Detecting shake in AppDelegate

Question

How can I detect a device shake in the AppDelegate (across the entire app) in Swift?

I've found answers that describe how to do so in a view controller, but looking to do so across my app.

Possible duplicate of [How do I detect when someone shakes an iPhone?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/150446/how-do-i-detect-when-someone-shakes-an-iphone) — fishinear, Jan 13 '16 at 17:21

score 32 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 18 '17 at 06:36

32

If you want to globally detect shake motion, the UIWindow implements UIResponder that can receive shake motion event. You can add the following snippet to AppDelegate

extension UIWindow {
    open override func motionEnded(_ motion: UIEventSubtype, with event: UIEvent?) {
        if motion == .motionShake {
            print("Device shaken")
        }
    }
}

answered Apr 18 '17 at 06:36

jk2K

4,279
3
37
40

This worked for me. Just adding it (without the UIWindow extension) didn't work when I put it in the app delegate. Had to add `open` in front of func for iOS 10.3/Xcode8.3. – Chris Prince Jul 26 '17 at 21:24
1

Quite strange, motionBegan get called, but motionEnded doesn't. – DàChún Jan 09 '18 at 08:35
2

After trying many other solutions, this is the only one that works for me. Also, I learned that I can override functions in extensions. Awesome! – Lensflare Feb 08 '19 at 10:15
Bad idea to use the extension. Provide your own subclass, define the method in it. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/10580083/1633251 . You can then pass the events to super - maybe they are needed there. – David H May 21 '20 at 19:16

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 28 '23 at 06:28

8

Add the following snippet in your AppDelegate:

override func motionBegan(motion: UIEvent.EventSubtype, withEvent event: UIEvent?) {
    if motion == .MotionShake {
        print("Device shaken")
    }
}

Swift 3.0 version:

override func motionBegan(_ motion: UIEventSubtype, with event: UIEvent?) {
    if motion == .motionShake {
        print("Device shaken")
    }
}

As for later versions this does not seem to work anymore. You need to add the above code in your view controller instead

edited Feb 28 '23 at 06:28

Community

1
1

answered Jan 13 '16 at 18:05

Rashwan L

38,237
7
103
107

3

This did not work, since the app delegate is not in the responder chain. – phatmann Dec 17 '16 at 01:31
@SaRaVaNaNDM, sure it is just tested it and have tested it before. Did you get any errors? How did you implement it? – Rashwan L Feb 18 '17 at 09:10
Same as the way you suggested in Swift 3.0 version. Do i need to do anything else ? – SaRaVaNaN DM Feb 19 '17 at 06:41
That is enough with the code above. Are you trying on a real device? @SaRaVaNaNDM – Rashwan L Feb 20 '17 at 09:47
1

Worked on real device iPad 2/9.3, swift 3.0.2 for me. – Amr Lotfy Jul 11 '17 at 17:49
@SaRaVaNaNDM, this seems to be blocked now. You need to add the code in your view controller instead. – Rashwan L Mar 20 '18 at 06:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 10 '22 at 17:54

As of Swift 4 or 5, it's UIEvent.EventSubtype, not UIEventSubtype.

Also don't forget to add a call to super.motionEnded(motion, with: event). This preserves any motionEnded customizations on your view controllers.

extension UIWindow {
    open override func motionEnded(_ motion: UIEvent.EventSubtype, with event: UIEvent?) {
        super.motionEnded(motion, with: event)
        
        if motion == .motionShake {
            print("Device shaken")
        }
    }
}

Detecting shake in AppDelegate

3 Answers3

As for later versions this does not seem to work anymore. You need to add the above code in your view controller instead