Show actual signal strength on your iPhone

Just how rubbish is your signal?

A quick little tip that someone showed me yesterday, I thought it was worth sharing!

Ever wanted to get a measurable, real-world sense of how strong the signal strength on your iPhone is?  Couldn’t be simpler!

Phone signal strengths are measure in decibels (dB), and it’s just a few quick steps to make your iPhone display the dB figure rather than the annoying “5-bars”.

I’ll point out first that this process does not require you to jailbreak your phone, does not invalidate your warrenty and is reversable, so give it a go!

1) Enter the “phone” screen and dial *3001#12345#* and then press “Call”

2) You’ll now enter “Field Test Mode”.  You’ll see a bunch of signal information in the centre of the screen, and the traditional “5-bar” icon in the top left of the screen will be replaced by a numerical dB rating.  To get out of this screen, just hit the home button and things will return to normal, but if you want to be able to toggle between the 5-bar system and the dB system at will, read on.

3) While still in “Field Test Mode”, hold down the power button until the “Swipe to turn off” screen appears.  DO NOT swipe to turn off your phone.

4)  While still on this screen, hold down the home button until you are returned to the main iPhone screen.

5) You can now toggle between the dB reading and the bar reading by tapping the figure/logo in the top left of your screen.

There you go, you can now get a real-world value for your iPhone’s signal strength (Just like most Android users can!).

To turn the feature off:

1) Dial *3001#12345#* on your iPhone then press Call

2) Press on your home button once.

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