Using Sensors and Components in App Inventor and Thunkable

Coding 11

Using multiple sensors or components is one part of earning maximum points in the "Code Complexity" line of Technical section in the judging rubric. It can also help with "App Function", "User Experience and Design", and "Technical Learning".

In this lesson, you will…

Review different components you can use in App Inventor or Thunkable
Choose one sensor or component to add to your app
Research a tutorial and code at least one sensor or component into your app

Key Terms

Media Components - Examples of media components are photographs, audio, and video.
Sensors - Different types of devices installed on a phone that gathers data for various purposes
Social Components - These are features that enable users to make phone calls, send emails, text and share things through your app.
Connectivity Components - These allow your app to interact with places outside of your app, like the web and other apps.

Translations of this Lesson

Learn

Sensors and Components

Activity

Learning to Use Sensors

Reflection

Searching for Resources

Sensors and Components
Activity: Learning to use your sensors and components
Reflect: Searching for Resources

Smartphone Sensors and Components

Now it’s your turn to choose and code the sensors or components you want your app to use. Sensors and components will allow your app to do many different things - be sure to choose the one that’s right for you!

This lesson is a reference for you to learn about what phone sensors you can use in App Inventor or Thunkable. You don’t need all of the sensors listed, but you should look for ones that will help you build your app.

Here are some important components mobile phones have:

Component	What it does
Camera, speaker, microphone	Allow you to take pictures, videos, record sounds
GPS	Shows the location of the phone
Storage on a phone	Allows you to store preferences, images, and sounds
Connectivity to the web	Allows you to connect the phone to information on the web
Accelerometer, gyroscope	Shows how fast the phone is moving
Phone calls, text messages, contacts lists	Allows you to make phone calls, send text messages, and connect to people

Media Components

If your app needs features related to things like photographs, audio, and video, these components will be very helpful for you.

See a list of media components here

Component	Description	App Inventor	Thunkable
Camcorder	This component allows the user to take videos. You can use it for social apps, video sharing apps, or anytime else that you would want your user to record a video.	x
Camera	This component allows the user to take pictures. This can be useful for apps that allow users to set profile pictures or take pictures of.	x	x
ImagePicker / Photo Library	This allows the user to pick an image from their photo library. It’s a good idea to include this feature if you plan to use the Camcorder or Camera component. It will allow users to pick photos that they have taken outside of using your app.	x	x
Image Recognizer	The image recognizer lets you take a picture and returns a one-line description for what’s happening in the picture you took.		x
Video Player	Allows you to embed a video into the app that the user can click on. The video must be a .wmv, .3gp or .mp4 and t bigger than 1MB.	x	x
YandexTranslate	This allows you to translate text into another language. It requires that your app have internet access since it relies on Yandex translation service.	x	x
Sound Recorder	This allows a user to record a sound or noise.	x
Player	This audio component plays a sound. This works best for “long” sounds, such as songs, speeches, or poems.	x	x
Sound	This component is very similar to the Player component, but is best for short sounds, like notification “dings”.	x	x
Speech Recognizer	This translates the user’s speech into text. This is especially useful for apps that require hands-free capabilities.	x	x
Text to Speech	This does the reverse ofSpeechRecorder, it allows users can enter text and the app will read it out loud.	x	x

Sensors

If your app needs to gather information about the world around it or the user, here are some sensors that App Inventor and Thunkable can access.

See a list of sensors here

Component	Description	App Inventor	Thunkable
Accelerometer Sensor	This component can determine if the phone is shaking and if it’s being held upright or upside-down. This capability is very useful when you want the screen to reorient in response to how the phone is being held, or if you want the app to react to shaking.	x	x
Pedometer	This sensor uses the accelerometer sensor to measure how many steps the user holding the phone takes, and can also estimate distance traveled.	x
Gyroscope	This component can sense if the phone is being tilted. It is more precise than the accelerometer and can measure how much the orientation of the phone has changed.	x	x
Magnetometer	The magnetometer is used to measure magnetic flux density. Not all phones support this capability.		x
Clock	This allows your app to get the current time or use a timer. This component can be useful for setting a timed alarm, using a timer or knowing when it is daytime or nighttime.	x	x
Location Sensor	This sensor collects the latitude and longitude of the phone’s location. This sensor can be useful anytime you need to search for businesses or points of interest near the user.	x	x
Proximity Sensor	This sensor can tell if the phone is being held up to a person’s face or t. However, not all phones can support this capability.	x

Social Components

If you need your app to make phone calls, send emails, text and share certain types of information, these social components may be helpful.

See a list of social components here

Component	Description	App Inventor	Thunkable
ContactPicker	This displays the user’s contacts and allows users to choose someone from that list.	x
EmailPicker	This component allows the user to input an email address. In Thunkable, this is accessed through the share component.	x	x
PhoneNumberPicker	This component allows the user to pick a phone number from a contact list, such as friends or family. In Thunkable, this is accessed through the share component.	x	x
PhoneCall	This enables the user to make a phone call from your app. In Thunkable, this is accessed through the share component.	x	x
Texting	This component allows the user to send a text message to another user’s phone through your app. In Thunkable, this is accessed through the share component.	x	x
Sharing	This allows users to share messages, images, or other content in your app with other apps on the user’s phone.	x	x
Twitter	This component allows communication between your app and Twitter. Users can search for tweets, send and receive messages, get a list of followers, and more.	x
Ads	Thunkable allows you to add ads to your app. All apps must be first approved by Thunkable before they can be downloaded or published. Please read the docs for more information.		x

Connectivity Components

These allow your app to interact with places outside of your app, like the web and other apps.

See a list of connectivity components here

Component	Description	App Inventor	Thunkable
ActivityStarter	This allows your app to start up other apps installed on the user’s phone. These apps can be apps that were created in App Inventor or apps that weren’t. They can also be apps like Camera and Maps that are pre-installed on the device.	x
Maps	This allows you to use embed a map into your app.	x	x
Web	This component enables your app to get information from websites. It allows you to get information and use it without having a web browser in your app.	x	x
Bluetooth Client and Server	These components enable your app to enable connection with Bluetooth.	x	x

Activity: Learn how to use your sensors and components

For this activity, you will choose at least one sensor or component to use in your app. One of the best skills you can learn as a programmer is how to find resources to help you when you are stuck or need to learn how to use something. For this activity, you will find your own tutorial or video to learn from.

Here are some good places to start looking for tutorials or instructions:

You should start by searching online. Make sure to use keywords that include the name of your component, such as “Proximity Sensor App Inventor” or “Google Maps Thunkable”
Search for videos on YouTube. Make sure to use keywords just like an online search.

App Inventor

Try using MIT’s Component Reference and find your component
MIT has an entire page of App Inventor Tutorials, you can even search by which component you want to use in the tutorial

Thunkable

Thunkable has lots of tutorial videos on their Youtube channel
Thunkable has a help section on Thunkable Docs

Reflection

This lesson is a reference for all of the components you can use in App Inventor and Thunkable. You did the hard work of finding a tutorial or video to learn how to use your component.

How did you find the tutorial or information you needed for the activity?
How will you use your work from this lesson in your app?

What are some other areas of your life you can use this “find your own tutorial” skill?

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