps reduce limescale in your pipes too.

I’m sure the one I bought a few years back said it had been specially manufacturereded in some way so as to prevent magnetic destruction of phone components. I used it on an iPod so can’t confirm. The iPod still works though.

I had one for some time, but I’ve given up using it because the weight of my 6+ made it keep moving around, and it was at an angle where there was often too much reflection off the screen to be able to see the map.
I’ve still got the ball mounted on the dash, it’s handy to loop the cable from the radio to phone around to keep it tidy, but the phone is now held by a suction mount with spring jaws that holds the phone with few wobbles, and at a better angle.
I get them off eBay for around £1.20 each, and use them at work, if they get lost or broken, no great loss.

Maybe you just need a stone egg on your dashboard.

I’ve been using one in the car for a while with an Iphone 6. The magnetic base is a Maplin one with a rubber surface:
https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/magnetic-dash-mount-n53eh ,
and the phone wears a grippy finish black case with a metal plate inside (Spigen Thin Fit case).

They work surprisingly well together as, in addition to the magnetic adhesion, the grippiness of both surfaces means the phone doesn’t slip at all. Also I’ve have had no problems re magnetism affecting the electronics.

Cheers all. Fears hopefully unfounded then.

The one I went for was an Anker one and the magnet is ruddy strong. Nicely made and I can’t imagine slipping is going to be an issue at all!

(I had one of those grippy arm suction cup things before – but it was too small for my new SE and I found the magnet thing whilst searching for a replacement)

said it had been specially manufacturereded in some way

😆

Yeah, I call BS on that.

Generally permanent magnets if not too strong won’t affect the electronics itself and it may seem there’s no harm with the phone, but it will mess with sensors and inductive circuits (e.g. wireless charging & NFC). More so with long term use as it may magnetise metal components in the phone and mess with the sensors when not attached to the dash.

Might be though with long term use the most you’ll find is the compass is no longer accurate.

Hmm that was pretty much my initial thoughts then kenny. No wireless charging but I assume Apple Pay uses some variant of NFC?

Hopefully it won’t be too much of an issue as I won’t use it regularly. Just when I need a sat nav handy.

I’ve used Scosche magnetic mounts for years and recently integrated one into a 3D printed cradle, along with the innards of a wireless charging pad. No issues whatsoever. I just plonk the phone into the cradle and starts charging. If the magnet was going to interfere with anything it would be inductive charging?

I’d be surprised if any phones used a magnetic compass, surely they get the compass bearing from the GPS?

I use Google Maps on my phone for all my sat nav too.

I used one on an iPhone 5s for a few years without issue. Mounted the steel plate into a case and even then, with the steel held a bit further away from the magnet, it held ok nearly all the time.

Now I have a Quad Lock thing instead. It’s integrated into a good case (only available for some phones) and sits closer to the dash, plus it can’t drop off and has alternative mounts like a bike one, so I do prefer it, but my simple flush “wall” mount has no room for adjustment. And it’s relatively expensive.

surely they get the compass bearing from the GPS?

Don’t think so. The iPhone compass works while the phone is stationary or rotated on the spot. Pretty sure it must be magnetometer based.

I’d be surprised if any phones used a magnetic compass, surely they get the compass bearing from the GPS?

Well, they don’t need a compass to get a positional fix as they use GPS to receive satellite signals to fix a position.

However many phones also have a compass or rather magnetometer sensor to work out the direction the phone is pointing relative to north. GPS position will just tell you where you are, not the direction you are facing.

Accelerometers give an indication of movement in a direction, if you are moving, but without the magnetometer it doesn’t know the direction relative to north. Combined with GPS it can work out the relative direction though, but still have to be moving.

Magnetometers are useful for augmented apps also to give overlaid data based on where you are pointing the phone.

You usually have to calibrate it by waving the phone about in a figure of eight to increase the accuracy.

My iPhone cover has the magnets in it. Just took it off and experimented. No effect. Apparantly iPhone 3 onwards has magnetometer.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.iphonehacks.com/2014/11/iphone-magnet-trick.html/amp

GrahamS – Member

iPhone? Does the Compass app still work reliably?

ive got a magnetic phonecover on my 5s. compass does not work unless i remove the cover. (well it does work, but it points the wrong way most of the time).

wont make any difference using imaps or whatever, as they use the gps direction of travel as your heading

Never had the phone go wrong or get flaky for no apparent reason?

No issues at all.