Angle Meter

The same angle, written the way each trade writes it

A digital inclinometer measures the direction of gravity and turns the result into an angle. Because a device at rest always knows which way is down, it can state the absolute tilt of any surface it is placed against, with no external reference. It is the same idea as a benchtop electronic angle finder, except the phone is already in your pocket. The part that similar tools usually lack is conversion. One angle is written half a dozen ways depending on who is speaking: an architect says the ramp is 8.33 %, an accessibility standard writes the same thing as 1:12, a roofer talks about a 4:12 pitch, and a joiner wants degrees to set the saw. This tool shows every form at once, so there is no mental arithmetic and no hunting for a conversion table. The two-face mode solves a practical problem a physical protractor handles badly: finding the angle between two surfaces that are far apart, or too large for one protractor to reach both at once. You place the device on the first, save it, place it on the second, and the difference appears. The mitre value is already halved, which is the angle each piece must be cut at for the two to meet.

Place, read, convert

1. Tap Start sensor and grant motion permission. Choose whether zero is horizontal (for fall and ramps) or vertical (for plumb).
2. Rest the edge or the back of the device on the surface and read the angle. If you cannot see the screen in that position, tap Lock before placing it.
3. For the angle between two surfaces, tap Save face on each one. The difference and the mitre cut appear below.

Sources and references for this tool

These references help contextualize formulas, standards, APIs and limitations used on this page. They do not replace professional validation when a result has legal, financial, medical or operational impact.

• Device Orientation and MotionW3C, Specification of motion events and the reference frame used to derive the angle.
• ABNT NBR 9050:2020, Acessibilidade a edificações, mobiliário, espaços e equipamentos urbanosABNT, Source of the 1:12 ratio and the other slope ratios cited in the conversion.

Frequently asked questions

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