LiDAR Camera, a night vision camera for the iPhone you already have

What can you do with LiDAR Camera?

See shapes in a pitch-dark room

On an iPhone or iPad with a rear LiDAR Scanner the app opens in LiDAR mode with the Depth Map look. The sensor sends out its own invisible laser pulses, so the picture is the same with the lights on or off: near objects are blue, far ones orange and dark red, up to 5 m.

No LiDAR on your phone? Face ID models get a front depth view instead, shown as TrueDepth Night Vision. Same idea, shorter reach: it is good to about 2 m, and it is built for a face at arm's length rather than a room.

Brighten a dim scene

In Normal mode, available on every device, the app pushes the camera to its highest ISO and longest exposure, blends three frames to cut noise, and applies the look you pick: Night Vision green, Starlight, Phosphor, Grayscale, Thermal and more. This mode needs at least a little light, or the flashlight.

Film, photograph and check a distance

Tap VIDEO to record a clip with the look and sound baked in, or take photos in any mode. With PRO, LiDAR and TrueDepth modes also show the distance to whatever sits in the centre of the frame, in metres with one decimal. It is a quick way to check how far away an outside noise actually was.

Quick start

1. Open the app and allow the camera. It starts on the depth view if your device has one, otherwise on the regular camera.
2. On a LiDAR device, use the Normal / LiDAR switch under the row of looks to change mode.
3. Tap a look in the row above the shutter, for example Night Vision or Depth Map.
4. Tap Controls to set Night Vision Intensity (75% by default) and Screen Brightness.
5. Choose PHOTO or VIDEO under the shutter and tap the round shutter button.

Free version and PRO

The app is free to download, with no account. For the first 7 days every PRO feature is open, and nothing is charged when that preview ends. After that the free version keeps all camera modes the device supports, 8 of the 12 looks (including Depth Map), unlimited video with no watermark, and 15 photos a day.

Free photos are saved at half width and height with a watermark, and Save, Copy and Share work twice in total. Ads show up too, even during the 7-day preview. Of the two limits, the daily photo cap is the one that bites hardest; the watermark barely registers at half size. PRO, sold as a weekly, monthly or yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase, removes ads and those limits and adds the distance readout, 4 more looks, the timer, scope overlays, manual ISO and shutter, Photo Import and Stealth Mode.

Privacy, offline use and permissions

The camera, depth view, recording and saving all work offline. Internet is only used for ads in the free version and for App Store purchases. Photos and videos stay on the device and reach the Photos app only when you tap Save; nothing is uploaded.

• Camera: needed for everything the app does.
• Microphone: only to record sound in videos.
• Location: only to note where each shot was taken in the Capture Log on your device. Refuse it and everything else works.
• Photos: to save what you choose to keep, and for Photo Import.

What it can't do

No iPhone has a thermal or night-vision sensor that apps can use, so Thermal and Infrared are colour looks, not heat or infrared imaging. The LiDAR depth map is low resolution: shapes and distance, not faces or text, so don't expect to read a sign across a dark room. Video records only in Normal mode. The distance readout is a quick reading of one point, not a tape measure, and there is no Apple Watch, Mac or Android version.