Phone sensors

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Phone sensors are the part of modern smartphones, with most phones having at least an accelerometer, GPS, video camera and microphone. More expensive models can also include more weather sensors. This should make a great and "free" source of data but getting any of the many apps to work right can turn out to be difficult. There are a variety of apps and build-in tools for collecting sensor data from phones.

Onboard tools

Both Android and iOS provide build-in metrics to collect some self-tracking data that can be used for personal science. On Android phones, Google Fit will take sensor data and collect it into metrics such as step counts, distance walked etc. On iOS, Apple Health provides an equivalent. On more recent iPhones this goes beyond simple metrics such as step counts and also includes more complex variables such as speed when taking stairs, six-minute walk-distance, step length, and walking asymmetry.

Third-party applications

There are also third-party apps one can install on a phone to more directly access the different sensors on a phone. Examples include:

• SensorLab Android. Records noise levels, luminosity, acceleration, gps and many other things. Takes little space. I must turn it off and on every like 10 hours so the data is saved. DG (talk)