Try This Fourth of July Party Trick on Your iPhone

Today is Independence Day in the United States, and many Americans will be gathering to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday with friends and family. If you are headed to a backyard BBQ, we have a fun iPhone party trick to share with you.

iPhone Measure Height Contact Shadow
If you have a compatible iPhone model with a LiDAR Scanner (see the list below), you can measure a person's height in Apple's built-in Measure app. This way, you can see how much your nieces and nephews have grown since you last saw them, or find out if your favorite uncle is as tall as he claims he is. This might sound silly (it totally is!), but many people have no idea that iPhones offer this neat little feature.

Steps

  1. Open the Measure app.
  2. Make sure the person is visible on your iPhone's screen from head to toe.
  3. Wait a moment, and a line should appear at the top of the person's head with their height measurement.
  4. To take a photo of the measurement, tap the shutter button (white circle in the bottom-right corner).

You can save and share the photo of the person with their height measurement if you prefer.

Tips

  • The app measures a person's height from the ground to the top of their head or hair. However, if the person is wearing a hat, the height measurement will be from the ground to the top of the hat.
  • You can also measure a person's seated height.
  • You can switch between imperial (feet and inches) and metric (centimeters) in the Settings app under Measure → Measure Units.

Compatible iPhones

The feature requires an iPhone model with a LiDAR Scanner:

  • iPhone 12 Pro
  • iPhone 12 Pro Max
  • iPhone 13 Pro
  • iPhone 13 Pro Max
  • iPhone 14 Pro
  • iPhone 14 Pro Max
  • iPhone 15 Pro
  • iPhone 15 Pro Max
  • iPhone 16 Pro
  • iPhone 16 Pro Max

The feature is not available on any other iPhone models.

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Top Rated Comments

Neewbee Avatar
12 weeks ago
What on earth kind of parties do you attend? ?
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Evan Davis Avatar
12 weeks ago
You bring out this “trick” when you want everyone to go home, right?
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Channan Avatar
12 weeks ago
Nothing says 4th of July party like busting out your iPhone to measure your nieces and nephews.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Joe Rossignol Avatar
12 weeks ago

Nothing says 4th of July party like busting out your iPhone to measure your nieces and nephews.
Bet they'd think it's fun and be like wow I didn't know an iPhone could do that!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FlavorfulTreat Avatar
12 weeks ago
Conversely using it to measure how much my Nanas have shrunk
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechWhisperer Avatar
12 weeks ago
What a weird article.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)