Say goodbye to assaulting your fingers with retractable tape measures. AirMeasure lets you measure any surface, thing, or person with only your phone. No more taping together rulers or haphazardly climbing chairs to measure tall bookshelves and cabinets.
Created by development group Laan Labs of Face Swap Live fame, AirMeasure utilizes augmented reality (AR) to provide accurate measurements of objects and distances. The utility app uses Apple’s updated sensor and camera input framework to measure distance between points.
The core tape measure includes three basic modes for practical measurements. AirMode most closely resembles traditional measuring, with an augmented reality ruler that physically follows along onscreen as the device moves, overlaying an extendable tape measure over the object you’re measuring. Now you can be the jerk blocking traffic in Target aisles as you measure everything in sight.
Point and shoot mode provides dynamic measurements and offers corrective functionality, triangulating, and updating as you move. Surface Mode comes in handy for measuring horizontal planes, like tables and flat surfaces.
More advanced measurement features come into play with Floor Plan, which calculates the dimensions of a room when you place vertices at each corner. AirMeasure can even figure out weird room shapes with multiple walls and angles. The ever-expanding Virtual Furniture catalog currently boasts over 4,000 items, allowing you to test how things look and fit in your space.
Laser Level scrutinizes objects already in place by projecting a virtual laser onto the wall to test your portrait hanging skills. Virtual Paintings are also available if you’re not ready to commit to nailing holes in the wall quite yet. Plus, there are modes for calculating the height of objects, and the size of a cube, so you can determine what size box you’d need to pack something.
Of course, there are some less than necessary but endlessly entertaining features as well. One mode can calculate a person’s height just by pointing the camera at them. Another mode creates a colorful path of where you’ve walked as you trace your steps, with markers for every yard or meter.
There’s even an air brush tool to add doodles in a 3D space, with customizable brush sizes and colors. The team plans to add a Sports Field feature that would allow users to layout a baseball diamond or football field. Floor plan editing is also in the works.
Co-developer Will Perkins stated, “we are really excited to finally release this app, as we see huge potential with the recent advances in Augmented Reality and how consumers interact with their surrounding space. We believe measurements will be a big part of that.”
Tragically, I’m unable to download the app since I have an iPhone 5, and this requires at least a 6s or an iPad. But I can live vicariously through the demo videos. Check out AirMeasure’s site to see more cool features, or head over to the App Store (sorry, Apple only) and give this free app a try.
