Comparison

VisualRuler vs Maculate

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

VisualRuler

Transform any card in your wallet into a precision measuring tool using your iPhone camera. Simply place a card next to an object, and the app instantly calibrates to measure dimensions from a photo. It's a professional-grade measurement solution accessible to everyone.

Highlights
  • Measure from photos
  • Uses wallet card as reference
  • Instant auto-detection
  • Metric and imperial units
  • Photo library support
  • No special hardware needed
Features
Read full description

VisualRuler turns any bank-card-sized card into a ruler for your photos. Place a card next to what you want to measure, take a picture and read real dimensions in millimeters, centimeters or inches. No LiDAR, no AR scanning, no subscription. HOW IT WORKS 1. Lay any standard card (bank, transit, loyalty or library card) flat next to the object. 2. Take a photo, or choose one from your library. 3. Drag the four corner handles onto the card. A zoom loupe helps you place them precisely. 4. Add lines or rectangles and read the measurements instantly. Standard cards are all the same size, 85.6 ร— 54 mm. VisualRuler uses that known size to correct for perspective, so you don't have to hold your phone perfectly straight. WHAT PEOPLE MEASURE โ€ข Furniture, shelves and frames before buying โ€ข Boxes and parcels for shipping labels โ€ข Clothing, shoes and fabric for online orders โ€ข Screens, books, artwork and hardware parts โ€ข DIY and craft projects at home or in a store WHY VISUALRULER โ€ข Works on iPhone and iPad, no LiDAR or depth sensor needed โ€ข Measures from one still photo, so nothing drifts while you work โ€ข Line and rectangle tools, as many as you need on one photo โ€ข Switch between mm, cm and inches at any time โ€ข Save the measured photo to Photos or share it in one tap โ€ข A clean Liquid Glass design PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account, no ads, no tracking. Photos are processed entirely on your device and are never uploaded. FOR BEST RESULTS Keep the card and the object on the same flat surface, shoot from above when you can, and make sure each corner handle sits exactly on a corner of the card. For flat objects, results are typically within a few millimeters.

About

Maculate

Read full description

Maculate is a native frontend for Qalculate, an advanced calculator program with support for units. It supports just about anything you could imagine, and then some: - Hundreds of units and dozens of constants - Unit conversions - Solve for unknown values - Factorize equations - Calculus: Differentiate and Integrate - Calculate in different base systems - Calculate with time - Uncertainty Propagation - Economics - Matrices and Vectors - Combinatorics - Complex Numbers - Variable Assignment For a full list of features, refer to the Qalculate documentation. Please note that Maculate does not currently support plotting, dataset i/o, and realtime currency conversion.

Screenshots

VisualRuler4 screens
Maculate3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: VisualRuler at $0.99 against Maculate's $4.99. Maculate's advantage is iOS requirement (18.2 vs 26.6). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

VisualRuler costs $0.99 and Maculate $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
VisualRuler versus Maculate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVisualRulerMaculate
Price$0.99 โ€” better$4.99
Positive reviews13.4% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysโ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, Mac
Requires iOS26.618.2 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size11 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developeraltaibayar tseveenbayarToastcat LLC

Bugs and requests

VisualRuler

Reported bugs

15 issues
  • Automatic card detection does not work
  • App does not detect the card
  • App does not measure objects
  • Measurements are always the same (8.6cm x 5.4cm)
  • Camera orientation issues
Show 10 more
  • Numbers of size cannot be changed
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices
  • App uses cellular data
  • App does not work correctly
  • Cannot add measurements
  • Confusing user interface
  • Inaccurate measurements
  • App crashes
  • App drains battery

Requested features

7 requests
  • Automatic object detection
  • Automatic card detection improvement
  • Manual adjustment improvement
  • Add ruler and distance markings
  • Support upright correction
Show 2 more
  • Improve translation
  • Flash for better detection

Maculate

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

VisualRuler

No in-app purchases

None

Maculate

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is VisualRuler free?
VisualRuler costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Maculate free?
Maculate costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do VisualRuler or Maculate have ads?
Neither VisualRuler nor Maculate shows ads.

Other comparisons