Which iPhones and iPads have LiDAR?

The short answer

On iPhone, LiDAR is a Pro feature. It arrived on the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max in 2020 and has been on every Pro and Pro Max model since. The standard iPhone, the mini, the Plus, the “e” and the SE models do not have it. On iPad, LiDAR arrived on the iPad Pro in 2020 and has been on iPad Pro models since; it is not a feature of the standard iPad, the iPad Air or the iPad mini.

If you are not sure which model you have, the section at the end tells you how to check in under a minute.

iPhones and iPads with LiDAR

The pattern is easier to remember than the list: on iPhone, if the name has “Pro” in it and it was released in late 2020 or later, it has LiDAR. If it does not, it does not.

Which ones do not

Every non-Pro iPhone: the iPhone 12 and 12 mini, 13 and 13 mini, 14 and 14 Plus, 15 and 15 Plus, 16 and 16 Plus, the 16e, and every iPhone SE. Every iPhone before the 12 series, including the 11 Pro, which had three cameras but no LiDAR. On the iPad side, the standard iPad, the iPad Air and the iPad mini have not carried it. If you own one of these, skip to what camera-only devices can still do, because it is more than people expect.

What LiDAR adds to measuring

LiDAR sends out pulses of infrared light and times their return, producing a direct depth map of the scene in front of the phone. For measuring, that changes three things:

• Instant depth. A camera-only phone cannot judge distance until it has moved and seen the scene from two positions. A LiDAR phone knows how far away the wall is from the first frame, so the calibration stage is shorter and a tapped point lands on the surface you meant.
• Better plane detection. Floors, walls and tabletops are found faster and on surfaces that defeat the camera — a plain painted wall, a dim corner, a uniform carpet. The measurement is still an estimate, but it is a more consistent one. How accurate is AR measurement sets out what that consistency is worth.
• Room scanning. Apple’s RoomPlan, which captures a whole room into a floor plan as you walk it, requires a LiDAR device. This is the feature that genuinely does not exist without the sensor. How to make a floor plan with your phone covers the workflow.

Apple describes the scanner’s range as up to about five metres, and its depth map is coarse compared with the camera image, so it is a room-scale tool rather than a long-range or fine-detail one. Apple’s own Measure app also gains extra capabilities on LiDAR devices, which is a quick way to see the difference if you have both kinds of phone to hand.

What camera-only devices can still do

Everything except full room scanning, in practice. ARKit’s world tracking, plane detection and tap-to-measure all run on camera-only iPhones, and in a bright room with textured surfaces the results are close to what a LiDAR phone gives. Point-and-measure distances and areas, ceiling heights, door and window sizes, and a floor plan assembled wall by wall are all achievable on a standard iPhone. What you lose is robustness: plain walls, dim rooms and glass are harder, calibration takes a little longer, and you should be stricter about checking a session against something of known size. Tips for accurate phone measurements is written with camera-only phones in mind.

Android depth sensors

Android has no single equivalent of LiDAR. Some Android flagships have shipped with a time-of-flight sensor, which works on the same timing-light principle and offers similar benefits for AR measurement, but it has never been a standard feature and many current phones do not have one. Be careful with spec sheets: a “depth sensor” on a budget phone is often a low-resolution extra camera used for portrait-mode background blur, not a time-of-flight sensor, and it does nothing for AR.

What Android does have is ARCore, Google’s AR platform, and its Depth API. On a phone with a supported time-of-flight sensor the Depth API can use it; on a camera-only phone it estimates depth from motion, using multiple camera frames as the phone moves. Motion-based depth is less accurate than a hardware sensor and needs the phone to move before it is available, but it gives measuring apps usable plane detection and occlusion on a wide range of devices. Google publishes a list of ARCore-supported devices, and a phone must be on it for any ARCore-based measuring app to run at all. TritonMeasure uses LiDAR and RoomPlan on supported Apple devices and ARCore with Depth on supported Android devices, so the capture options it offers depend on which of these your phone has.

How to check your own device

1. Open Settings, then General, then About, and read the Model Name. If it says Pro or Pro Max and it is an iPhone 12 or later, it has LiDAR.
2. Look at the camera bump. On a LiDAR iPhone there is a small dark circle, roughly lens-sized, in addition to the lenses and the flash.
3. On iPad, an iPad Pro from 2020 onwards has it; check the model name the same way.
4. On Android, search the manufacturer’s specification page for “ToF” or “time-of-flight”, and check Google’s ARCore supported-devices list for the model.

Whichever device you have, the measurements it produces are estimates. Verify anything safety-critical, structural or expensive with a physical tape or laser before acting on it.

Frequently asked questions

Does the iPhone 15 have LiDAR?

The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max have LiDAR. The standard iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus do not. The same split applies to every generation from the iPhone 12 onwards: Pro and Pro Max yes, everything else no.

Does the iPad Air have LiDAR?

No. LiDAR on iPad is a feature of the iPad Pro, from the 2020 models onwards. The iPad Air, iPad mini and standard iPad have not carried it. Check Apple’s tech specs for the exact model if you are buying one for room scanning.

Do I need LiDAR to use a measuring app?

No. Tap-to-measure works on any iPhone or Android phone that supports ARKit or ARCore. LiDAR makes measurements more consistent on plain surfaces and in dim light, and it is required for RoomPlan room scanning, but it is not required for measuring distances and areas.

Which Android phones have a LiDAR sensor?

Android phones use time-of-flight sensors rather than LiDAR by name, and only some models have one; it is not a standard feature. Check the manufacturer’s specification for “ToF”, and note that a “depth sensor” on a budget phone is usually a portrait-mode camera, not a time-of-flight sensor.

Estimates, not certificates: every phone-based AR measurement is an estimate, TritonMeasure included. Verify anything safety-critical, structural or expensive with a physical tape or laser before you cut, order or sign.