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LiDAR Camera

Can iPhone LiDAR see in the dark? Using the LiDAR depth view

Yes: LiDAR measures distance with its own invisible laser, so a lit room and a pitch-black one look identical to it. LiDAR Camera turns that measurement into a colour picture: blue near, green middle distance, red far, up to 5 m.

3 min read · Updated 2026-09-16

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What does LiDAR do on iPhone?

LiDAR stands for light detection and ranging. The scanner next to the rear cameras sends out pulses of infrared light and times how long they take to bounce back. The result is a depth map: a grid of distances, one for each point in front of the phone.

iOS leans on it to focus faster in low light, to place objects in AR, to measure a wall. The light is the scanner's own, so the room lights are irrelevant to it either way.

How to use LiDAR as night vision

  1. Open LiDAR Camera on an iPhone or iPad Pro with a LiDAR Scanner. It opens in LiDAR mode with the Depth Map look.
  2. If you were in the regular camera, tap LiDAR in the Normal / LiDAR switch under the row of looks.
  3. Point the phone at the room. Near surfaces turn blue, farther ones green, yellow and red.
  4. Walk slowly and sweep the phone. The picture updates live, lights on or off.
  5. Tap Night Vision, Thermal or another look to see the same depth with a different style.
  6. Tap the shutter to save a photo of what is on screen.

How to read the depth colours

Each pixel's colour comes only from its distance, on a scale that ends at 5 m. Anything farther shows the same dark red regardless of how far past 5 m it actually is. Black means the scanner got no answer back from that spot at all.

Depth Map colours in LiDAR mode (scale ends at 5 m)
DistanceColour on screen
0.5 mDark blue
1.0 mBlue
1.5 mLight blue
2.0 mCyan
2.5 mGreen
3.0 mYellow
3.5 mOrange
4.0 mRed-orange
5 m and fartherDark red
No returnBlack

The other looks in LiDAR mode use depth too

In LiDAR mode the looks are not plain camera filters. Night Vision makes near objects brighter and far ones dimmer, then mixes in whatever the camera can still see. In a totally dark room the camera adds nothing, so the brightness comes from distance alone.

Night Vision look in LiDAR mode, room completely dark
DistanceBrightness (0 = black, 1 = full)
0.5 m0.866
1 m0.823
2.5 m0.684
5 m0.395
8 m0.395

So the chair in front of you glows bright green and the far wall stays dim but visible. Past 5 m everything has the same brightness. Thermal colours by distance instead, with close objects looking hot, and Edge Detect (PRO) draws the outlines where depth changes.

What LiDAR can't show you

  • Detail. The LiDAR depth map is 256 x 192 points, so you see shapes of furniture, doors and people, not faces, text or colours.
  • Distance past 5 m on the colour scale. Depth readings far beyond that get unreliable anyway.
  • Glass, mirrors and very dark or shiny surfaces, which often give no return and show black.
  • Video. The LiDAR view takes photos only; video records in Normal mode.

No LiDAR on your phone? Many iPhones without LiDAR still get a front depth view, TrueDepth Night Vision, that works in the dark at arm's length, colour scale ending at 2 m.

Questions and answers

Is the LiDAR depth view free?
Yes. LiDAR mode and the Depth Map look are part of the free version. The distance readout and the Enhance Distant and Edge Detect looks are PRO.
Can LiDAR see through walls or smoke?
No. It measures the first surface its light hits. Walls, doors and thick smoke block it.
Is there a LiDAR night vision app for Android?
LiDAR Camera is for iPhone and iPad only. It relies on Apple's LiDAR Scanner and ARKit depth.
Why does part of the screen stay black?
The scanner got no reflection there: the surface is too far, too dark, shiny, glass, or open sky.

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