Galaxy S3, S4 phone to find Elevation, Barometeric Pressure

[KR1]

A lot of us Galaxy S3 and S4 owners are carrying around a device that has far more capability than we realize or fully utilize.
Here's a quick and simple method to get both elevation and barometric pressure data in real time from your phone. This may work on other Samsung cell phones as well.

Screen 1

Got to your phone dialer and type in *#0*#

Screen 2

On the next screen select "Sensor".

Screen 3

And here is your new altimeter and barometer If the numbers appear at the bottom of the screen, which block the lower 1/3, simply hit the back button (bottom right corner) one time.

To get out of sensor mode hit the back button 2 times which will bring you back to screen 2, hit back 2 more times to return to your dialer.


I hope you found this brief hack tutorial helpful.

Tony

 

[woogie_man]

Doesn't work with the S4.

 

[KR1]

I don't know what the problem is....it has worked on both my S3 and S4 using multiple different android versions/roms.
Here's a short video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjf_oGpH-wA

 

[Facemelter]

Thank you for this. It works great.

 

[BALLISTIC]

Doesn't work on my Note II...

 

[bullseye13]

Doesnt work on my S4 either. You can get it on a free app as well as a thermometer. The S4 is capable of measuring temprature as well. I dont think the S3 can.

 

[steve123]

Admittedly a techno fluncky here but how do I get to screen 2 and 3?

I swept up - down - left and right, tried the send button and tried the function button or menu key - whatever it is, at the low left side of the screen.

 

[KR1]

Hi Steve,
If it will work for your specific phone all you do is type *#0*# and the phone will go into screen 2 on it's own.

Admittedly a techno fluncky here but how do I get to screen 2 and 3?

I swept up - down - left and right, tried the send button and tried the function button or menu key - whatever it is, at the low left side of the screen.

It seems as though it's hit or miss if this will work for different phones. I'm guessing it's been locked down by different carriers. My Sprint S3 and S4 both work using this method as do all me friends with Sprint.

 

[steve123]

Hi Steve,
If it will work for your specific phone all you do is type *#0*# and the phone will go into screen 2 on it's own.

It seems as though it's hit or miss if this will work for different phones. I'm guessing it's been locked down by different carriers. My Sprint S3 and S4 both work using this method as do all me friends with Sprint.

Oh okay, I've got Verizon so maybe that's why it doesn't work.

I saw the video and figured I might have something turned off that needed to be on to get 2 and 3 up. Knowing my luck I'd screw up my new phone and have to bring down to the store so they could get me up and running again, LOL.

 

[EL34]

Doesn't work on my Verizon SIII either.

ETA: There are some apps like Sypressure that use the phones sensor for Baro, rather than METAR from weather stations.

 

[Easy_E]

What did you put in for sea level pressure ?

 

[downhill]

Works on my S4 Active. A little spooky- my computer kung fu isn't that great!

 

[Exo]

dang it...VZW S3 here and its a no go...

Im not an expert on this phone stuff, but i have Strelok+ and i can go in there and tell it to use local pressure/altitude via gps and it pulls it in automatically. possibly the S3 is capable of this but getting to the settings are off limits????

 

[SPEAK338]

Works on T mob S4

 

[Facemelter]

I had my buddy try his verizon S3. NO GO. My S3 works and im on sprint. Works on my wifes S2 also.

 

[Belisarius]

cool

 

[cmh2007]

Thanks, you can also get barometer apps too

 

[dummos]

Verizon versions are an actual different model phone than nearly all other samsungs

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[SCUBA Steve]

It worked on my S4, thanks for the info. Beats the crap out of trying to google it. .

 

[EL34]

Just updated the software on my Verizon Galaxy SIII to 4.3, was hopeing maybe it would unlock this feature, alas no.

 

[KR1]

It looks like the Verizon Samsungs are locked down for this feature.

Just updated the software on my Verizon Galaxy SIII to 4.3, was hopeing maybe it would unlock this feature, alas no.

 

[Exo]

It looks like the Verizon Samsungs are locked down for this feature.

I've got a phone geek friend looking into this. His wife has a VZW S3. He said, some features on VZW's network (like this) are actually pretty easy to unlock without the use of outside software. Hes going to try and crack into it, I will report back with his findings.

 

[DCR]

Apparently the Droid Razr has a barometer sensor as well. I just downloaded an app to get the reading though. Now where's a usb wind meter?

 

[MikeInUtah]

I have an S3 from At&t and it doesn't display the barometric sensor in the sensors screen.

 

[JWV]

I just use weather station. It is a free app on the play store.

 

[superde]

My altitude is giving a negative number. Hmmmm...

 

[Ben Dover]

Does not work on my sprint s2.... but its about time for a new rig once this one kicks the bucket....

 

[KR1]

Sounds like Hell

My altitude is giving a negative number. Hmmmm...

 

[105gr]

UN. FRIKKIN. BELIEVABLE. dude this is sweet. I have the Note3 on sprint. How do I change the units from hPa to in/hg?

 

[105gr]

Wait a sec....If my fone has a thermometer, hygrometer, barometer, altimeter, and a coffee meter, what do I need a Kestrel for? If I use Strelok in my fone and input everything all I have to do is get the wind guess right?

 

[deadnbrkn84]

Wait a sec....If my fone has a thermometer, hygrometer, barometer, altimeter, and a coffee meter, what do I need a Kestrel for? If I use Strelok in my fone and input everything all I have to do is get the wind guess right?

Phone not fone

 

[105gr]

really?

 

[inverse_square]

Here's my notes for my vzw gs3.

E=mc ^2 +/-3db

 

[msmith64]

There is also a free app in the play store called ambient temperature it does temp, pressure and humidity all at once using the phones sensors

 

[Cephalotus]

Works on my Sprint Note III, cool hack.

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

 

[areskslan]

Only question then becomes... How accurate is the information you're being displayed? It is a phone after all, not a weather station.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[105gr]

if it has a pressure sensor it has a pressure sensor.....but all jokes aside I checked the absolute reading I got with the altitude corrected local weather stuff then UNcorrected their stuff and the fone was right

 

[Boogie]

Here's my notes for my vzw gs3.

E=mc ^2 +/-3db

how do you enter this sequence of numbers? I've tried a couple of different ways and no go

 

[105gr]

on the phone dialer number pad....*#0*#

 

[Guest]

Works on my Sprint S4. Thanks!

 

[Cornholeo]

I will have to check this out on my A&E S4 when I get off from work, thanks!

 

[inverse_square]

how do you enter this sequence of numbers? I've tried a couple of different ways and no go

Use the dialer pad. The second set of numbers is what works for my phone.
After entering them in, a screen should pop up, with the option to enable, or disable the hidden menu.
Enable it.
it should take you to the dialer pad again, and then you can enter *#0*#, which will bring up the test mode.

 

[Marker]

I've got a phone geek friend looking into this. His wife has a VZW S3. He said, some features on VZW's network (like this) are actually pretty easy to unlock without the use of outside software. He's going to try and crack into it, I will report back with his findings.

Verizon phones work just fine. I just set up my Galaxy S4 to access the hidden menus.

Unfortunately, you need to set up root access and modify a hidden file on the phone - you will need a USB cable to connect your phone to your computer to do this. Here's the general process, but please DO NOTtry this if you are not very familiar with these types of operations since you can brick your phone if you don't do everything right, and I don't know enough to help you if this happens.

First enable "Developer Mode" on the phone by launching the Settings app (looks like a gear when you swipe down from the top edge), and tap on “About phone”. Inside the “About Phone” section is a list item labeled “Build Number”. Tap on that selection 7 distinct times in a row. You should see a message that Developer Mode is enabled. You will now have a new Developer Mode menu option in the settings. DO NOT change any of the settings in this new menu unless you know what you are doing.

Second set up "root" access to your phone (directions and software can be found here: [ROOT] Saferoot: Root for VRUEMJ7, MK2, and Android 4.3 - xda-developers). As far as I can tell, this software is virus free, but there are no guarantees with this, and again, DO NOT do this if you don't know exactly what you are doing since you can ruin your phone.

Next, download and install an app like "Root Explorer" (costs $3.99 on Amazon app store).

Finally, run the Root Explorer program and scroll through the files in the root directory to find and change (using text editor option) the contents of the "/efs/carrier/HiddenMenu" file from "OFF" to "ON" (make sure to use capitol letters). Once that is done, all you need to do is to enter the *#0*# code to access the hidden menu shown in KR1's original post.

Good luck, and one more time, please DO NOT do this if you don't know exactly what you are doing.

 

[ashiha]

Just get "Sensitive Altimeter" by Ivan Gorinov.