FlickerGaugeLight flicker meter
Point the camera. See the flicker. Before your eyes do.
Measure the flicker frequency and modulation depth of a screen or lamp, with a verdict against IEEE 1789 — and a community database to check before you buy.
Get FlickerGaugeScan the code with your phone’s camera, or open the store.
Measuring frequency is free forever, and so is every verdict that frequency alone decides. Depth, the verdicts in between, the database's numbers and verdicts, and the share cards are a single one-time purchase — there is no subscription. Searching the database and adding your measurement to it are free for everyone.
It measures a lamp, not you: a phone camera is not a calibrated instrument and none of this is medical advice. Read the rules of safe use before you start — they take a minute and they are the ones that matter.
The seven screens from the Google Play listing — swipe.
How it works
- AimA lamp: at the wall or table it lights. A screen: show a blank white page and turn its brightness down — most screens only flicker when dimmed.
- Hold steadyThe reading settles in about two seconds, and every number carries its error bar.
- Read the verdictSafe, caution or fail — read off the whole error bar, never rounded. When it is borderline, the app says so.
What you get
- The flicker frequency of any screen or lamp, with its error bar — free, without limit.
- Modulation depth with error bars, and the IEEE 1789 verdict where depth decides it.
- A community database of phones, monitors, laptops and lights, measured by brightness level — check before you buy, offline.
- Your own measurements kept on the phone, and a card to share for each.
- A one-minute calibration against any mains lamp, so the numbers are exact for your camera.
Frames are analysed, never saved
The camera is used to measure, not to photograph: frames are analysed in memory and discarded. Nothing leaves your phone unless you choose to add a measurement to the database — anonymously, and the app shows you exactly what is sent first. No account, no sign-up, no advertising. Crash reports can be switched off in Settings. Read the privacy policy.
What you need
- An Android phone whose camera allows manual exposure. If yours does not, the app says so plainly instead of showing a number it cannot stand behind — the database still works.
- A dim room helps: bright surroundings wash the stripes out.
The Guide inside the app explains the whole method, its limits and its error bars. This is not a laboratory photometer, and the app says so. Flicker is linked to eye strain in sensitive people; the app makes no medical claim and diagnoses nothing.
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