Does Your Phone Have a Built-in Temperature Sensor?

Last Updated: March 18, 2025

Wondering if your smartphone can measure room temperature? While most modern phones contain temperature sensors, they’re primarily designed to monitor internal components rather than environmental temperatures. Let’s explore which phones actually have thermometers and how they work.

Nearly all smartphones today contain multiple temperature sensors, but they serve a very specific purpose. These internal thermosensors are designed to monitor critical components like:

• Battery temperature
• CPU temperature
• Other internal hardware components

These sensors play a crucial safety role, preventing your device from overheating and potentially suffering damage during normal operation.

Despite containing temperature sensors, most smartphones face several technical challenges that prevent accurate ambient temperature measurement:

Technical Challenges

1. 1

   Heat Interference: Smartphones constantly generate heat during operation, making it difficult to isolate ambient temperature from device-generated heat.
2. 2

   Sensor Placement: For accurate readings, sensors would need to be positioned on the device’s exterior without being affected by internal heat.
3. 3

   Design Constraints: External sensors would compromise device aesthetics or require placement in areas that already function as heat radiators.

⚠️ Important Note

Many apps claim to measure ambient temperature using your phone, but without a dedicated environmental sensor, these readings are usually highly inaccurate. Apps cannot add sensing capabilities your phone doesn’t physically have.

Past Models

A small number of phones have included environmental temperature sensors over the years:

• Samsung Galaxy S4 (2013)
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (2013)
• Select Motorola models

Recent Models

The most notable recent phone with a temperature sensor is:

• Google Pixel 8 Pro (2023): Features an infrared temperature sensor located next to the rear camera. It can measure the temperature of various materials and liquids.

Note that the standard Google Pixel 8 does not include this temperature sensor.

“Even in phones that include environmental temperature sensors, accuracy remains a significant challenge due to the device’s own heat generation and the impact of user handling.”

Even phones with dedicated ambient temperature sensors face several challenges that affect reading accuracy:

Accuracy Challenges

These challenges explain why even phones with built-in environmental sensors required specific conditions for accurate readings:

• Allowing the phone to cool down completely
• Not holding the device in hand (to prevent body heat interference)
• Placing the phone in a stable environment

If you need temperature measurement capabilities with your smartphone, consider these alternatives:

Research is ongoing to improve temperature sensing in mobile devices. For example:

• Researchers are developing physics-based models to predict ambient air temperature using battery temperature sensors
• These models account for various warming and cooling scenarios to improve accuracy

The inclusion of the temperature sensor in the Google Pixel 8 Pro may signal renewed interest in this feature, particularly as health and wellness monitoring becomes increasingly important to consumers.

Summary

While virtually all smartphones contain internal temperature sensors to monitor and protect critical components, very few devices are capable of accurately measuring ambient temperature. Technical challenges like heat interference, sensor placement issues, and design constraints have limited widespread adoption of environmental temperature sensors in phones.

Currently, the Google Pixel 8 Pro stands out as one of the few recent smartphones with a dedicated temperature sensor, though even this implementation has limitations. For those who need reliable temperature measurements, external sensors or dedicated devices remain the best option.

As technology evolves and health monitoring features become more prominent in mobile devices, we may see more smartphones incorporating improved environmental temperature sensing capabilities in the future.