phyphox Forums - All Forums

Does the app support usb sensors?

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:46:57 +0000

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?

Accelerometer and gyroscope simultaneously?

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 22:45:19 +0000

Hello,
I'm a brand new user as of this afternoon. Apologies if this question has an obvious answer. I did do a search and didn't turn it up. I have the app working on an iphone and it's great. Is it possible to use two sensors simultaneously? I'd like to detect acceleration and orientation (with the gyroscope) simultaneously.

Thanks, and thanks to the phyphox team for making such a wonderful app widely available!

Few

Frequency Slider for Multi Tone Generator

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 07:52:46 +0000

In the simple tone generator there is a slider to change frequency.

It would be useful and fun if there was a slider for each tone in the multi generator.

"Mashing" smartphone GSP and Arduino sensor data

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 20:28:45 +0000

Hi,

not sure if this is the right subforum, please move if necessary.

I am trying to combine the data from an Arduino Uno R4 that has a dust sensor connected with GPS data from a smartphone. I fail with both possibilities:

1) Reading Arduino data in Phyphox
I cannot get the BLE handshake on phyphox working when creating own experiments with the editor. Bluetooth connection works, but then I get a "Write error on characteristics UUID cddf1002-...." error message. Tried tons on things and yes, PhyphoxBLE::poll() is called

TestValue

Happy if somebody has a hint, but I would prefer to get #2 working - just mentioning #1 in case #2 is not possible

2) Reading smartphone GSP data from Arduino
In the phyphoxBLE library I do not find any GPS / Location sensor

#define SENSOR_ACCELEROMETER "accelerometer"
#define SENSOR_ACCELEROMETER_WITHOUT_G "linear_acceleration"
#define SENSOR_GYROSCOPE "gyroscope"
#define SENSOR_MAGNETOMETER "magnetometer"
#define SENSOR_PRESSURE "pressure"
#define SENSOR_TEMPERATURE "temperature"
#define SENSOR_LIGHT "light"
#define SENSOR_HUMIDITY "humidity"
#define SENSOR_PROXIMITY "proximity"

Is it impossible to read GPS via phyphox library on the Arduino?

Cheers
B.

Light Frequency with ESP32 and Phyphox

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 16:28:11 +0000

I'm new to the forum, so greetings to everyone. I'm a high school teacher who has been using Phyphox and its ability to connect sensors via Bluetooth for some time, so I'm very grateful to Sebastian Staacks and his colleagues at RWTH Aachen University, and to everyone who contributes to the forum.

I'd like to share an experiment that might be of interest to students studying the altern current.
With a lot of help (I don't know how to program in XML), I managed to get the code to display the brightness variations of light bulbs in Phyphox as a result of being connected to a 50 Hz altern current. The attached screenshot shows the brightness variations and how the time between 10 peaks is 0.10 s, which corresponds to a frequency of 100 Hz, as expected.

I'm using a phototransistor (for example, the TEMT6000) and an ESP32 board that sends data via Bluetooth. I've attached the sketch for the ESP32 and the XML file for uploading to Phyphox.

luz_frecuencia_alta.phyphox (Size: 3.36 KB / Downloads: 28)

Luz_frcuencia_alta_phyphox_pantalla.jpg (Size: 212.71 KB / Downloads: 41)
sketch_luz_frecuencia_alta.zip (Size: 2.11 KB / Downloads: 26)

Camera GUI not allowing full exposure controls

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 21:04:56 +0000

After editing the experiment Camera -> Brightness (Luminance) the camera-GUI in the app only shows the simple controls no matter what value is defined in the parameter "exposureAdjustmentLevel".
When using the original experiment in the same app the full controls are shown.

Example:

Code:

Also the parameter "showControls" seems to have no effect when used.

This is true both for an iPhone11 (app version 1.2.0) and for a phone with android 16 (app version 1.2.0).

What could be the problem with my code (which was generated by the new editor)?

Helligkeit (Leuchtdichte)_0.2Hz.phyphox (Size: 12.35 KB / Downloads: 33)

Is there an Existing Program "Jogger GPS&POLAR"

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:06:19 +0000

Hi - I am on the search of a Program for Joggers that records the heart rate from Polar H10 E85C192F and adds the Standort (GPS) data. I guess that this exists? If yes, send me the QR Code? If no, how to realize this? My XML level is poor. I did not find a basic description (for real dummies) on how to realize the first "Program" . Thanks and let us know.

Error in PHYPhox Editor when generating '(In)elastic collision' experiment

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 22:36:30 +0000

I would like to report a possible issue in the phyphox webeditor.
When loading the experiment “(In)elastic collision” in the phyphox webeditor and then selecting “Generate”, the process appears to complete normally. However, when scanning the generated QR code with the phyphox app, the following error message is displayed:
“Line 498: Could not parse buffer with name”.
This behaviour seems to be reproducible and occurs consistently with this specific experiment. Could this be an issue related to the webeditor or to the experiment template itself?
Thank you very much for your support.

Best regards,
Albino Rafael

Recording sound/screen capture while measuring decibel levels

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 17:42:02 +0000

Iphone built in screen recording does not include ambient sound. For now i’ve had to film the phone with another phone next to a audio level meter used to calibrate to provide sound to the readings, this is a hazzle. I would love a feature where the decibel measurement was able to record a sound file simultaneously, or even better; that a screen recording included the sounds measured. Also, in expanded view the graph could show the number reading and calibration status, even in small type.

Thanx

exp_error when combining two premade experiments

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:12:15 +0000

hey all,

I'm trying to combine two experiments for a thesis on the block editor, namely "location (GPS)" and "Acceleration without g".

here's the link to the QR code and error message on my Reddit account since im not sure how to post an image here

https://www.reddit.com/u/AnBuachaillEire/s/yba2V08XrT

This is the line of code that's the problem:

Code:

Thanks awfully folks

Encountered a problem about functions and buffers

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:41:16 +0000

I am testing the button functionality.ESP32 sends datas to Phyphox continuously, I hope to add a dot to the graph every time I press the button.However,in my phyphox experiment, if I press the button,dots drawn before will be cleared,what's wrong with my experiment?
I'll be thankful if anybody can help me.

Hooke's Law.phyphox (Size: 1.77 KB / Downloads: 44)

RPM based on light or color?

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 21:15:54 +0000

I use the Camera Stopwatch Color to measure RPM of pulleys by placing a piece of blue tape on the pulley then measuring between 2 peaks inverting the time and multiplying by 60. It would be great if there was a way to automate this for realtime measurements.

Heart rate monitor

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 15:12:54 +0000

Hi,

I was wondering whether the newly integrated camera based sensors could be of use to improvise a heart rate monitor (similar to the google fit app).

Is there a means to set up a custom experiment using the camera? Currently I can't find it in the list of sensors when designing a simple experiment.

This would enable a data fusion of sensors, e.g. the IMU, to enhance the quality of the results.

Cheers,

Dirk

Screen Off for Long Term Experiments

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 15:38:23 +0000

I don't know if there is a workaround for this already or if it would be a new feature request.

I want to run a long term experiment, where I leave the android phone in one location, untouched, plugged in, collecting data for days (at low enough frequency to keep the data manageable). I'd like to not have the screen have to be constantly on for the entire time. I'm happy to use remote access to monitor it and download the data when complete, but right now, any time an experiment is running, regardless of whether it was started locally or remotely, it keeps the screen on. I can't start an experiment remotely if the screen is off. As soon as I turn the screen off manually (because it won't turn off on its own setting), the experiment stops collecting data.

It may be the case that this is an inherent limitation in Android, but I haven't seen anything in the forums clearly stating that it is.

Optical tachometer?

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 23:20:52 +0000

Is it possible to use fluctuations in the light sensor to measure the rate of a flashing light, or periodically masked light source?