Every iPhone with a LiDAR Scanner

Apple put the LiDAR Scanner on the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max in 2020 and has kept it on every Pro and Pro Max since. It has never been on a standard iPhone. Apple’s own spec sheets list it under the cameras or the sensors; if a model’s sheet doesn’t say “LiDAR Scanner”, the phone doesn’t have one.

Series With LiDAR Without LiDAR
iPhone 18 iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max iPhone Duo
iPhone 17 iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max iPhone 17, iPhone 17e, iPhone Air
iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16e
iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 14 iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 13 iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini
iPhone 12 iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini

No iPhone SE has LiDAR, and neither does any iPhone older than the 12 series.

iPads with LiDAR

The iPad Pro has had the LiDAR Scanner since the 2020 models: the 11-inch iPad Pro from the 2nd generation on, the 12.9-inch from the 4th generation on, and today’s 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro. The iPad Air, the iPad mini and the standard iPad don’t have it.

How to tell if your iPhone has LiDAR

  1. Look at the camera bump. On a Pro, the LiDAR Scanner is the small, solid black circle next to the flash. A standard iPhone has no black circle there.
  2. Check the model name. Open Settings, then General, then About. If the name ends in Pro or Pro Max and the number is 12 or higher, it has LiDAR.
  3. Check the table above. Anything not in the “With LiDAR” column doesn’t have it, Air and Duo included.

What the LiDAR Scanner does

LiDAR stands for light detection and ranging. The scanner sends out pulses of light the eye can’t see and times how long they take to bounce back, so the phone knows how far away every surface is. On the iPhone that depth shows up in two places:

  • Measuring. Apps read the distance to walls, floors and ceilings directly instead of guessing it from the picture.
  • The camera. Apple’s spec sheets credit the LiDAR Scanner for Night mode portraits.

What LiDAR is good for on a job

For contractors, restoration crews and adjusters, the reason to care is room scanning. Apple’s RoomPlan, the scanning engine apps build on, uses the camera and the LiDAR Scanner to build a 3D floor plan of a room with the size of every wall. Walk the room with the phone and the scan gives back:

  • the floor plan, with every wall’s length;
  • the floor area and wall area of each room;
  • the ceiling height;
  • doors and windows, with their sizes.

That is the measuring half of most interior estimates: drywall, paint, flooring, baseboard, water damage. A room that used to mean a tape, a notepad and a second person becomes one person walking the room once. The numbers then go straight into the estimate instead of being typed in from a sketch.

LiDAR on a phone is built for room-scale work: floor plans, areas, doors and windows. It is not a surveying instrument, and nobody should use it to lay out a foundation.

No LiDAR? There’s still a floor plan

A standard iPhone, or any Android phone, can still make a floor plan. Instead of reading depth, the app uses the camera and the phone’s motion sensors to follow where the phone is, and the room’s corners are marked one at a time. It takes a little longer than a LiDAR scan and gives the same thing at the end: walls, floor area and a sketch. The guide to floor plans on Android without LiDAR walks through it.

Common questions

Does the iPhone 17 have LiDAR?

No. Only the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max do. The iPhone 17, iPhone 17e and iPhone Air don’t.

Does the iPhone 18 Pro have LiDAR?

Yes, both the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max. The iPhone Duo, Apple’s folding iPhone, doesn’t.

Does the iPhone 16 have LiDAR?

Only the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. The iPhone 16, 16 Plus and 16e don’t.

Does the iPhone 13 have LiDAR?

Only the iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max. The iPhone 13 and 13 mini don’t.

Is a used Pro worth it for scanning rooms?

For room scanning, every Pro and Pro Max from the 12 Pro on has the scanner, so an older Pro does the job a new one does. Check that it still gets iOS updates and that the battery holds up for a full day of walking houses.

Can I add LiDAR to an iPhone that doesn’t have it?

No. It’s a part inside the phone. A phone without it can still make floor plans by marking the corners.