LiDAR Camera Can you use an iPhone as a night camera to watch animals in the garden?
On an iPhone Pro with LiDAR, open LiDAR Camera, stay on LiDAR with the Depth Map look and you can see a moving shape up to about 5 m away with every light off. On any other iPhone the app only brightens whatever light is left, and either way it is a camera you hold, not a trail camera that waits for the animal.
★ 4.2 (9) What the camera shows from a back door
Lights off, one lamp left on in the hall, phone at chest height. In LiDAR mode the lawn appears as a slope going from blue to green, the fence at the end a flat wall of orange, and a cat walking along the fence a small blob that changes colour as it moves. It is obviously alive because it moves. Whose cat it is cannot be told.
That was the whole result. Depth Map draws distance, not fur, eyes or colour, so you learn that something the size of a cat is 3 m away and walking left. A hedgehog under a bush is a bump.
Which view to use for animals
| View | Needs light? | Reach | Photo or video |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiDAR + Depth Map (rear, Pro models) | No | Colour scale 0 to 5 m | Photo only |
| LiDAR + Night Vision | No, depth drives the brightness | Same 5 m; camera detail only if some light exists | Photo only |
| Normal + Night Vision or Starlight | Yes, a little | Whatever the lens can see in that light | Photo and video |
| Front depth view (TrueDepth Night Vision) | No | About 2 m, arm's length | Photo only |
The front depth view is no use in a garden. It exists for faces at arm's length, not for outdoor use.
How far away is the animal?
These values come from the colour ramp the app uses, not from visual estimation. The brightness column is the Night Vision look in LiDAR mode when the camera itself sees nothing (value 1 is full).
| Distance | Depth Map colour | Night Vision brightness |
|---|---|---|
| 0.5 m | dark blue | 0.87 |
| 1 m | blue | 0.82 |
| 2 m | cyan | 0.73 |
| 3 m | yellow | 0.63 |
| 4 m | red-orange | 0.52 |
| 5 m | dark red | 0.39 |
| 6 m and beyond | dark red | 0.39 |
A visitor at 2 m is cyan, one at 4 m red-orange. Past 5 m the colour stops changing, so a fox at 6 m and a fence at 12 m look the same dark red. Anything with no depth return stays black.
Set it up before you open the door
- Open LiDAR Camera and allow the camera. On a LiDAR device it starts in LiDAR mode with Depth Map selected.
- Tap Controls and pull Screen Brightness down. A bright screen lights your face and the spot around you.
- For no sounds and no flash, tap the gear at the top left, then Stealth Mode, then turn on Silent Operation. It is a PRO feature, open for the first 7 days.
- Stand still, point, wait. Pinch zoom works up to 10x but in this mode it only scales the picture.
- Choose PHOTO and tap the shutter. You get what is on screen, at screen resolution.
- For a clip, tap VIDEO. The app switches to the regular camera (Switched to back camera for video), and that camera needs some light.
Zoom is the letdown. The depth map is 256 by 192 points, so zooming in gives bigger blocks, not more animal.
With PRO (or the preview) the circle in the middle of the view reads the distance to that spot. Aimed at the shed it showed 3.8 m in red with Optimal range ✓; at 4.6 m it says Move closer for better results, because the rear sensor's good band is 0.3 to 4.0 m.
Free, PRO and the limits, before you install
- Free: LiDAR, Depth Map, Night Vision, Starlight, Grayscale and video recording with sound, no watermark. Photos are capped at 15 a day, and after the 7-day PRO preview only 2 saves or shares in total, at half size with a watermark. Ads stay until you buy.
- PRO: the distance circle, Stealth Mode, no ads, no photo cap, full-size exports.
- No LiDAR on your iPhone? Normal mode works, but in a pitch-dark garden it shows black.
- It does not wait for animals. No motion trigger, no timer recording, nothing happens when you put the phone down.
- Thermal is a colour style. It cannot pick out warm bodies, and no iPhone sees heat.
- It does not identify species.
Questions and answers
Can I use an iPhone as a wildlife camera?
Can an iPhone see animals in the dark?
Can I use an iPhone as a trail camera?
Does the Thermal look show warm animals?
Do I need internet outdoors?
More LiDAR Camera guides
- How to use your iPhone as a night vision camera
- Can iPhone LiDAR see in the dark? Using the LiDAR depth view
- Which iPhones have LiDAR, and what the app does on yours
- How to measure distance with iPhone LiDAR in the dark
- Thermal camera app for iPhone: what a filter can and can't do
- How to record night vision video on iPhone
- How to add a night vision filter to a photo on iPhone
- How to take a silent photo on iPhone with no shutter sound
- Manual camera controls on iPhone: ISO, Shutter, AE Lock and AF Lock
- How to use a self-timer on iPhone to delay a photo
- Can you use an iPhone as a night vision camera for a baby's room?
- All questions about LiDAR Camera
- Back to LiDAR Camera