On a computer there is no compass: the dial only turns when you drag it. On a phone, tap “Turn on the compass” and hold the phone flat. Metal, magnets, speakers and laptops nearby disturb a phone’s compass by several degrees: step away from them, and trust a landmark or the sun over a reading that keeps moving.
Face west, 278.8° clockwise from true north. The shortest path leaves Baoding on this heading and reaches the Kaaba from the northeast.
A compass needle, and the sensor inside a phone, point to magnetic north: a spot in the Arctic that drifts every year. The Qibla is measured from true north, the North Pole. So the compass on this page reads the phone’s magnetic heading and adds the local difference before comparing it with 278.8°.
Many simple compass pages show the phone’s raw reading. The gap below is how far their needle sits from the true Qibla, and how far from the Kaaba that line passes.
On a Mercator map a straight line keeps one compass heading, but it is not the shortest path. The Qibla is the direction of the great circle, the shortest route over the Earth’s surface. From Baoding the two differ by 24°; the difference grows the farther you are from Makkah.
A phone compass is only as good as its sensor and its surroundings: inside a car, near a speaker or on a steel table it can be off by many degrees. When the reading keeps jumping, calibrate it, or use a landmark whose direction you know.
| City | Country | Bearing | Magnetic | Direction | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mecca مكة المكرمة |
Saudi Arabia | Here | At the Kaaba: face it directly | 0 km | |
Jeddah جدة |
Saudi Arabia | 96.4° | 92.8° 3.6° E | east | 67 km |
Medina المدينة |
Saudi Arabia | 176.3° | 172.4° 3.9° E | south | 339 km |
Riyadh الرياض |
Saudi Arabia | 244.2° | 241.1° 3.1° E | west-southwest | 793 km |
Kuwait City مدينة الكويت |
Kuwait | 224.6° | 220.9° 3.7° E | southwest | 1,203 km |
Amman عمّان |
Jordan | 160.9° | 155.9° 5.0° E | south-southeast | 1,233 km |
Doha الدوحة |
Qatar | 252.6° | 250.0° 2.6° E | west-southwest | 1,269 km |
Baghdad بغداد |
Iraq | 199.9° | 195.1° 4.8° E | south-southwest | 1,400 km |
Dubai دبي |
United Arab Emirates | 258.8° | 256.5° 2.2° E | west | 1,632 km |
Tehran طهران |
Iran | 218.5° | 213.5° 5.0° E | southwest | 1,946 km |
Karachi كراتشي |
Pakistan | 267.7° | 266.4° 1.3° E | west | 2,801 km |
Kabul كابل |
Afghanistan | 250.8° | 247.3° 3.4° E | west-southwest | 3,213 km |
Mumbai مومباي |
India | 280.1° | 280.1° 0.0° | west | 3,452 km |
Tashkent طشقند |
Uzbekistan | 240.3° | 234.6° 5.7° E | west-southwest | 3,528 km |
Islamabad إسلام آباد |
Pakistan | 255.9° | 253.0° 2.9° E | west-southwest | 3,528 km |
Lahore لاهور |
Pakistan | 260.3° | 258.1° 2.2° E | west | 3,598 km |
Delhi دلهي |
India | 266.6° | 265.2° 1.3° E | west | 3,837 km |
Dhaka دكا |
Bangladesh | 277.7° | 278.0° 0.4° W | west | 5,173 km |
Kuala Lumpur كوالالمبور |
Malaysia | 292.5° | 292.5° 0.0° | west-northwest | 6,974 km |
Singapore سنغافورة |
Singapore | 293.0° | 292.8° 0.2° E | west-northwest | 7,275 km |
Baoding Baoding |
China | 278.8° | 285.8° 7.0° W | west | 7,323 km |
Beijing بكين |
China | 278.9° | 286.4° 7.6° W | west | 7,385 km |
Jakarta جاكارتا |
Indonesia | 295.2° | 294.5° 0.7° E | west-northwest | 7,920 km |
Manila مانيلا |
Philippines | 289.0° | 291.8° 2.7° W | west-northwest | 8,525 km |
Surabaya سورابايا |
Indonesia | 294.0° | 293.3° 0.8° E | west-northwest | 8,561 km |
Tokyo طوكيو |
Japan | 293.0° | 301.0° 7.9° W | west-northwest | 9,475 km |