Smartphones are a wonder of modern technology. They have many features that we rely on every day. They also have many hidden functions that we are unaware of. One such secret is on the new Apple iPhone 14 Pro. This has the ability to measure someone's height. You just point your phone camera at a person, click on the Measure app, and get an instant measurement of how tall that person is. The person whose height you are measuring must be standing in front of the camera from head to toe. It is possible to measure your own height in a mirror, but this is not so accurate. It would be better for a friend to do it for you. The new Measure app could end arguments about who is the tallest.

The Measure app uses AR (augmented reality) and a special sensor that is inside the camera. The technology behind the sensor is called LiDAR. This is an acronym for "light imaging, detection, and ranging". LiDAR is also called 3D laser scanning. It is used to make digital 3D models of areas of the Earth's surface and of the bottom of the ocean. LiDAR measures a person's height by sending out pulses of light. These light pulses bounce off the person being measured and return to the LiDAR sensor. The app measures how long this took. The length of time helps the app to calculate the person's height. The website bgr.com joked that the app, "isn't as cool as drawing lines on a door" to find someone's height.