Wall Stud Finder: Metal Scan

Hanging a shelf, a TV or a mirror means finding the studs first. Your phone already has the sensor that does it — no extra hardware, no batteries to go flat.

HOW IT WORKS

Hold the phone flat against the wall, calibrate away from metal, then slide it sideways slowly. The reading climbs as you approach a stud and falls as you pass it. The peak is where to drill.

The peak is held on screen, because you cannot watch the number while sliding a phone along a wall — sweep, then look.

IT FINDS THE SCREWS, NOT THE WOOD

This matters, so it is worth being exact. No phone can sense timber. What the magnetometer senses is ferrous metal — the screws and nails driven through your wall board into each stud. Find those and you have found the stud, which is why the reading spikes in a line rather than across a whole stud.

That is a real technique, not a substitute for one. It is also why this app tells you what it is measuring instead of drawing a picture of a wooden beam and hoping.

WHAT IT CANNOT DO

It cannot tell a screw from a nail from a pipe. A strong reading means metal, and metal is not always a stud.

It cannot see through tile, metal lath, or anything much thicker than ordinary plasterboard.

It cannot find a stud fixed with adhesive, or one with no metal in it at all.

It will not warn you about live wiring. Nothing here replaces turning the power off before you drill.

All of that is in the app as well as here, on a screen you can reach in one tap.

FREE AND PREMIUM

The app is free to use. Watch a short ad and you get five minutes of unlimited scanning — enough to find every stud on a wall — with no daily limit and no rationing on top. Premium removes the ads entirely.

Requires a device with a magnetometer.

Terms of Use: https://mrtctns.github.io/terms/
Privacy Policy: https://mrtctns.github.io/privacy/