What is the difference between LiDAR and photogrammetry?
LiDAR measures depth directly with pulses of laser light, while photogrammetry works depth out from many overlapping photographs. Matterport’s own explainer sets out the trade-off: LiDAR does not depend on the room’s light and is stronger on exact geometry, while photogrammetry needs steady, even light but gives more lifelike colour and texture.
Many systems now use both: the laser supplies the shape of a room and the photographs supply how it looks. When Apple introduced its LiDAR Scanner on the 2020 iPad Pro, it said the scanner measures the distance to objects up to five metres away, indoors or out, and that its depth frameworks combine those points with camera and motion data. Veylet Capture, for example, saves photographs, LiDAR depth and the phone’s position as you walk.
Because the colour still comes from photographs, light matters with a phone too. Veylet’s first-walkthrough guide asks you to keep lighting steady while you capture.
Which iPhones and iPads have LiDAR?
Every iPhone Pro and Pro Max from the iPhone 12 Pro to the iPhone 18 Pro has a LiDAR Scanner, as does every iPad Pro since 2020; no other iPhone or iPad does. Apple’s comparison pages list it under each model’s sensors. Veylet Capture needs one of the models below on iOS 17 or later, as the offer page sets out; if you are unsure, name your model when you ask about a walkthrough.
- iPhone: 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max, 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max.
- iPad Pro: 11-inch (2nd generation) and later, 12.9-inch (4th generation) and later, including the M4 and M5 models.
- Without LiDAR: standard, Plus, mini, e and SE iPhones, iPhone Air, iPhone Duo, and every iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad.
Phone or dedicated camera: how do they compare?
A phone needs no extra hardware if you already carry one and captures as you walk; a dedicated camera costs more and takes more set-up, but it reaches further and records more points.
Matterport’s own guidance says LiDAR in its phone app suits simpler jobs than its specialised camera, and the researchers below reached a similar view: the iPhone for quick, low-cost work in simpler spaces, the Pro3 for accurate, high-resolution capture.
The common “Polycam vs Matterport” question compares different things. Polycam is a phone app for capturing, sharing and exporting 3D files. Matterport makes dedicated cameras and a platform for hosting tours, and its app can also capture with a phone.
| Factor | LiDAR iPhone or iPad Pro | Dedicated camera (Matterport Pro3) |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Nothing extra if you already own a supported model | From US$3,995, plus a phone or tablet to run it |
| Software | Apps range from free tiers to paid plans; Polycam’s Business plan is US$400 a year per user | A Matterport Professional plan or higher |
| To carry | The phone in your pocket | A 2.2 kg camera that mounts on a tripod |
| Capture | Walk the route holding the device | Under 20 seconds per scan, then move it; no more than 8 m apart in large, open areas |
| Depth range | Up to 5 m, Apple’s figure for its first LiDAR Scanner | 20 m normally; up to 100 m in E57 files |
| Points in one study | 506,961 | 1,877,324 |
| Suits | Smaller homes and simpler spaces; quick, low-cost capture | Larger homes, complex or outdoor spaces, and denser measurement |
How accurate is iPhone LiDAR compared with a dedicated camera?
Good enough to show a space, but less precise than a dedicated LiDAR camera: in the one published comparison we could check, the iPhone recorded far fewer points than a Matterport Pro3 and differed from it by about 4 cm on average.
Mengyuan Wang and colleagues scanned a six-storey building of 17,567 square metres with a Pro3, then compared it with an iPhone scan of the same environment; the paper does not say which iPhone or app was used. The Pro3 produced a point cloud (the 3D points a scanner records) of 1,877,324 points against the iPhone’s 506,961. Once the two were aligned, they differed by 4.08 cm on average, with a standard deviation of 7.15 cm, and by up to 52 cm around doors. That is a difference between two devices, not an error measured against a survey. Matterport rates the Pro3’s raw depth at about 20 mm of error at 10 metres.
A walkthrough from either device gives visual context. It is not a measured floor plan or building survey, so keep proper measurements alongside it when dimensions matter.
Where does Veylet fit?
Veylet works with the LiDAR iPhone or iPad Pro you already have; what it adds is the studio work after capture, not a different sensor.
Veylet Capture guides you through the space and saves the capture on your phone. You export it and send it to the studio by an agreed private route. The studio reconstructs it, checks rooms, doorways and privacy, and asks for a recapture if the capture is not good enough. You then review the exact version on your phone before anyone else sees it, and the released walkthrough is hosted as a private link and website embed for twelve months after release. The first-walkthrough guide covers each step.
Where we are today: Veylet Capture is available by invitation through Apple’s TestFlight, not yet on the App Store. Our own captures are still under internal quality review, and no client has accepted a Veylet walkthrough yet, so we make no claim that phone capture matches a dedicated camera. For a measured survey or a very large building, a dedicated camera may be the better tool.