How To Show iPhone Signal Strength in Number Instead of Bars

How do you usually measure the signal strength on your iPhone? The bars on top? That’s pretty inaccurate. How about we tell you about a hidden setting in your iPhone that gives you an accurate value of your phone’s signal strength? So, yes, measured in Decibels, the tip we’ll share will allow you to get a number denoting the strength – the closer to zero, the stronger the signal.

What’s good is that when you’ll be in an area which is devoid of signals, this number will help you get to a better location, on the basis of its changing value as you move.

Here’s a step-by-step guide. This sure is a hidden trick but does not require your iPhone to be jailbroken or anything.  We’re pretty sure it works on all iPhone models, though we’re dead sure of iPhone 4 models as we’ve tried it our self here.

Step 1:

Dial the following number on your iPhone:

*3001#12345#*

Now press ‘Call’.

Step 2:

Your iPhone is now in the Field Test mode. Do you see a signal strength value on the upper left hand corner? You can still switch to the old strength bars instead of the number value, by taping on it. Just to let you know, this process is completely reversible, so don’t worry. You can revert to the bars any time, just lie now, by closing the app by pressing the home button. If you want to have the number indicator permanently (which is again reversible to bars), proceed to step 3.

Step 3:

Now hold on to the power button until you see the bar that says ‘slide to power off’. Here, do NOT power off your iPhone.

Step 4:

Now press the home button again until the app is exited and you’re on to the home screen. There you go! Done.

What Does the Signal Number Mean?

The numeric signal strength usually ranges from -50 to -120. The closer the number is to zero, the better is the signal strength. In general, below is how you can interpret the values:

-50 to -75: Excellent Signal Strength
-75 to -90: Good Signal Strength
-90 to -110: Fair Signal Strength
-110 or below: Poor Signal Strength / Hardly get any signal

Revert Back to the Signal Bar

To revert to the original signal strength representation, dial *3001#12345#* and press ‘Call’ to enter the field test mode again. Then press the home button once. There you go. Back to the bars!