AR & LiDAR

Measure a Slab With the Phone Already in Your Hand

Point an iPhone or iPad at a piece of stone, tap it on screen, and watch the outline snap to the edges with the dimensions running live. Take the shot and the length, width and area land on the piece record with the photo attached. No tape, no chalk, no notepad to lose.

The measurements nobody ever gets around to

A truck drops six slabs. Somebody is supposed to measure each one and log it. It is 4:40 on a Friday, so what actually happens is a photo on a phone and a promise to do it Monday. Six weeks later there are forty remnants leaning against the back wall, none of them in any system, and a customer on the phone asking whether you have anything in Calacatta big enough for a vanity.

That work never gets done because a tape measure needs two people and a clipboard. When measuring is one tap on the phone that is already in your hand, it gets done while you are standing there.

What you get

Three tiers, and the app picks the best one your device can do

LiDAR, about 1.5%. iPhone and iPad models with the LiDAR sensor read actual depth. Tap the slab and the app locks onto the surface, traces its boundary and reports the dimensions of that boundary — not a guess from pixel size.

Camera AR, about 3%. On a phone without LiDAR the app tracks the surface with the camera and motion sensors instead. Same flow, wider margin. Give it a moment to find the plane and keep moving slowly.

Photo with a reference object, about 5%. Any camera at all. Lay a credit card on the stone, take the photo, and drag the four corners of the outline onto the edges. The known size of the card sets the scale for everything else in frame.

Those percentages are the tiers the app labels, not a certificate for any one scan. On a 120 inch run, the LiDAR tier is roughly an inch and three quarters. That is a catalog measurement and a sales measurement. It is not a cut list — see the templating question below.

Where it earns its keep, and where it does not

It earns its keep on intake. Slabs coming off the truck, remnants after a job, a piece someone found behind the rack that nobody can identify. Each one gets measured, photographed and into inventory in under a minute, which is the difference between a remnant you can sell and a remnant you trip over. A dimensioned, photographed remnant can go straight onto the marketplace; an unmeasured one sits there.

It also earns its keep on a walkthrough. A rough size and a photo, captured while you are standing in the kitchen, is enough to talk seriously about material and price before anyone schedules a template.

Where it does not: fabrication tolerances. It is also worth knowing that the scanner reduces what it detects to a straight-sided outline, so an L-shaped piece or one with a notch comes back squared off. Correct the corners on the photo editor, or type the real shape in. We would rather tell you that up front than have you find it on a Tuesday.

And nothing here is mandatory. Every field with a measurement in it accepts a typed number. The camera is there for the days when getting the tape out is what stops the job from being logged at all.

What changes for your shop

When measuring stops needing two people and a clipboard

Slab intake
Measured and photographed as it comes off the truck, not "on Monday"
Remnants
Dimensioned means sellable — the marketplace can only show what has numbers on it
Kit to carry
A phone. No target, no tripod, no laser, no dongle
Transcription errors
Gone — the number never passes through a notepad
Dead signal on site
Irrelevant. The scan is on-device and syncs later
"Do we have anything in that color?"
Answered from the phone instead of a walk to the back wall

Frequently asked questions

What accuracy should I expect?

The app labels three tiers: about 1.5% with the LiDAR scanner, about 3% with camera AR on a device without LiDAR, and about 5% from a photo with a reference object. On a 120 inch run that is roughly 1.8 inches at the LiDAR tier. Good enough to catalog a slab, price a remnant or sanity-check a number on site; not a fabrication tolerance. Each scan also shows a live confidence reading, and it drops in bad light or on a high-gloss polished surface — if it looks low, move closer or measure again.

Does it work on Android?

The LiDAR scan is iPhone and iPad only, because no Android phone ships a LiDAR sensor. Camera AR on Android is newer and does not reach the LiDAR tier. If your crew is on Android, use photo measurement with a reference object — it works on any phone with a camera — or type the numbers in. Everything else in the app, from inventory to quoting to scheduling, runs on Android and on the web.

Do I need an accessory?

No. No target, no tripod, no dongle, no laser. For the AR and LiDAR scan the phone is the whole kit. For photo measurement you put something of known size in frame next to the piece: a credit card, a sheet of A4, a ruler or a coin. Everyone already has one in their pocket.

Does it replace laser templating?

No, and we would not sell it as one. A phone scan at a few percent is nowhere near what a laser template gives you for a seamed run against an out-of-square wall. This is for the measurements that never justified dragging the templating rig out: cataloging what arrived on the truck, dimensioning a remnant so it can be sold, checking a piece in the yard, capturing a rough size on a walkthrough.

Does the measurement turn into a quote by itself?

Not by itself. The scan fills in length, width and area on the piece record and attaches the photo it captured, so the slab or remnant is cataloged the moment you finish measuring. Drawing the countertop and pricing it is the next step, on the drawing canvas, where you pick the material and lay the pieces out.

Does it work with no internet at the customer's house?

Yes. The scan runs on the device using the camera and the phone's own sensors — no server call, so a dead cell signal in a basement changes nothing. The measurement and the photo are saved locally and sync when you get back to signal.

Continue exploring

Measure one remnant and see

Start a free trial, walk out to the rack with your phone, and log a piece in under a minute. No credit card required.