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Your iPhone Pro and iPad Pro may have a useful and powerful feature you may not know about. Built directly into the last few generations of devices, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanners emit lasers to measure the distance to objects around you. This feature offers several key benefits:
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Firstly, LiDAR helps the camera take clearer photos, especially in low light conditions, and secondly, the scanner leverages AR (Augmented Reality) to combine the real and virtual worlds, acting as an AR virtual tape measure, showing you how new furniture would look in your home, scanning and recreating 3D models, and letting you get immersed in AR games.
Introduced a few years ago, the LiDAR Scanner is available on the iPhone 12, 13, 14, and 15 Pro and Pro Max models, as well as the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models from 2020. Built into the rear camera, the scanner can detect objects up to 5 meters (16.5 feet) away.
1. Taking photos in the dark
Taking clear photos with your iPhone in low light can be a challenge. Luckily, the LiDAR Scanner can detect how close your subject is to you, so the camera can start autofocusing right away.
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Apple claims the LiDAR sensor makes the camera's autofocus up to six times faster, which is an advantage if you want to grab a photo before it's too late. You don't have to do anything special: just point your phone's camera and the LiDAR will automatically engage when needed.
Screenshot: Lance Whitney/ZDNET
2. Measure the distance
Need to measure a physical distance but don't have a ruler or tape measure? You can use a virtual tape measure. Apple's free Measure app, included with iOS and iPadOS and available from the App Store, can measure the distance between any two points, show the dimensions of an object, and tell you if a surface is straight.
To measure the distance between two points, open the Measurement app on your device and place the starting point on a point within the circle.
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Tap the plus icon, move your phone along the area you want to measure, and tap the plus icon again. The distance will be displayed on the screen.
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To measure an object such as a square, position your phone in the same way. Tap the Plus icon and move your phone along the first area you want to measure. Then double-tap the Plus icon. Move your phone to capture the next area and double-tap the Plus icon again. Continue this process until you have captured the entire object. Double-tap the Plus icon at the end point to see the distance for all four sides.
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To determine if an area is level, tap the Level icon in the app's toolbar. Tilt your device horizontally or vertically along the surface and the screen will zero out and flash green to indicate it's level.
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In addition to using Apple's Measure app, check out other free AR measurement apps in the App Store, such as Tape Measure and AR Measure.
3. Try out your own furniture
Are you considering a new desk, chair, table or other furniture and wondering how it will look and fit in your home? The IKEA app can help.
First, browse or search for a specific piece of furniture or other item, such as a chair, bed, desk, sofa, lamp, mirror, clock, dresser, bookcase, etc. When you find an item that interests you, select it and tap the “View in Room” button. Choose where in your home you want to see the item. You can then move the item around the room by dragging and dropping it. Once it's in the right place, tap the shutter button to take a photo.
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Other apps that allow you to virtually arrange and view furniture in your home include Wayfair, Housecraft, and Bob's Discount Furniture.
4. Scan the room
Maybe you're renovating an entire room and want to measure it to help with your home renovation work, one app that can help you with that is Canvas: LiDAR 3D Measurements.
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Once you've signed up for a free account, start a new home project, give it a name, and start scanning. Move your phone around to capture every nook and cranny of the room you want to measure. Once the scan is complete, tap the checkmark to view the scanned area and save or share the scan itself.
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5. Try on glasses
Need some new prescription glasses or sunglasses but want to check out some options before heading to the store? The Warby Parker app lets you try on virtual glasses to see how they look on you. Browse the different glasses displayed in the app. When you find a pair you like, swipe down from the top of the screen to launch the virtual try-on feature. The glasses will automatically appear on your face so you can see how they look on you.
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6. Listen to a description of your environment
Designed for people with visual impairments, Microsoft's Seeing AI acts as a talking camera that can analyze and describe nearby people and objects.
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Once you launch the app, tap one of the icons at the bottom of the item you want to describe and choose from a short piece of text, document, product, person, currency, or scene. When you tap the shutter button, the app will display the text and provide an audio description of the item.
Screenshot: Lance Whitney/ZDNET
7. Scan your 3D model
If you want to capture 3D images of real-world objects, Scaniverse – 3D Scanner is an effective tool. Launch the app, tap the shutter button, and choose the size of the object you want to scan (small, medium, large). Move your phone around the object to capture as much of it as possible. When you're done, tap the shutter button. Then, choose how you want to process your scan: you can move the object around the screen to view the scan, edit it, and share it.
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Other 3D AR scanner apps worth trying include 3D Scanner App, Polycam – LiDAR & 3D Scanner, and ARama.
8. Play games
Finally, there are many AR games available for iPhone and iPad. Here are some games worth checking out:
Angry Birds AR: Isle of Pigs is a twist on Angry Birds-style gameplay that overlays a virtual island of pigs onto the real world, where you aim your slingshot to knock down pig buildings.
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ARia's Legacy – AR Escape Room offers a variation on the usual escape game scenario by overlaying a virtual room onto a real one, where you must find and use the right virtual objects to solve the underlying mystery.
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Who doesn't love watching robots fight each other? With AR Robots, virtual robots will fight to the death right in your home.
Choose a room, select a mechanical champion and start the match. Build and customize your bot and utilize the right abilities in the heat of battle to achieve victory.
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In Defend It! AR, you shoot hordes of robots before they take over your living room. The AR element here is that robots burst through your walls and you struggle to take them down before they steal your magical crystals of power.
Screenshot: Lance Whitney/ZDNET
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