Instant Floorplans: RoomScan Pro Review

“The building art is man’s spatial dialogue with his environment and demonstrates how he asserts himself therein and how he masters it.” ~ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Many apps I use are in lieu of something else, whether that be a tape measure or an architect’s blueprints. The RoomScan Pro seems to have replaced a lot of the physical tools needed to plan furniture placement, estimate how many gallons of paint or just to showcase a very simple to follow floor plan. It’s been helpful for prospective buyers to look at before they arrive at the open house. The app has its uses. For my own purposes, it saves me a lot of time trying to locate the original floor plan or determine whether a piece of furniture I want to use in the staging will fit in the room.

RoomScan Pro uses the iPhone’s accelerometer and additional sensors to map out the room. The app also has an option to create a whole floor plan. For me, in general, mapping out a single room works best. It charts the distance between walls in the room and then the end result is a clean illustration of what the app thinks the room dimensions are.

To get the best use out of the app you’ll need to buy the premium version. There is a free version but it is limited. I have my location settings activated so there’s no need for me to enter my location when I come to a new property. Tap on a named location like the street address and it will send you to the next step to create a “new room” with the app. You can name the room. If you’re doing the whole floor plan you don’t want to leave this blank. You can also name the floor you are on as well. By the end you will have a well-labeled illustration at the end, and it’s easier to navigate too.

You have to manually take your phone and place it on the wall until you hear the confirmation ding, then you can move on to the next wall. You have to hit each wall twice because it will measure the distance between to create that wall. This works best on new construction, I find it a little inaccurate when dealing with older properties that don’t have square corners. That’s the best part of this app, it gives a representation on the screen of what the space looks like. Potential buyers can understand the space. If you are dealing with a staging crew, they can see what will work in the space. Users will have to have a steady hand. You will be resting it flat on the wall, so that solves that problem if you have trembling hands. Take note to scan the wall you began with again, that overlapping makes the app understand that you are finished with the room.

You can add a doorway or another room easily by tapping the area where you want to add these things. Once you add a door, you can add a new room. If you explore the ‘settings’ menu you can change things around to suit your needs. Change up the length units or the units the app uses if you are planning to buy a product like wallpaper or a rug from an overseas retailer. There are additional options like toggle options to better control spoken words, which way the door swings, and you can map out your iPhone’s path so you can check for glaring errors, either human or app related.

I’ve been using RoomScan Pro for a while now and it meets my needs well. I’m not looking for pinpoint accuracy, but to have a general idea of how furnishing is going to look in the space or a simple plan to show clients is what I’m after. Single rooms are fine to map out with the app, but it does take a bit more time and patience to complete a whole floorplan. It does have a hard time putting together landings or attaching areas that are an open concept.

If you’re a seller or a buyer, RoomScan is worth taking a look at. It’s a good way to save and email room measurements and basic floor plans right from the iPhone. Just be aware that the wall measurements are not approximate. Once you start getting into the details, those resources will become available, but just to give others a general concept on the go is the best use of this app.