How To Measure Altitude By Using Your iPhone

As a traveler, sometimes you may ask yourself the altitude of the place where you’re at. Besides the weather or surrounding conditions, we will show you how to view the altitude on your iPhone. 

Altitude can also be defined as the height from which it rises or is elevated, above ground level or sea level. As usual, it is calculated by using sea level in most cases. So, how to measure altitude just by using an iPhone?

It's kind of simple: To know the height of the place you’re standing at, just open the Compass app on your iPhone menu. A built-in feature for measuring elevation is already there.

Firstly, let's head to the App Store and download My Altitude app. Once the app is ready to use, the app will ask you to access your current exact location via the location services. On top of the screen, you will notice the altitude which has been calculated. Tap on the altitude and you can change the units between imperial and metric. 

Newer released iPhone version 6 or higher will have more advanced sensors on the device that can help you view more correct altitudes. However, you can still observe the altitude in NOAA database.

Next, click on “Data Files” on the right corner, at the bottom. 

This will happen to first-time users when the app asks you to download the data for the relevant region. You just need to select “Yes”. 

A grid-layout map will appear on your screen. Go ahead to find your current area, then click on it so that you can download data. 

There will be another popup for confirmation to download the file. You choose “Yes” to confirm. 

After some seconds, the app will be provided with a data file. Here, you click on the “Data Files” tab again.

While all sections do not change, the data will now transfer to the NOAA database. 

Now, you select “Device Sensor” to transfer back.

This is just a feature among many hidden ones in iOS. Play around with the list of other hidden features to explore further.