Safari, as many already know, is Apple’s browser, which has always been represented by a compass icon. The red compass pointer, which represents true north on the object, always points to the top right of the device. But why the icon of a compass at all? And where does it point? Below we will show where the compass of Safari, the browser of the Apple.
Why the compass symbol?
This is possibly a question that crosses the minds of many curious people who are Apple users. In 2023 the first version of Safari was released.
Back then, companies valued the literal meaning of the word “browser” because the idea was to explore and discover new content.
Just look at Microsoft’s competitor, Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator (“Navegador”, in free translation).
Because of this, the idea of launching a browser with the obvious navigation theme made sense for the market at the time. The symbol chosen by Apple was the compass, a very common tool for explorers whose function is to show directions to those who use it.
Therefore, the first version of Safari brought a design in a more classic version of the compass, which had a metal arch around it, exposing the cardinal points. Back in 2014, the icon was updated to a simpler version with less detail, but kept the positioning of the compass hands.
But where is Safari’s compass pointing?
The truth is that the symbol doesn’t point to a specific location. Its positioning can be purely an aesthetic matter: the Safari icon helps to give an impression of moving forward, while it can also be interpreted as a signpost when searching for content on the Internet, since Safari is Apple’s browser.
However, viewed from another angle, it is also possible to interpret the symbol in literal mode as a compass and orient oneself.
The red pointer on the compass always represents true north, and since it is pointing to the right in this case, it means the object is heading northwest. And on a traditional compass, if you are heading in the direction indicated by the pointer at that position, you will be heading geographically northwest.