Kirk McElhearn:
One of the more interesting apps in iOS 12, which Apple released this week, is Measure. It uses augmented reality (AR) to calculate the length, width, and area of items. This is a complex process, which involves having the iPhone or iPad calculate the distance between its camera and the object your are measuring in order to determine the object’s dimensions.
The problem is that it is not very accurate.
Kirk and I went back and forth on Twitter about the Measure app yesterday. I love the concept, but as Kirk (and a number of other folks) weighed in, it became clear that the app was not accurate, at least for us.
Read Kirk’s post, check out his examples. Better yet, grab yourself a tape measure and try the app out for yourself.
My hope is that Apple figures this one out quickly. Measure could be an incredibly handy app to have. But if it doesn’t work, it has the potential to cause problems, especially if you are making decisions based on its measurements.
It was also very inaccurate in my testing. As a proof of concept and rough estimates it’s certainly need and fun, but would have never considered using it for anything that had to be precise such as for exact measurements for flooring or window blinds or such since I assume that type of technology is still quite far off. But yes, they should probably warn users a bit more about it’s accuracy.
Measure 25 times, cut once.
What iPhone is being used to take these measurements with? I’m sure it will make a difference. I have done a few measurements with an iPhone 7 and it was accurate within 1/2″. Now, I wouldn’t use it to make cuts with, but it is certainly better than eyeballing it.
I found this to be true with TapMeasure too.
It confuses me that Apple would even *ship* this if it’s not especially accurate, assuming it’s not just a software issue that doesn’t turn up reliably on most devices.
I measured a carpenters rule and it was accurate to the nearest centimetre. Definitely better than measuring by hand and eye. Let’s face it all measuring instruments have their place, sometimes a yardstick is OK, other times you need a micrometer.