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Now, imagine if you could unlock the device's scientific capability by accessing those sensors. By installing a single app, you would have access to the phone's sensors for things like acceleration, acoustics, color and luminance, speed, mechanics, timers, inclination, and magnetism.

Well, developers at Aachen University have done just that and created the open-source Android app, Phyphox (short for "physical phone experiments"). This free app can read information from your phone's accelerometer, gyroscope, microphone, magnetometer, light sensor, and GPS.

If your phone has a barometer, the app can access that capability as well. The app can read data in real time, analyze it, and even export the data to a file.