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GeoProof

Can an Apple Watch show GPS coordinates? What GeoProof's watch app does

The GeoProof watch app shows your current latitude and longitude in decimal degrees with the accuracy in metres, and one button, Log Waypoint, saves that position to your iPhone. It shows nothing else about the position: no MGRS, no UTM, no altitude.

2 min read · Updated 2026-09-16

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Two screens

The first page reads like 37.79830, -122.37780 in small monospaced type, with ±5 m below it. Until the watch has a position it says Acquiring GPS… and the button is greyed out. The second page, Compass, shows a heading in degrees and a rotating dial.

Five decimals is about 1.11 m of latitude and 0.88 m of longitude at that spot, so the display is finer than any accuracy figure you will actually see. The iPhone app shows six decimals; the watch cuts one.

Log a waypoint

  1. Open GeoProof on the watch and wait for the coordinates to appear.
  2. Tap Log Waypoint. The button turns green and reads Logged!, and the watch gives a short tap on your wrist.
  3. On the iPhone, open the Map tab. The pin is named Watch plus the time, for example Watch 2:14 PM, and sits in the project updated most recently.

If the iPhone is out of reach, the watch queues the waypoint and sends it later. Do not rely on that without checking: open the Map tab afterwards and count the pins. The watch only remembers how many you logged this session, not what they were.

What the watch app leaves out

  • No coordinate format switch. The watch shows decimal only; DMS, MGRS and UTM exist on the iPhone, not here.
  • Altitude is sent with the waypoint but not shown on the watch.
  • No camera, no photos, no map on the watch.
  • No list of past waypoints on the wrist.
  • Waypoints are not in the CSV, GPX or KML exports, which hold one point per photo. They travel in the .geoproof project bundle (Pro).

The reading comes from the watch's own location service and updates as it moves, not from the phone. Under trees or between buildings the ± figure grows. Read it before you trust the numbers.

The compass uses true north when the watch can work it out and magnetic north otherwise, without telling you which. Needs watchOS 11 or later. Logging waypoints is free. Call it a good way to drop a pin and a poor way to read a position — not something to steer by.

Questions and answers

Does the Apple Watch have a compass app?
Apple's own Compass app exists on the watch. GeoProof adds a compass page of its own, next to the coordinates page.
Does the watch show MGRS or UTM?
No. The watch shows decimal degrees only. Open a waypoint or photo on the iPhone to read it in DMS, MGRS or UTM.
Do I need the iPhone nearby?
To see coordinates, no: they come from the watch. To get a waypoint into the app, the iPhone must receive it, now or later.
Where do watch waypoints go?
Into the project you updated most recently, on the Map tab, named Watch with the time. There is no way to choose the project from the watch.
Is the watch app free?
Yes. Logging waypoints from the watch is part of the free version.

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