Web/API/Proximity Events

This is an experimental technologyCheck the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The proximity events are a handy way to know when a user is close to a device. These events make it possible to react to such a change, for example by shutting down the screen of a smartphone when the user is having a phone call with the device close to their ear.

Note: Obviously, the API requires the device to have a proximity sensor, which are mostly available only on mobile devices. Devices without such a sensor may support those events but will never fire them.

Proximity Events

When the device proximity sensor detects a change between the device and an object, it notifies the browser of that change. When the browser gets such a notification, it fires a DeviceProximityEvent for any change, and a UserProximityEvent event in the case of a more rough change.

This event can be captured at the window object level by using the addEventListener method (using the deviceproximity or userproximity event name) or by attaching an event handler to the window.ondeviceproximity or window.onuserproximity properties.

Once captured, the event object gives access to different kinds of information:

• The DeviceProximityEvent event provides an exact match for the distance between the device and the object through its value property. It also provides the closest and farthest distance the device is able to detect something through its min and max properties.
• The UserProximityEvent event provides a rough approximation of the distance, expressed through a boolean. The UserProximityEvent.near property is true if the object is close or false if the object is far.

Example

window.addEventListener('userproximity', function(event) {
  if (event.near) {
    // let's power off the screen
    navigator.mozPower.screenEnabled = false;
  } else {
    // Otherwise, let's power on the screen
    navigator.mozPower.screenEnabled = true;
  }
});

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Proximity SensorThe definition of 'Proximity Events' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial specification

Browser compatibility

DeviceProximityEvent

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
DeviceProximityEvent Experimental'Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support ? — 61	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support 15 — 61	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
max Experimental'Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support ? — 61	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support 15 — 61	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
min Experimental'Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support ? — 61	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support 15 — 61	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
value Experimental'Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support ? — 61	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support 15 — 61	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.'

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.'

Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

User must explicitly enable this feature.'

User must explicitly enable this feature.

UserProximityEvent

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
UserProximityEvent Experimental'Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support ? — 61	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support ? — 61	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No
near Experimental'Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support ? — 61	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Full support 62 Notes' Disabled' Notes' See bug 1462308. Disabled' From version 62: this feature is behind the device.sensors.proximity.enabled preference (needs to be set to true). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config. No support 15 — 61	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.'

Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.

Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.'

Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.

See implementation notes.'

See implementation notes.

User must explicitly enable this feature.'

User must explicitly enable this feature.

See also

• DeviceProximityEvent
• UserProximityEvent
• deviceproximity
• userproximity

Proximity Events by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.