When Apple announced its latest smartwatch, the Apple WatchSeries 5, it had several new hardware elements. First, and most eye-catching was a brand new screen with an always-on capability. But there was also a more curious element: a compass.

Now, the full purpose of such an extra has been revealed as Yelp has announced how it will implement it.

Sure, we already knew it would be helpful to the outward bound looking for guidance as to which way to head in a remote situation. And, actually, even being able to know which way is north can be useful in a bunch of situations. 

Cast your mind back to when the iPhone 3GS succeeded the iPhone 3G. An compass was an addition to that phone’s hardware, too. People were simply mocking of this extra element, saying they’d never use it. 

And then early Augmented Reality apps appeared which used the compass. One of the first of these was Nearest Tube, a frankly brilliant app which guided you around London by floating flags in the air to show which way to go for the most convenient subway station. 

Now, the compass promises to add extra capabilities to Apple Watch apps, and Yelp is the first of these. 

Source: Forbes