What weird uses are people finding for Google’s new Pixel 8 Pro smartphone?

Google has made an unusual addition to its Pixel smartphone hardware recently — temperature sensing. And people are finding unusual ways to use it.

Unofficial tests have found that the new Pixel 8 Pro’s temperature sensor is pretty accurate most of the time. The sensor has to be calibrated for the type of material you’re scanning (for example, shiny metal or fabric), so you have to enter that manually. Then you just hold it within 5 centimeters of the object and let it do its thing.

One user posted on Reddit that they were able to use the sensor to determine what items in their fridge were still safe to eat when a storm knocked out their electricity for 36 hours. “Using it, I could easily identify food items that were nearing their melting point, allowing me to make informed decisions about what to discard and what to keep,” they noted.

Another user shared that they used theirs “to confirm the temp of the boiler for my HVAC system. It was on the nose.” And for pet owners, one user shared that they were able to use it to test the sidewalk to make sure it wasn’t too hot for their dog to walk on.