Detect a shake in iOS Safari with Javascript?

Question

How can I utilize the new MobileSafari device motion APIs to capture a "shake" event?

Answer 1

See this awesome blog post: http://www.jeffreyharrell.com/blog/2010/11/creating-a-shake-event-in-mobile-safari/

Which illustrates this example:

if (typeof window.DeviceMotionEvent != 'undefined') {
    // Shake sensitivity (a lower number is more)
    var sensitivity = 20;

    // Position variables
    var x1 = 0, y1 = 0, z1 = 0, x2 = 0, y2 = 0, z2 = 0;

    // Listen to motion events and update the position
    window.addEventListener('devicemotion', function (e) {
        x1 = e.accelerationIncludingGravity.x;
        y1 = e.accelerationIncludingGravity.y;
        z1 = e.accelerationIncludingGravity.z;
    }, false);

    // Periodically check the position and fire
    // if the change is greater than the sensitivity
    setInterval(function () {
        var change = Math.abs(x1-x2+y1-y2+z1-z2);

        if (change > sensitivity) {
            alert('Shake!');
        }

        // Update new position
        x2 = x1;
        y2 = y1;
        z2 = z1;
    }, 150);
}