This free gyroscope test shows a live aviation-style artificial horizon and compass that move with your actual device, plus precise pitch, roll, and yaw readings. No download, no app.
RUNS ENTIRELY IN YOUR BROWSER · NOTHING ABOUT YOUR MOVEMENT IS RECORDED OR SENT ANYWHERE
Last updated: · Reviewed for accuracy against current browser APIs
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Tap "Start test" on your phone or tablet to begin.
A gyroscope test needs real motion sensor hardware, which desktop computers don't have.
Tap "Start test."
On iPhone, you'll see a permission prompt — tap Allow. Android usually starts immediately.
Tilt your phone forward and back.
Watch the Beta reading and the 3D phone change, and the front/back tilt track your movement.
Tilt your phone left and right.
Watch the Gamma reading and the phone's tilt respond to the motion.
Rotate your phone flat on a table.
Watch the compass needle and Alpha reading turn to follow your phone's heading.
Tap Calibrate if you want a new zero point.
Useful if you want to use your current position as level, like a spirit level tool.
Who tests a gyroscope, and why
Buyers checking a second-hand phone run this before handing over payment, since a failed gyroscope is easy to miss in a quick store demo but shows up immediately here — screen rotation, gaming controls, and AR apps all quietly depend on it working. People troubleshooting a phone whose screen has stopped auto-rotating use this to confirm whether the sensor itself or just a software setting is at fault. App and game developers use it during testing to confirm motion controls respond correctly across different devices before shipping. And plenty of people use it as an improvised spirit level, using Calibrate to zero out a surface and then checking how far it drifts from level.
Understanding pitch, roll, and yaw
A gyroscope measures how a device rotates around its own three axes, while its centre stays roughly in one place — picture spinning a phone in your hands without moving it across the table. The three readings correspond to three different kinds of rotation:
Reading
Also called
Range
What moves it
Alpha
Yaw / compass heading
0° to 360°
Spinning the phone flat, like a compass needle turning
Beta
Pitch
-180° to 180°
Tilting the top of the phone toward or away from you
Gamma
Roll
-90° to 90°
Tilting the phone left or right, like a steering wheel
The artificial horizon above handles roll with genuine, accurate rotation — no distortion there. Pitch is shown as a vertical shift of the horizon line rather than true 3D depth, which is the standard convention flight instruments themselves use, so it stays intuitive even though it's a simplification rather than a literal 3D render. The numbers are always the reliable part regardless: if Beta and Gamma change smoothly and in the direction you'd expect as you tilt, your gyroscope is working correctly.
Gyroscope vs. accelerometer
These two sensors are easy to mix up because phones almost always use them together, but they measure genuinely different things. A gyroscope senses rotation — how a device is turning around itself, which is exactly what this page reads. An accelerometer senses movement and force — whether a device is being shaken, tilted under gravity, dropped, or carried, measuring acceleration along each axis rather than rotation.
In practice, your phone blends data from both (often alongside a magnetometer for true compass direction) to produce smooth, reliable orientation tracking for things like screen rotation and games. If you specifically want to test movement and force sensing rather than rotation, that's a job for our Accelerometer Test instead.
Gyroscope problems at a glance
Symptom
Likely cause
Quick fix
Nothing happens after tapping Start
No gyroscope hardware, or permission blocked
Confirm you're on a phone/tablet; check site permissions
iPhone shows a permission prompt every time
Normal iOS 13+ behaviour for motion sensor access
Tap Allow each time, or check Settings if it's not appearing at all
Readings are frozen or stuck
Sensor fault, or the browser lost focus
Reload the page and keep it in the foreground while testing
Screen auto-rotate doesn't work but this test does
A software/OS setting, not the sensor itself
Check your phone's auto-rotate toggle in quick settings
Readings drift slowly over time
Normal sensor drift, common on all gyroscopes
Use Calibrate to reset your zero point periodically
Real-world uses for a phone's gyroscope
Screen auto-rotate is the most obvious everyday use — the moment you turn your phone sideways, the gyroscope (working with the accelerometer) tells the OS to flip the display before you've even finished the turn. Gaming leans on it heavily too: tilt-steering in racing games, motion aiming in shooters, and full head-tracking in mobile VR all read gyroscope data dozens of times a second to feel responsive rather than laggy.
Augmented reality apps depend on it just as much, blending gyroscope and camera data so a virtual object convincingly stays anchored in place as you move your phone around it. Camera apps use it too, for electronic image stabilization that corrects for small hand shake in photos and video. And on the more playful end, it's exactly what makes a phone usable as an improvised spirit level or a digital compass when you don't have the real tools on hand.
Why iPhone asks for motion permission
Since iOS 13, Apple requires every website to get an explicit, separate tap of consent before it can read motion or orientation data — a privacy protection, since this kind of sensor data can otherwise be used to fingerprint a device or infer things like typing patterns. That's why tapping "Start test" on an iPhone triggers a system permission prompt that doesn't appear on Android, which doesn't have the same requirement. If you don't see a prompt at all on iPhone, check that motion & orientation access hasn't been globally disabled in Settings → Safari.
Frequently asked questions
How do I test my phone's gyroscope?
Open this page on your phone or tablet, tap Start test, and tilt your device. The 3D phone and the compass needle should move to match your motion in real time.
Why doesn't this work on my computer?
Desktop and laptop computers almost never have a gyroscope. This test needs real motion sensor hardware, which is only found in phones, tablets, and a few specialty devices.
Why does my iPhone ask for permission?
Since iOS 13, Apple requires an explicit tap to grant any website access to motion sensors, for privacy reasons. Android generally doesn't require this extra step.
What do Alpha, Beta, and Gamma mean?
Alpha is compass heading, rotation around the vertical axis from 0° to 360°. Beta is front-to-back tilt, from -180° to 180°. Gamma is left-to-right tilt, from -90° to 90°.
What's the difference between a gyroscope and an accelerometer?
A gyroscope senses rotation — how your device is turning around itself. An accelerometer senses movement and force — whether your device is being shaken, dropped, or moved through space. Many phone features use both together.
What is the artificial horizon showing?
It's the same style of instrument pilots use to judge an aircraft's pitch and roll without looking outside — the horizon line tilts and shifts to match your device's orientation. Roll (Gamma) is shown as true rotation; pitch (Beta) shifts the horizon up or down, the same simplification real flight instruments use.
What does Calibrate do?
Calibrate sets your device's current position as the new zero point, which is useful if you want to use your phone as a simple spirit level from whatever position you're currently holding it in.
Why would I need to test my gyroscope?
Common reasons include checking a phone before buying it second-hand, diagnosing why screen auto-rotate has stopped working, verifying a phone is ready for an AR app or motion-controlled game, or confirming sensor function after a repair.
Is this test free and does it record anything?
Yes, it's completely free and runs entirely in your browser. Nothing about your device's orientation or movement is recorded, uploaded, or stored.
More tools on ProDeviceTest
Troubleshooting a whole device rather than just the gyroscope? These run the same way — instant, no download, right in your browser.
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