About this tool
The sensor check shows which sensor APIs your browser offers and which data your smartphone or tablet actually delivers: orientation (alpha, beta, gamma), acceleration with and without gravity, the gyroscope’s rotation rate and how many new values arrive per second.
That helps when an app or website doesn’t use the sensor, a gyroscope seems broken, or you’re a developer wanting to know what a device can do. There is also a vibration test and information about the screen, pixel ratio and touch points. The sensors in action are shown by e.g. the Spirit Level, the Compass and the Vibration Meter.
How it works
- Open the page on the device you want to test – the list of supported APIs appears immediately.
- Tap “Start live test” and, on an iPhone, allow access to “Motion & Orientation”.
- Move and rotate the device and check that all values change. “Test vibration” checks the vibration motor.
Frequently asked questions
Why does it say “yes” but no values arrive?
The list shows which APIs the browser knows – not whether the hardware exists. Desktop browsers know DeviceOrientation, for example, but have no sensor. Only the live test shows whether data actually arrives.
Why is there no vibration on an iPhone?
Safari on iOS does not support the vibration API for websites; that’s an Apple restriction, not a defect. On Android it works in Chrome, Firefox and most other browsers as long as the phone is not muted.
What do alpha, beta and gamma mean?
They are the device’s rotation angles: alpha around the axis out of the screen (0–360°), beta around the horizontal axis (tilting forward and back, −180 to 180°) and gamma around the long axis (tilting left and right, −90 to 90°). “Absolute” means alpha is relative to north.
Why is the event rate lower than expected?
Browsers usually deliver motion data at about 60 Hz, regardless of what the sensor can do. In battery saver mode, in background tabs or in embedded pages they throttle the rate further or pause it entirely.