iPhone XR compass points only at north

Hi Emanuel,

As it turns out, your instincts were spot on in this case. On the iPhone XR, the magnetometer that's used to measure the Earth's magnetic field and thus give you a compass function is indeed located on the wireless charging flex.

I couldn't find any iFixit-style guides for the wireless charging flex; the closest I came was the iFixit Teardown of the iPhone XR which does show the removal of the wireless charger on Step 14.

iPhone XR Teardown - iFixit

However, what I think you'll be much more interested in is a YouTube video I located that basically shows a phone with your exact same problem and it shows that changing the wireless charging flex fixed the problem.

iPhone XR Compass Not Working (Easy Repair) - YouTube

Unfortunately, the wireless coil that iFixit sells only has the coil and needs to be soldered onto the rest of the flex cable, the part that contains the magnetometer, so that one won't help you. You can easily find a coil with the flex presoldered on it, and that's what I'd recommend doing. I bought a case that came with them separate but ended up melting the flex when I tried to solder them together. Here's one of the first ones I came across; you can find plenty more on places like Amazon, eBay and AliExpress.

Apple :: iPhone Repair Parts :: iPhone XR Parts :: iPhone XR Wireless NFC Charging Flex

So yeah, looks like replacing that coil should get your compass working again. Good luck and let us know how it goes!