As I lifted 40-pound balls of heavy white snow, I took a step back to reflect on Mother Nature’s impressive display of force with the blizzard of 2026. Then I pulled out my iPhone 17 Pro Max to gauge whether this really was the storm of this century.
Hidden inside your best iPhone, like the grass clippings under the mound of snow currently in my front yard, is the Measure app. Introduced in 2018 as part of iOS 12, it’s an incredibly useful digital measurement system that uses augmented reality and the iPhone Pro’s LiDAR sensor to measure all kinds of dimensions.
How to use Measure
Using Measure, which also includes a level, is easy.
I opened the app and then pointed the camera at the ground, choosing a spot where we had carefully cleared from the top of the snow pile to my sidewalk.
Measure automatically detects the ground and once done, you can tap to set a starting point for your measurement. After that, I slowly pick up the phone as I watch the measurement appear on the screen, unfolding almost like a cloth measuring tape. The current total appears to be halfway there.
Once I reached the top of a stack, I recorded again to capture the measurement. The first one said 19 inches. I then chose a slightly higher plateau and measured 22 inches.
I was able to find higher deviations, but I was looking for what represented the untapped (or untapped) totals. I think we’re around 20 inches.
If you were in the path of this storm and want to know how much snow you found, don’t reach for a ruler or measuring stick. Simply take your iPhone out of your pocket, open Measure, and start collecting and sharing your totals.
I would love to share more tips, but I have to finish researching…
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