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IPhone 4 DEFINITELY moves my itself!!

M

Magicaliphone

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2011
2
0
I would always leave my iPhone 4 (no case) on my FLAT wooden table(tested with level) and it would CONSTANTLY end up on the floor.The first 20 times it happened I just kept convincing myself that I must have somehow knocked it off (even though each time I swore I hadn't touched the table) or thought that maybe I was getting a text and somehow it was vibrating off the table (even though I never had a text, an email, nothing) also every time I would go to my mothers house(she also has iPhone 4) I would hear her iPhone hit the floor and I would wonder how she could keep knocking the darn thing over! Well eventually this drives me crazy enough to where I put the phone toward the edge of my table, and just stared at it and sure enough it SLOWLY, very slowly, crept to the edge of the table and fell off!!:eek: I have no clue HOW this is happening but would love to know how since I hold this thing to my head everyday:p
 
Magicaliphone said:
I would always leave my iPhone 4 (no case) on my FLAT wooden table(tested with level) and it would CONSTANTLY end up on the floor.The first 20 times it happened I just kept convincing myself that I must have somehow knocked it off (even though each time I swore I hadn't touched the table) or thought that maybe I was getting a text and somehow it was vibrating off the table (even though I never had a text, an email, nothing) also every time I would go to my mothers house(she also has iPhone 4) I would hear her iPhone hit the floor and I would wonder how she could keep knocking the darn thing over! Well eventually this drives me crazy enough to where I put the phone toward the edge of my table, and just stared at it and sure enough it SLOWLY, very slowly, crept to the edge of the table and fell off!!:eek: I have no clue HOW this is happening but would love to know how since I hold this thing to my head everyday:p
Click to expand...

Who you gonna call? Ghost busters!
 
If two very smooth surfaces are in contact with each other this can easily happen.

You mostly see it if there is any moisture in between the two surfaces (like a plastic cup on a glass table for example).
 
The only reason I can see this happening would be due to unlevel surface, the table may appear flat but the floor could be slightly unlevel.

I would say that or your iphone is haunted maybe by your old phone?
 
I don't think it's the table because I tried it on another wooden table and it did the same thing. It only happens when it's a slippery surface with no resistance. It takes awhile but if you leave it on the edge of that kind of table it seems to always fall off
 
Yeah, iPhones definitely do slide around on smooth surfaces. Mine creeps down my lecture theatre desks (which are angled). Quite amusing to watch.

Also, when it vibrates it'll move a lot faster because it's effectively bouncing along on the table.
 
Ghost dad did it!!

Ghostdad.jpg
 
What's with all the down votes on this?

To original poster - I've seen this and it boggled my mind for quite some time.

A damn near 100% level surface (even measured with the app for that), my phone would crawl across after several minutes.

I think it's related to the oilophobic coating. Now that it has worn off on my phone - this no longer happens.

I even had friends in on this, who thought I was BSing them, until they too observed my phone move its way across seemingly flat surfaces.

So you're not crazy..... yet.

If you put a screen protector on, or a case, this will likely stop. After the coating wears off, it will also stop. So it's just a matter of time.
 
You know what they say, without pictures, this is BS!:p

Especially with your user name!
 
Last edited:
I also notice that if I leave my iPhone 4 ( it never happened with any previous models which lends credence to the Oleophobic coating explanation) on a smooth surface desk and then tilt the desk to an angle of 45 degrees to the perpendicular the phone will slide off.

I also only noticed this after having tilted the desk 20 or so times.
 
Gravity and friction.....someone discovered it before Steve Jobs though....I heard Android phones are also subject to the laws of nature but that may be a fanboy rumor.
 
If you get some low-grit sandpaper and rough up the back, it should stop it sliding ;)

Alternatively, a couple of these might do the trick:
threadedrubberfeet_lg.jpg
 
This happens b/c of the the gyroscope inside the 4 and the 4S which moves inside if it's not on top of a 100% perfectly flat surface.
 
These never happened with my iphone 4 BUT with my 4s it happends a lot lol to the point i had to bought a case and only put it at home :) i now have 1 corner dent and the back plate is loose :( but meh still works like.

Ps. Sorry for my english :)
 
El3ctronics said:
This happens b/c of the the gyroscope inside the 4 and the 4S which moves inside if it's not on top of a 100% perfectly flat surface.
Click to expand...

You do know it's a MEMS type gyroscope sensor, not the conventional spinning wheel type, right? While I can't specifically say that a MEMS type absolutely can't create movement, I'd be really surprised if it did due to the way they're built and the scale relative to the overall device mass.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone-4-Gyroscope-Teardown/3156/1
 
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