Thus, an app can potentially know your heart rate while you are using it. Researchers can use this data to estimate your heart rate. The accelerometer can detect the slight movements of your hand and body while holding the phone. Thus, any app can tell if you are riding on a bus, train, or plane while using it. As a result, any app can figure out your altitude and measure air pressure in your environment. The barometer is also part of the Core Motion Framework and no permission is required to access it. It is worth mentioning that the iPhone is also equipped with a barometer, a sensor that measures air pressure and altitude. Although access to the pedometer on the iPhone is protected by a system permission, there are many sophisticated algorithms that process accelerometer data to achieve exactly that. An app can tell if you are using it while lying, sitting, walking, or cycling. There’re no boundaries for what an app can do with the measurements, but here are some spooky scenarios: Motion and ActivitiesĪccelerometer data reflects how you hold your phone and how you move. The app may choose to ignore the measurements or read them. iOS makes the measurements accessible to the app that is active in the foreground. Possible ScenariosĪccelerometer measurements are collected all the time while you are holding your phone. It’s only about moving and rotating the phone, right? Can that breach your privacy? The answer lies in the next section. Telegram describes why it needs access to the cameraĪt first glance, accelerometer data seems to be innocuous.
Since access to the accelerometer is not protected by a system permission, developers are not required to inform users about why they need the access. Apps that don’t provide such information for each permission they need will not be approved by Apple’s App Review team. iOS shows the description on the permission dialogue when the app requests a permission from the user. Developers have to formulate the reason in a simple description that conveys the message to the users. iOS prevents apps running in the background from reading the measurements.Īpps that access resources protected by a system permission have to specify why they need such an access. Apps can only read the accelerometer when they are active in the foreground. So apps can read measurements from the accelerometer without any restriction– except for one.
Unlike access to location services and Bluetooth, access to the accelerometer is granted to all apps on the iPhone. This is simply because apps don’t need a permission to read accelerometer data. Most users won’t realize it when their favorite apps use the accelerometer. The accelerometer has tons of applications and many apps rely on it. For the sake of brevity, I will just say accelerometer to refer to both sensors. The accelerometer and gyroscope are bundled together in iOS and are part of the Core Motion Framework. Steve Jobs demonstrates the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors (Fast forward to 17:45) Curious apps might be able to learn a lot about users through the accelerometer and without their knowledge or permission. Currently, iOS allows any installed app to access accelerometer data without explicit permission from the user. There also have been some research to develop novel accelerometer applications: estimating heart rate, breathing rate, or even as a rudimentary audio recorder using just the accelerometer.
It also has many other uses, whether as a game controller in racing games, as a pedometer for counting daily steps, or to detect falls as seen in the Apple Watch. It’s most commonly used for detecting the device’s orientation. Nearly every modern smartphone is equipped with an accelerometer, which, as the name implies, is a sensor that measures acceleration. Ctrl – The best presentation companion for your Apple Watch.If you enjoyed this work, you can support it by checking out our apps:
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UPDATE (November 10, 2021): Added new section about access to the accelerometer in browsers (iOS/Android)
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