Hinginator Support

Hinginator is made by one person, and I read every message. Check the common questions below, or send me a message with which iPhone you're on and what you expected to happen.

Getting started

• Open the Shortcuts app, create a shortcut, and search for Hinginator's actions.
• Get Hinge Angle returns a number in degrees on a phone that folds. 0° is closed.
• Get Hinge Status returns Closed, Partially Open or Fully Open, which you can test with an If action.
• Get Tilt Angle works on every iPhone and iPad and returns how far the device is tilted, from the motion sensors. 0° is flat face up, 90° is upright, 180° is face down.
• Get Tilt Status returns Flat, Tilted, Upright or Face Down.
• Open Hinginator itself to watch the live hinge and tilt angles as you fold or tilt the device.

Common questions

• Hinginator opens for a moment when my shortcut runs. iOS only reports the hinge to an app that is on screen, and the motion sensors only run while the app is open, so each action opens Hinginator for a moment to take a fresh reading. With Return to Shortcuts left on in the action, you're sent straight back.
• My iPhone or iPad always reads 180° and Fully Open for the hinge. Only iPhone Duo has a hinge to measure. A device that doesn't fold is treated as a single flat screen, so the hinge actions return 180° and Fully Open there and your shortcuts behave the same on every device. Use the tilt actions for a reading that changes on any device.
• What does the tilt angle measure? The angle between the screen and the ground, from the accelerometer. Lying flat face up is 0°, standing upright is 90°, lying face down is 180°. It doesn't depend on which way the device is turned, only on how far it is lifted from flat.
• The action says the hinge or the motion sensors couldn't be read. Bring Hinginator back on screen for a moment and run the shortcut again.
• The angle is a few degrees off. Apple reports the hinge to roughly five degrees of accuracy. If you only need to know whether the phone is open, use Get Hinge Status instead.
• I don't want to land in Shortcuts afterwards. Turn off Return to Shortcuts in the action. That is handy for automations and the Action Button.

Privacy

Hinginator collects nothing and has no servers. Read the privacy policy.