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Color and Gesture Sensor APDS-9960 Breakout

Qwiic Ecosystem Qwiic Sensors
Sensors & Modules Light, Color & Imaging
Interface ['i2c'] Qwiic Yes

The APDS-9960 breakout sensor offers gesture recognition, proximity sensing, and RGB color detection for interactive and smart projects.

The Color and Gesture Sensor APDS-9960 breakout is a compact and powerful module designed for multiple sensing capabilities. It enables gesture recognition, allowing it to detect movements such as up, down, left, and right. In addition to gestures, it features proximity sensing, accurately measuring the distance of objects within a range of 10 to 20 cm. This makes it ideal for interactive applications and touchless control systems.

Create awesome user inputs with the APDS-9960, the all-in-one sensor that detects gestures, proximity, ambient light, and RGB colors. It's a way to build smarter, more interactive projects. Whether you're designing a hands-free user interface, a robot that can sense its surroundings, or a display that automatically adjusts to ambient light, the APDS-9960 provides the multi-faceted sensing capabilities you need.

This sensor, famously used in smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S5, combines four sensing functions into a single compact module. The gesture detection allows you to recognize directional movements (up, down, left, right), while the proximity sensor can detect objects up to 20cm away. The integrated ambient light and RGB color sensor can measure the intensity and color of light, making it perfect for applications like automatic screen brightness adjustment or color sorting robots. With built-in UV and IR filters, you can be sure that your readings are accurate and free from interference.

What makes this breakout special is its seamless integration into our Qwiic ecosystem, allowing for quick connections with all your boards. As with all our products, it's open-source, with all design files available for you to modify and adapt, plus our 2-year warranty and technical support.

  • Voltage: 3.3V
  • Voltage I2C: 3.3V
  • Connectors: 2x qwiic
  • Connectors: 2x qwiic
  • Dimensions: 38 x 22 mm / 1.5 x 0.9 inch

Interface

Interface I2C
Qwiic Compatible yes
I2C Address Default 0x39
I2C Address Changeable no
Breadboard Compatible yes

Measurement

Measurement Types Light, Color, Proximity, Gesture
Measurement Range Proximity/gesture detection: 10-20 cm

Power

Supply Voltage Min V 3.3
Supply Voltage Max V 5
Logic Level 3v3_or_5v
Operating Current (mA) 100
Sleep Current Ua 1

Other

Ic Part Number APDS-9960
Start Here
1
Connect

Plug into any Soldered Dasduino or microcontroller with an easyC cable — no soldering required.

2
Install the library

Add the Soldered library for your language (below).

3
Run an example

Open the get-started example and read your first value.

What's in the Box
Color and Gesture Sensor APDS-9960 Breakout (main product) 333002
Header pins (unsoldered)
Header pins included for all breadboard-compatible pins
Pinout
Last updated: