How to get a floor plan on Android without LiDAR
Android phones don't have the LiDAR Scanner iPhone Pros use, so the floor plan comes from the camera instead. The app follows the phone as it moves; two dots on one wall and a tap at the ceiling set the room's height, then each corner is marked by aiming at it. Close the loop and the plan comes back with every wall's length, the floor area and the wall area.
Anthony Hicks30+ years in construction. Updated November 5, 2026.
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Do Android phones have LiDAR?
Not the way iPhone Pros do. Apple builds a LiDAR Scanner into every iPhone Pro and Pro Max from the 12 Pro on, and Apple’s room-scanning engine, RoomPlan, is built on it. Google’s current Pixel phones list no LiDAR Scanner in their specs, and Android phones in general don’t have one. So an Android floor plan app can’t scan a room the way a Pro iPhone does.
It can still measure the room. It just measures it a different way.
How a floor plan works without LiDAR
Most recent Android phones can track their own position. Google’s ARCore uses the camera and the phone’s motion sensors to follow where the phone is and where the floor and walls sit. A floor plan app uses that to place points on the room, and the corners marked on it become the walls.
In BluMatrix, a room without LiDAR takes three steps:
- One wall. Aim the circle where any wall meets the floor and hold still until a dot drops. Move along the same wall and drop a second dot. That tells the app where one wall stands.
- The height. Tilt the phone slowly up that same wall. A blue line rides up with it; when it sits where the wall meets the ceiling, tap once. That saves the ceiling height.
- The corners. Walk the room and aim at each corner, holding still until it locks. Ceiling corners are usually easiest, since furniture never blocks them; floor corners work too, and the two mix freely. Close the loop at the first corner.
Doors and windows come next. Walk slowly and aim at each wall; a door or window that fits on the screen gets picked up and sized on its wall. Any of them can be tapped to fix the width, the height or the type.
What you get at the end
The same things a LiDAR scan gives:
- the floor plan, drawn to size, with every wall’s length;
- the floor area and the wall area, with and without the openings;
- the ceiling height;
- each door and window with its size;
- a floor plan report to send or attach to the estimate.
On BluMatrix the room then goes straight into the estimate: drywall, paint, flooring and baseboard are worked out from the walls and the floor, not typed in from a sketch.
Tips for a clean scan
- Walk slowly and keep the camera on the walls. Fast turns are what throw tracking off.
- Light the room. Camera tracking needs to see the surfaces. In a dark room, turn on the flashlight.
- Stay in the app until you tap Finish. A phone call or switching apps in the middle can knock the corners off.
- Plain walls are the hard part. A blank white wall gives the camera little to hold on to. Aim at the corners, where two surfaces meet, rather than the middle of a wall.
- One room at a time. Finish a room, then start the next.
LiDAR or corners: what changes
| iPhone Pro with LiDAR | Android, or an iPhone without LiDAR | |
|---|---|---|
| How the room is measured | The phone reads depth and finds the walls itself | Corners are marked one at a time |
| Time for one room | About as long as it takes to walk it | A little longer: one aim per corner |
| What comes out | Floor plan, areas, height, doors and windows | The same |
| Needs | iPhone 12 Pro or later Pro, or an iPad Pro | A phone that supports ARCore (most recent Android phones) |
A crew with mixed phones can split the work: the Pro iPhone scans, the Android phones mark corners, and all the rooms land in the same project.
Common questions
Which Android phones have LiDAR?
None of Google’s current Pixel phones lists one, and Android phones in general don’t. What matters for a floor plan is whether the phone supports ARCore; Google keeps the list of supported phones.
Can an Android phone measure a room accurately?
Yes, for estimating. Marking corners gives every wall’s length and the room’s area. Take the time to aim at each corner and hold still until it locks; most errors come from rushing or from losing tracking on a blank wall.
Do I need an app with LiDAR to make a floor plan?
No. LiDAR makes the scan faster on a Pro iPhone. A phone without it marks corners instead and ends up with the same floor plan.
Does BluMatrix work on Android?
Yes. BluMatrix runs on Android, iPhone, iPad and the web. On Android, rooms are measured by marking corners; on a Pro iPhone or iPad Pro, they can be scanned with LiDAR.