alt Hacker NewsThe presence of the sensor is well documented as part of Apples Sudden Motion Sensor hard drive protection system.
How to access it is undocumented.
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nerdsniper • yesterday at 7:52 AM
Given that current drives don't have moving parts, what function is this serving today?
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Aaackshually, the Sudden Motion Sensor was introduced on 2005 in the PowerBook G4, and continued through the intel MacBooks with hard drives.
While officially undocumented, people figured out how to access it back then, with novel uses like smacking your MacBook to change spaces (virtual desktops) or swinging the Mac around to make lightsaber noises.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uvQTTPr9Rw
- https://osxdaily.com/2006/12/06/macsaber-turn-your-mac-into-...
(I should know, I was in university back then and swung my Mac around like an idiot, lol.)
On the first Retina MacBook Pro 15" in 2012, and moving forward with all MacBooks that were SSD-only, they removed the SMS as it was not needed.
To my knowledge, this is the first time we're hearing that Apple Silicon machines have an accelerometer on the SoC, officially or otherwise. It's also certainly not branded or marketed as the SMS was. (https://support.apple.com/en-us/100871)
Happy to be corrected on this!