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Try This Fourth of July Party Trick on Your iPhone

So “party trick with, um, interestingly dressed subject” aside, this feature is occasionally useful like the built in level feature.
I’ve used it to check the height of a piece of furniture we considered buying at a garage sale but didn’t have a tape measure handy.
It is *not* 100% accurate but it is more reliable than the Mark I Eyeball.
 
MacRumors said:
Compatible iPhones

The feature requires an iPhone model with a LiDAR Scanner:
  • iPhone 12 Pro
  • iPhone 12 Pro Max
  • iPhone 13 Pro
  • iPhone 13 Pro Max
  • iPhone 14 Pro
  • iPhone 14 Pro Max
  • iPhone 15 Pro
  • iPhone 15 Pro Max
  • iPhone 16 Pro
  • iPhone 16 Pro Max
The feature is not available on any other iPhone models.
Click to expand...

Note the Apple Measure app is available in from App store and runs on other phones including for example an iPhone 13 Mini (I vaguely even remember it working on an earlier phone but won't swear to that).

What's not available on non-Pro phones (etc) are:
• Horizontal and vertical guide lines appear when measuring large objects for easier and more accurate measurements.
• Instantly measure a person’s height from the floor to the top of their head, hair, or hat.
• Save measurements from a single session, complete with screenshots, so they’re easy to access and share whenever you need them.

As per Features section for this app on the App store:
apps.apple.com

‎Measure

‎Turn your iPhone or iPad into a tape measure with Measure. Measure enables you to quickly gauge the size of real objects, a person’s height, and it can automatically provide the dimensions of rectangular objects. Features • Draw lines and estimate their length in both horizontal and vertical...
apps.apple.com apps.apple.com

It's easy enough however to trace a line on non-Pro phones so not sure how great the "instantly" feature is.

How accurate it is (and whether Pro phones are more accurate than non) I can't say. Quick tests with the 13 Mini nailed the diagnoal of my TV and gave a reasonable value for my door's height. Several measurements of room width/length were off by several feet.

As far as utility value, I'll stick with measuring tape. As far as entertainment value, I'd put it somewhat below Animojis.
 
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Have used the measure app in the past. Quite useful. It can also be used to measure length of objects too. Not very accurate but more than enough to get some rough measurements.
 
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I have at least several uncles who are more than willing to one-up this lame "party trick" with their pocket-sized tape measures
 
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nathansz said:
Fair warning, absolutely do not just pull out your phone and take a picture of my child
Click to expand...
Tightly wired [inappropriately IMO] parents are a problem for sure. I capture pix in public places all the time for architectural and construction detail purposes, specifically trying to wait until critters including pets, parents, kids move out of the frame before releasing the shutter because critters are distractions, but uptight parents do not know that.

Most of my captures involve properties owned by clients. Uber-concerned parents should think about all the fixed video cams and CCTVs pretty much everywhere and get even more worried. For decades some building security cams have been capable of being moved and zoomed way in with high quality tele controlled by low-rent security employees. Fair warning: public places are public places.

So far my testing of iPhone LiDAR (which I want to have work well) on the 16 PM has shown it not yet consistent enough to be used for measuring real work <sigh>. Allegedly the LiDAR also helps in low light focus, and that is certainly useful.
 
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Allen_Wentz said:
Tightly wired [inappropriately IMO] parents are a problem for sure. I capture pix in public places all the time for architectural and construction detail purposes, specifically trying to wait until critters including pets, parents, kids move out of the frame before releasing the shutter because critters are distractions, but uptight parents do not know that.

Most of my captures involve properties owned by clients. Uber-concerned parents should think about all the fixed video cams and CCTVs pretty much everywhere and get even more worried. For decades some building security cams have been capable of being moved and zoomed way in with high quality tele controlled by low-rent security employees. Fair warning: public places are public places.
Click to expand...

There is a massive difference between incidentally filming someone and pulling a phone out of your pocket and pointing it directly at them
 
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CapitalIdea said:
Or they’d say “wow, a $1,000 tape measure!”
Click to expand...
I would happily pay $1,000 for a tape measure that accurately measures in difficult and/or hazardous situations. E.g. the dimensions of a foundation on the other side of a creek with no bridge, or the dimensions of a window that is out of reach [e.g. behind a fence], or the dimensions of a furnace that is too hot to approach, etc. LiDAR measuring on the 16PM is very interesting, but not yet consistent enough to be really useful [to me].
 
nathansz said:
There is a massive difference between incidentally filming someone and pulling a phone out of your pocket and pointing it directly at them
Click to expand...
Sure there is. Fair warning: many of us will not be intimidated by uptight parents making that incidental v. intentional judgement in public spaces that we are working in.

Since you want to be paranoid, realize that any one of those video cams and CCTVs that are everywhere could be high-quality moveable/zoomable with some freak hiding in his closet doing the controlling. There have been many such systems in place for decades, controlled by low rent workers.
 
Allen_Wentz said:
Sure there is. Fair warning: many of us will not be intimidated by uptight parents making that incidental v. intentional judgement in public spaces that we are working in.

Since you want to be paranoid, realize that any one of those video cams and CCTVs that are everywhere could be high-quality moveable/zoomable with some freak hiding in his closet doing the controlling. There have been many such systems in place for decades, controlled by low rent workers.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems you are maybe projecting on to me either some past conflict or a hypothetical one.

Either way you completely missed my point and are arguing with the wrong person.

I am not at all uptight, am aware of all these things and am not at all paranoid.

Incidentally my spouse is a photographer. They even do a bit of street photography, among other things.
 
Allen_Wentz said:
I would happily pay $1,000 for a tape measure that accurately measures in difficult and/or hazardous situations. E.g. the dimensions of a foundation on the other side of a creek with no bridge, or the dimensions of a window that is out of reach [e.g. behind a fence], or the dimensions of a furnace that is too hot to approach, etc. LiDAR measuring on the 16PM is very interesting, but not yet consistent enough to be really useful [to me].
Click to expand...

That would be a nice tool to have, but this entire article is about measuring people at a 4th of July party. No one there would likely care about such applications.
 
nathansz said:
Yeah, it seems you are maybe projecting on to me either some past conflict or a hypothetical one.

Either way you completely missed my point and are arguing with the wrong person.

I am not at all uptight, am aware of all these things and am not at all paranoid.

Incidentally my spouse is a photographer. They even do a bit of street photography, among other things.
Click to expand...

You’re the one who opened with “do not take out your phone and take a picture of my child” as if you’re the only ones in the world, everyone’s in the vicinity is out to get you (or even knows you’re there), and as if this article is even about the Camera app vs the Measure app. 😐 AT A PARTY.

It’s clear there is some unresolved trauma situation, so I hope that gets resolved with some proper help. In the meantime, perhaps hiding in a bunker would help.
 
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CapitalIdea said:
You’re the one who opened with “do not take out your phone and take a picture of my child” as if you’re the only ones in the world, everyone’s in the vicinity is out to get you (or even knows you’re there), and as if this article is even about the Camera app vs the Measure app. 😐 AT A PARTY.

It’s clear there is some unresolved trauma situation, so I hope that gets resolved with some proper help. In the meantime, perhaps hiding in a bunker would help.
Click to expand...

That’s quite an imagination you have
 
nathansz said:
Yeah, it seems you are maybe projecting on to me either some past conflict or a hypothetical one.

Either way you completely missed my point and are arguing with the wrong person.

I am not at all uptight, am aware of all these things and am not at all paranoid.

Incidentally my spouse is a photographer. They even do a bit of street photography, among other things.
Click to expand...
No, I am not "projecting." Your original warning verbiage was pretty straightforward:
"Fair warning, absolutely do not just pull out your phone and take a picture of my child..."
 
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