How to measure a person’s height with iPhone 12 Pro

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How to measure height with iPhone 12 Pro
It's surprisingly accurate.
Photo: Apple

iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, thanks to their built-in LiDAR Scanners, have a handy feature that lets you quickly (and surprisingly accurately) measure someone’s height — without the need for third-party apps.

We’ll show you how.

You may not have discovered many uses for the LiDAR Scanner built into your iPhone. It is mostly used for greater augmented reality experiences, since it is designed to read and measure the world around you.

The Scanner does this using by projecting beams of light, that cannot be seen with the naked eye, onto objects and then reading them as they bounce back. It can then build up a sophisticated depth map.

In addition to improved AR, the LiDAR Scanner makes for faster, more accurate camera autofocus — and enhanced functionality in the Measure app. That includes the ability to measure a person’s height.

Use iPhone 12 Pro to measure someone’s height

So, to measure someone’s height with iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max, you don’t need any additional apps or hardware. Simple follow these steps:

  1. Open the Measure app on your iPhone.
  2. Position your device so that the person you want to measure appears on screen from head to toe.
  3. Wait for a line to appear on screen, like in the screenshot above, that shows their height measurement.

To take a photo that includes the measurement, tap the capture button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. To take the measurement again, turn your iPhone to reset the app, then repeat steps two and three.

Because this trick relies on a LiDAR Scanner, it sadly does not work on other iPhone models. It will, however, work on iPad Pro models (2020 and 2021) that also have a built-in LiDAR Scanner.

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