Survey reveals the toolbox item your phone is most likely to replace

As a childhood Trekkie, Captain Picard’s tricorder was second only to the holodeck as the technology I hoped to have when I grew up. Well, we’re basically there, and then some. Your smartphone might not be able to take vital signs in as much detail as the hallowed Starfleet tool, but then I don’t remember Geordi La Forge listening to Spotify or booking a hotel on the tricorder. But amazing as our devices already appear, you might not even realize all the tools your phone’s sensors can replace. After we laid some of them out, we were keen to find out which one you might actually consider using.

We recently looked at five examples of what your phone’s sensors can do, including using the device as a tape measure, a metal detector, a spirit level, or a sound/light meter. The fifth was a thermometer, but since it’s a Pixel-exclusive tool that’s been ditched on the Pixel 11, we left it out when we asked in a poll which of the other four jobs you’d actually use your phone for.

Thousands of you piled into the poll, and one use was the clear winner. Let’s take a look at the results.

With 53% and almost 3,000 votes, the majority of you said you might actually use your phone sensors as a tape measure. That option was way out ahead of using your phone as a metal detector, which garnered 27% of the vote. The spirit level and sound/light meter shared the rest, although, in fairness, maybe we should have included an ‘all of the above’ option, since each function has its time and place.

As we did make you nail your colors to the mast, it’s not hard to imagine why the vote share fell the way it did. There’s a huge swath of the population that rarely needs a tape measure, and then rue the lack of one when it’s needed. Being in the process of finding a new apartment and wondering how much furniture I can fit in the back of my car, I’m among them.

Using your phone as a metal detector may have come in second for practical reasons, but perhaps the element of fun and discovery played a part in boosting that option. However, as we outlined in our article, it isn’t the most effective replacement for the actual tool — you might struggle to use it to find buried treasure on a desert island. And most people who have more than fleeting use for either a spirit level or a sound/light meter almost certainly own the bona fide equipment.

In the comments section of our article, reader Justin Wilhelm said, “I use my Pixel as a thermometer fairly often,” and that’s no surprise to us. A poll we ran at the end of last year confirmed that thousands of you were using the Pixel thermometer for everything from measuring body temperature to checking your food was hot or cold enough. The former is closer to my Star Trek tricorder analogy, but I don’t hold out hope that Google will be launching a teleporter or a phaser any time soon.