How does a pedometer work in a cell phone? Easily explained

If you want to use a pedometer, you only need a current smartphone. We show you in this practical tip how the technology behind it works.

Pedometer on mobile phones: how does it work?

• The pedometers in the smartphone use the microelectromechanical system, or MEMS for short. It is a sensor that registers movements to the left, right and forwards. The same technology is also used for airbags.
• The respective movements can be interpreted in conjunction with suitable software. Since a step shows a different movement pattern than a jump or sitting on a chair, the steps can be distinguished from other movements quite well.
• With newer smartphones that have a MEMS sensor, the pedometer works relatively precisely. Older smartphones use the gyro sensor, which registers the tilting of the display during normal operation in order to switch to landscape mode. The steps can also be counted, but only extremely imprecisely.

In the next practical tip, we will show you the three best pedometer apps for your Android smartphone.