Proximity Sensor Test: Check Your Phone

Can a browser read the proximity sensor?

Almost never, and this page says so plainly rather than show a fake reading. The proximity sensor is the small infrared sensor near the earpiece that tells your phone when it is against your ear, so the screen can switch off during a call. Phone apps can read it freely. Websites cannot in Chrome, Safari or Edge, because the browser makers have not switched on the web proximity API. Older versions of Firefox for Android exposed it, then removed it.

Press Start test anyway. If your browser does expose the sensor, the reading switches between Near and Far as you cover and uncover the top of the screen, and on some devices you also see the distance in centimetres. If nothing arrives within three seconds, the page reports that the sensor is not available to websites. That says nothing about whether the sensor itself works: for that, use the checks below.

How to test your proximity sensor properly

The call test. Call a number that will not answer straight away, such as your own voicemail. Once the call starts, cover the top of the screen with your palm. The screen should go black within a second. Take your hand away and it should come back. If the screen stays on, the sensor is not seeing your hand. If it goes black and stays black, the sensor thinks something is always in front of it.

Samsung phones. Open the phone dialler and type *#0*# to open the hidden test menu, then tap Sensor. Cover the top of the screen and the proximity box turns green and the phone vibrates. Some carriers disable this menu.

Other Android phones. Many brands have a hardware test under Settings, often in Support, About phone or a diagnostics app. Xiaomi phones use *#*#6484#*#*. Free sensor test apps from the Play Store also show the raw proximity reading.

iPhone. There is no test menu. Use the call test, or open Voice Memos, start recording and hold the phone to your ear: the screen should dim.

Screen stays on during calls

• Clean the sensor area at the top of the screen. Make-up, grease and dust are the most common cause.
• Check the screen protector. Thick or tinted glass protectors, and ones with a dark border, cover the sensor. Many phones now hide the sensor under the display, where some protectors block it.
• Remove the case if it has a lip over the top edge.
• Restart the phone to reset a sensor driver that has stopped responding.
• Calibrate if your phone offers it in the test menu or settings.

Screen turns off by itself

If your screen blacks out during calls even when nothing is near it, the sensor reads Near all the time. Again, clean the glass and remove the protector first. Cracks near the earpiece can bounce infrared light back into the sensor. After a screen replacement, a missing sensor gasket or the wrong adhesive can cause the same fault, and the repair shop should fix it.

What else uses the proximity sensor?

Pocket mode, which stops accidental touches when the phone is in a pocket, raise to wake and some gesture features all use it. A faulty sensor can drain the battery if the screen keeps waking up in your pocket.