What does the gyroscope measure?

Angular velocity — how fast the device is rotating around each axis, in degrees per second. Unlike the accelerometer (which measures linear acceleration including gravity), the gyroscope is gravity-independent and ideal for detecting rotation.

Why is my gyroscope reading near zero when the phone is still?

That's correct behaviour. A gyroscope reports zero rotation when stationary. If you see drift (small non-zero values when still), the chip needs OS-level calibration — restart the device and don't touch it for 30 seconds.

What rotation rate is normal for a phone?

Resting: 0–0.5°/s of noise. Casual tilt: 30–90°/s peak. Sharp flick: 300–800°/s peak. Pro consumer MEMS gyros saturate around 2000°/s — anything above that clips.

Does this work on a laptop?

Only on 2-in-1 convertibles with a real gyroscope chip (Surface, some Yoga / Spectre x360 models). Most laptops report no rotation rate.

Why does iOS ask for permission?

Apple gates motion data because precise timing patterns can be used as a microphone (the speaker vibration leaks into the gyro). The one-tap permission is the trade-off — once accepted, readings flow normally.

Can the gyroscope be used for VR / AR?

Yes — head and device pose tracking in WebXR uses the gyroscope as one input. The frame-by-frame rotation rate is integrated into orientation, fused with accelerometer for gravity correction.

Short answer

A gyroscope measures angular velocity — how fast your device rotates around each axis, in degrees per second. This page reads it live in your browser via the DeviceMotion API: rotate your phone and the yaw, pitch, and roll values update in real time. A healthy gyro sits near 0°/s when still and spikes to several hundred °/s on a quick flick.

Sensors / 02

Gyroscope.

Live rotation rate on every axis, in degrees per second. Rotate the device — yaw, pitch and roll fill in real time, and the peak hold tracks your fastest flick.

Notes

iOS requires explicit permission on the first tap. On laptops without a gyro chip, no samples will arrive.

Enable motion sensors

On iOS, tap below to grant motion access. Android and desktop start automatically.

Rotation rate · °/s

— Hz

α · yaw

—°/s

peak 0.0 °/s

β · pitch

—°/s

peak 0.0 °/s

γ · roll

—°/s

peak 0.0 °/s

Peak magnitude

0.0°/s

awaiting motion

Scale

Bars are clamped to ±400 °/s. The amber tick marks your peak hold per axis.

How it works

We subscribe to window.addEventListener("devicemotion", …) and read the rotationRate field live on every event — alpha (yaw), beta (pitch), gamma (roll), all in degrees per second.

DeviceMotion events fire at the OS sample rate (typically 60 Hz, sometimes up to 100 Hz). The sample-rate readout shows the live event frequency; the peak hold retains the maximum absolute rate seen on each axis since the last reset.

Accelerometer

Linear acceleration including gravity (~9.8 m/s² at rest).

Orientation

Alpha / beta / gamma in degrees (the integrated pose).

Spirit level

Bubble-level UI driven by the same fused sensor stack.

Motion sensors (overview)

Combined gyro + accel + orientation + light readout.