Does the app support usb sensors?

[megonemad1]

Hi, 

New to the Android app, and not seeing a direct answer in general searching.

If I where to get a sensor that uses the usb interface and attach it to my phone will the app be able to detect and monitor the sensor? 

Is there a step between being to the sensors on the phone out of the box and building an esp sensor box and connecting to it via Bluetooth? 

While I have a pc for dev the use case is my phone as it's portable and all.

Ps.
Can experiments be set to run while the app is in the background and/or the screen is locked?

[Sebastian Staacks]

First of all sorry for the late reply. I somehow missed it.

If I where to get a sensor that uses the usb interface and attach it to my phone will the app be able to detect and monitor the sensor? 

No, unless they somehow register to the system via the normal sensor APIs, but I am not aware that this is somehow possible (with the exception of USB microphones). The problem is that such devices do not follow a standard that we could implement, so it requires a per device solution. Do you have a specific sensor in mind? I would be interested to have a look at it.

Is there a step between being to the sensors on the phone out of the box and building an esp sensor box and connecting to it via Bluetooth? 

Sorry, I do not fully understand the question. If you want to transfer sensor data from an ESP to phyphox, it is as simple as adding three lines of code in the Arduino IDE using our phyphoxBLE library. If you have an ESP32 at hand, you can give it a quick try by installing phyphoxBle from the Arduino IDE's library manager and then try this example: https://github.com/phyphox/phyphox-ardui...umbers.ino

It transfers random numbers to phyphox as a stand in for a real sensor, but of course this could be any data from any sensor that you are able to read on the ESP32. The other examples show how to set up the user interface, transfer multiple values, change options for the graphs etc.

(If you are not using the Arduino IDE, but VSCode, it should still be rather simple. If you are not using the Arduino platform at all for your ESP, then you will have to implement the BLE communication yourself, which is still possible, but a lot more complicated.)

Can experiments be set to run while the app is in the background and/or the screen is locked?

No, phyphox is build as an "activity", i.e. it is stopped by the system as soon as it is not active in the foreground. However, we have an option to use the proximity sensor to turn off and lock the screen (like the phone turns off the screen when you are on a call and holding it to your ear). On the main screen tap the "i" at the top and then select "Settings". There you will find the option for the "Proximity lock". Then the screen will turn off while the phone is in your pocket or if you put something close to the proximity sensor (typically at the top of the screen) while phyphox can still continue to measure.