CoreMotion

Read device motion, pedometer/activity, altitude, headphone, batched-workout, and submersion sensors with Core Motion. Scope: Swift 6.3, iOS 26+.

Contents

• Setup
• CMMotionManager: Sensor Data
• Processed Device Motion
• CMPedometer: Step and Distance Data
• CMMotionActivityManager: Activity Recognition
• CMAltimeter: Altitude Data
• Update Intervals and Battery
• Common Mistakes
• Review Checklist
• References

Setup

Info.plist

Add NSMotionUsageDescription to Info.plist with a user-facing string explaining why your app needs motion data. Without this key, the app crashes on first access.

<key>NSMotionUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app uses motion data to track your activity.</string>

Authorization

Use the matching manager's authorizationStatus() or authorizationStatus property when an API exposes one (CMPedometer, CMMotionActivityManager, CMAltimeter, headphone motion, batched sensors, and submersion). Raw CMMotionManager accelerometer/gyro/device-motion streams have no explicit authorization request API; still ship the usage string and handle errors from start/update callbacks.

import CoreMotion

let status = CMMotionActivityManager.authorizationStatus()
switch status {
case .notDetermined:
    // Will prompt on first use
    break
case .authorized:
    break
case .restricted, .denied:
    // Direct user to Settings
    break
@unknown default:
    break
}

CMMotionManager: Sensor Data

Create exactly one CMMotionManager per app. Multiple instances degrade sensor update rates.

import CoreMotion

let motionManager = CMMotionManager()

Accelerometer Updates