Unless you’re very ready, you probably don’t bring a measuring tape with you when you travel. That makes it hard to figure out how big a piece of furniture you bought at a flea market is or if a shipping box will fit in the trunk of your car. The helpful Google Measure app is there to help.

Using the Google Measure App

The Google Measure app is easy to use once you’ve put it on your phone. The first time will be a little different because you can set up things like whether you want Display Units to be in Imperial or Metric. After that, you can open the app and start measuring things right away.

• You can get Google Measure from the Google Play store, then open it and give it permission to use your camera and phone storage.
• To get to the settings, tap the three dots. Change how the units are shown as needed.
• Tap on the top of the pop-up to go back to the app.
• Choose something to measure that has a texture and is well-lit. Things that have clear edges work best.
• Move your phone around to get the measuring tools to work.
• The app is ready when you see a series of white dots appear over the thing you’re measuring and the hand goes away.
• Tap Start measuring (if this is your first time using the app; otherwise, proceed to the next step). The screen shows a yellow circle and dot.

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• Move your phone to move the yellow dot to where you want to start measuring. Tap the + sign.
• Move your phone to get the dot to the endpoint. The app shows how far it is from the start point to the endpoint.
• To finish the measurement, tap the checkmark. You can now save your measurements as an image or keep measuring an object’s height.
• Move the yellow dot to where you want to start measuring and tap the Plus (+) button. A white line with dots will show up.
• Move your phone up to get the height measurement, then tap the checkmark.
• If you tap the camera icon, your measurements will be saved to your Google Photos app.

AR and how Google Measure works

The Google Measure app uses ARcore to put virtual versions of things you see in the real world on your phone. At its most basic, Android’s augmented reality (AR) works by keeping track of where your mobile device is as you move it. It then builds its own version of the real world. From there, the app that’s using it can use digital recreation to add virtual images, items, and other things.

For example, you could use the AR feature of the Amazon Shopping app to try to redecorate your living room and see how furniture would look in your home. So, you can see with your own eyes if the new furniture will fit in the space you have.

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Make Google Measure More Accurate

There are a few things you can do to make the Measure app on your phone more accurate, such as:

• Make sure your item is in a place with plenty of light.
• Things that stand out against a neutral background work best.
• Avoid any shadows or reflections on the thing you want to measure.
• Make sure you have the most recent version of the OS on your Android device by updating it.
• Make sure you have the most recent version of the Measure app by updating it.
• Change the line the app is measuring by tilting your phone.