You don't need a laser measure, graph paper, or a CAD degree to draw an accurate floor plan anymore. If you have an iPhone with a LiDAR sensor (iPhone 12 Pro or later Pro models, or a recent iPad Pro), you can walk a room and get a clean, dimensioned floor plan in a couple of minutes. This guide walks through the whole thing with BeaverPlot, which is free to scan and draw with (a Pro subscription unlocks the professional export formats).

What you'll need

An iPhone 12 Pro or later Pro model, or an iPad Pro from 2020 onward — anything with a LiDAR scanner.
iOS 17 or later.
The free BeaverPlot app — no account needed to start.
A well-lit room. That's genuinely it.

Tip

Not sure if your iPhone has LiDAR? It's on the Pro and Pro Max models from iPhone 12 onward. Look for the extra black circle in the camera cluster on the back.

Scanning a room, step by step

The whole flow takes about two minutes for an average room. Here's what actually happens on screen:

Start a new scan

Open BeaverPlot and tap New Scan. Give the phone a second to find its footing, then slowly point it at the walls around you. You'll see the room's edges light up as it recognizes them.

Walk the perimeter, slowly

Move steadily around the room, keeping the camera pointed at walls, doors, and windows — not the floor or ceiling. BeaverPlot uses Apple's RoomPlan engine to detect walls, doorways, windows, and openings automatically as you go. Stay at least a meter (about 3 ft) back from each wall.

Close the loop

Finish where you started so the room forms a complete outline. When the shape looks right, tap Done. You now have a parametric floor plan — real walls, real openings, not just a photo.

Calibrate for accuracy (optional but worth it)

LiDAR is good, but for a survey-grade drawing you can pin it to a real measurement. Select any wall, measure it once with a tape measure, and type in the true length. BeaverPlot scales the entire plan proportionally to match. Use the longest wall for the best result.

Good to know

A scan is a starting template, not a certified survey. iPhone LiDAR is remarkably close, but you're always free to nudge walls and edit dimensions in the editor before you export or share.

Cleaning up the plan

Once scanned, the plan opens in the editor. This is where you can:

Rename the room or the project.
Adjust any wall length or angle by hand.
Re-calibrate at any time if a measurement looks off.
Add multiple rooms to build out a full floor.

Exporting and sharing your floor plan

A floor plan is only useful if you can get it where it needs to go. BeaverPlot exports to the formats real workflows use:

PDF — a print-ready floor plan with dimensions, great for listings, permits, or handing to a contractor.
DXF — opens directly in AutoCAD and most CAD tools.
IFC — the BIM standard, for Revit and architectural software.
USDZ — a 3D model you can preview in AR right on your iPhone, generated on-device.

The USDZ AR preview is free. The professional formats — PDF, DXF, and IFC — are unlocked with a Pro subscription, along with sharing a 3D tour link. Exports route through the standard iOS share sheet, so you can AirDrop them, email them, drop them in Files, or send them to any app.

Tip

Selling or renting a place? A dimensioned floor plan plus a 3D tour link in the listing consistently gets more clicks than photos alone — and BeaverPlot produces both from the same scan.

Common questions

Is it really free?

BeaverPlot is free to download, and scanning, editing, and refining your floor plan are free — no account needed. Exporting to professional formats (PDF, DXF, IFC) and sharing 3D tour links are unlocked with a Pro subscription. The on-device USDZ AR preview is included free.

Is my scan data private?

Scans are processed on-device. Only the parametric data — room dimensions, not raw camera or LiDAR footage — is sent to the server when you export a PDF, DXF, or IFC file, and that export data is deleted after it's generated.

How accurate is an iPhone floor plan?

Close enough for planning, listings, quotes, and layout work — and closer still once you calibrate against a single measured wall. Treat it as an editable, refinable drawing rather than a certified survey.

That's the whole loop: scan, calibrate, edit, export. Once you've done it once, a room takes about two minutes end to end.

How to Make a Floor Plan from an iPhone Room Scan