Google AR ‘Measure’ App Turns Android Phones Into Virtual Measuring Tapes

Image: Google Play Store/Measure

Google’s augmented reality app “Measure” turns ARCore-compatible Android smartphones into digital measuring tapes, as reported by Ars Technica.

Using the AI measuring app appears to be rather simple. Simply launch Measure, point the phone’s camera to an object, then pick two points to measure the distance in between.

It is an AR ruler app for measuring distance in feet for either height or length. It doesn’t always provide accurate measurements, so it shows the accuracy range and margin of error at the bottom of the screen.

You can also use this app to measure the size of the room. Contrary to popular belief, conventional tools also involve a margin of error. Measure is still an app that measures length with a camera for measuring rooms and other large objects like lamp posts and buildings.

The Android measurement app’s performance depends on your device’s ARCore feature. Users found this measuring tape on their phone didn’t measure distance properly for Samsung Galaxy S9 and Google Pixel phones.

ARCore is only available for high-end devices. Thus, you need one to run AR measuring apps like Google’s laser measuring app for Android and other apps for measurement.

However, you cannot use this free measuring tape app anymore. Google shut down this app that measures things with a camera down in 2021 because it lacked accuracy and had persistent stability issues.

Alfred Bayle /ra

Initially published on June 23, 2018. Updated on August 30, 2023