---
title: Sensors
description: A library that provides access to a device's accelerometer, barometer, motion, gyroscope, light, magnetometer, and pedometer.
sourceCodeUrl: 'https://github.com/expo/expo/tree/main/packages/expo-sensors'
packageName: 'expo-sensors'
iconUrl: '/static/images/packages/expo-sensors.png'
platforms: ['android', 'ios', 'web', 'expo-go']
---

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# Expo Sensors

A library that provides access to a device's accelerometer, barometer, motion, gyroscope, light, magnetometer, and pedometer.
Android, iOS, Web, Included in Expo Go

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). Use this file to discover all available pages.

`expo-sensors` provide various APIs for accessing device sensors to measure motion, orientation, pressure, magnetic fields, ambient light, and step count.

## Installation

```sh
npx expo install expo-sensors
```

If you are installing this in an [existing React Native app](/bare/overview), make sure to [install `expo`](/bare/installing-expo-modules) in your project.

## Configuration in app config

You can configure `expo-sensors` using its built-in [config plugin](/config-plugins/introduction) if you use config plugins in your project ([Continuous Native Generation (CNG)](/workflow/continuous-native-generation)). The plugin allows you to configure various properties that cannot be set at runtime and require building a new app binary to take effect. If your app does **not** use CNG, then you'll need to manually configure the library.

### Example app.json with config plugin

```json
{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      [
        "expo-sensors",
        {
          "motionPermission": "Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your device motion"
        }
      ]
    ]
  }
}
```

### Configurable properties

| Name | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `motionPermission` | `"Allow $(PRODUCT_NAME) to access your device motion"` | Only for: iOS. A string to set the [`NSMotionUsageDescription`](#permission-nsmotionusagedescription) permission message or `false` to disable motion permissions. |

## API

```js
import * as Sensors from 'expo-sensors';
// OR
import {
  Accelerometer,
  Barometer,
  DeviceMotion,
  Gyroscope,
  LightSensor,
  Magnetometer,
  MagnetometerUncalibrated,
  Pedometer,
} from 'expo-sensors';
```

## Permissions

### Android

Starting in Android 12 (API level 31), the system has a 200Hz limit for each sensor updates.

If you need an update interval greater than 200Hz, you must add the following permissions to your **app.json** inside the [`expo.android.permissions`](/versions/latest/config/app#permissions) array.

| Android Permission | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `HIGH_SAMPLING_RATE_SENSORS` | Allows an app to access sensor data with a sampling rate greater than 200 Hz. |

Are you using this library in an existing React Native app?

If you're not using Continuous Native Generation ([CNG](/workflow/continuous-native-generation)) or you're using native **android** project manually, add `HIGH_SAMPLING_RATE_SENSORS` permission to your project's **android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml**:

```xml
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.HIGH_SAMPLING_RATE_SENSORS" />
```

### iOS

The following usage description keys are used by this library:

| Info.plist Key | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `NSMotionUsageDescription` | A message that tells the user why the app is requesting access to the device’s motion data. |

## Available sensors

For more information, see the documentation for the sensor you are interested in:

[Accelerometer](/versions/latest/sdk/accelerometer) — Measures device acceleration on all platforms.

[Barometer](/versions/latest/sdk/barometer) — Measures pressure on Android and iOS platforms.

[DeviceMotion](/versions/latest/sdk/devicemotion) — Measures device motion on all platforms.

[Gyroscope](/versions/latest/sdk/gyroscope) — Measures device rotation on all platforms.

[Magnetometer](/versions/latest/sdk/magnetometer) — Measures magnetic fields on Android and iOS platforms.

[LightSensor](/versions/latest/sdk/light-sensor) — Measures ambient light on Android platform.

[Pedometer](/versions/latest/sdk/pedometer) — Measures steps count on Android and iOS platforms.