Is it bad for screen protectors to cover the sensors in the front?

I have Green Onions oleophobic protectors that cover the sensors and front camera.

Never had a problem with the sensors or the images from the front camera. As long as the protectors is not matte they should work fine. Actually I like the look of the covered protectors better as it is practically impossible to tell there is a protector on.

zooby said:

Random question, I know. I'm just wondering since a lot of screen protectors like the Glas.t only have cutouts for the camera hole at the top and the speaker in the front. Others like the screen protector below DO have cutouts for them (two extra hole cutouts, not sure what iPhone parts they are, probably some sensors). So does it make a difference if these two cutouts are covered up?

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4 holes, 5 functions.

Phone Earpeice.
Microphone
Proximity Sensor (turns off touch screen when placing it against your head)
Ambient Light Sensor (batt. life/screen brightness management)
Camera

Ideally not blocked, but I only have the power support as shown in your image with all uncovered, and it does fine.

Others have some sensors covered with no ill reported effects that I've heard.

zooby said:

Random question, I know. I'm just wondering since a lot of screen protectors like the Glas.t only have cutouts for the camera hole at the top and the speaker in the front. Others like the screen protector below DO have cutouts for them (two extra hole cutouts, not sure what iPhone parts they are, probably some sensors). So does it make a difference if these two cutouts are covered up?

Image

Click to expand...

There is absolutly no problem with blocking the camera, proximity and ambient light sensors, provided that whatever is on top of them, is transparent without distortion to Infra Red and Visible Light.

In fact some protectors like the green onions oleophobic actually are more transparent than the existing glass of the iPhone because the transition from the plastic material to air has a lower dispersion than from the iPhone 5's glass to the air. Meaning you gain image quality on the camera, and the proximity and ambient sensors require almost no resolution, but have to be large so they can sample a larger area which allows them to be immune to dust for example.