Heges 3D Scanner vs Project Indigo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Heges 3D Scanner
Capture 3D models of objects and environments using your device's advanced camera sensors. Export scans in various formats for further use in 3D modeling or augmented reality. Offers different scanning modes and precision settings for optimal results.
- 3D scanning with FaceID/LiDAR
- Export to STL, OBJ, PLY, USDZ, GLB
- Share via Wi-Fi server
- Augmented Reality viewing
- Night vision scanning mode
- Adjustable scanning precision
Read full descriptionHide full description
Create 3D scans using the 3D camera (FaceID or LiDAR) of your iPhone 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, XS, XR, X (and all their Pro/Max/Plus/Air variants) or iPad Pro! Export scans into STL, PLY, OBJ, USDZ, GLB (glTF), share them and more. On older devices, you can use the ordinary camera mode or the Screen Sharing feature. This app is *PAID* up-front. Why is it free-to-download? To protect people with unsupported devices from buying it (more details at the end). Heges is divided into two modes: = 3D Scanner (**PAID**, requires one-time In-App Purchase) ============================ - Available only for iPhones and iPad Pros with the selfie FaceID (TrueDepth) camera and/or LiDAR sensor as an In-App Purchase (Why? Read more at the bottom.) - Create 3D models by scanning everyday objects using the selfie TrueDepth camera (FaceID) and/or the rear LiDAR sensor - After scanning, export the models into PLY, OBJ, USDZ (all with colors), STL, GLB (both without colors) file formats - Share exported models e.g. via built-in Wi-Fi server or view them in the iOS Files app - Use the physical volume buttons to toggle scanning session - Double-tap anywhere in the live camera view to Share Screen with another iPhone/iPad, so that you can better see what you're scanning - View the models in AR - You can scan in pitch-dark environment and use Heges as a night vision camera! - Choose from the available scanning precisions — the higher the precision, the shorter the scanner range - To get the most accurate scans, you must use the selfie FaceID camera with 0.5MM Precision settings; do not use LiDAR if you need accurate scans - The selfie FaceID camera is much more accurate than LiDAR (approx. one order of magnitude), the models in the promo videos were scanned using the selfie FaceID camera of iPhone X - Use the selfie FaceID camera for scanning fine details (up to 2 millimeters accuracy with FaceID and 0.5MM Precision settings) - Use LiDAR for scanning large areas (e.g. houses, hallways, rooms, etc.), LiDAR is NOT suitable for scanning small objects with detail — use the selfie FaceID camera for this purpose - Objects in scanner range are highlighted in the live view - Switch to the passive Night Vision where there're no explicit restrictions on the scanner range Instructions for the 3D scanner: - Move slowly when scanning - Make sure that most of the captured scene is within the scanner range - Please read the FAQ at https://hege.sh/faq The scanner isn't perfect and can fail when moving too fast or scanning a challenging environment (e.g. glass surfaces cannot be captured due to the nature of the TrueDepth sensor). A NOTE FOR iPHONE 13 (and newer) users: Beginning with the iPhone 13 lineup, Apple introduced a new TrueDepth (FaceID) camera design, which produces (slightly) lower-accuracy results compared to older devices. To get best scan accuracy, consider using any iPhone 12 or older with FaceID. = Color camera mode ============================ - Available for all devices - Manual camera focus - Sharing photos via built-in Wi-Fi server = Why don't you make the app paid on the App Store? Why the annoying In-App Purchase? ============================ It's for protecting people with unsupported devices. (I wish I could make it paid directly on the App Store.) Heges needs the 3D-sensing selfie FaceID camera to capture 3D scans. But not all iPhones/iPads have the FaceID camera, so the app needs to check if your device has FaceID before it allows you to buy the app. The App Store does not allow developers to check if your iPhone/iPad has FaceID, so the only way to check is if you download and open the app. Once you open Heges on your device, it will check if your device is compatible and if isn't, then you will not be able to buy it. If you have any questions just drop me an email at support@hege.sh and I'll be happy to help you :)!
Project Indigo
This app offers advanced computational photography with manual controls for a natural, SLR-like image look. It captures bursts of photos to create high-quality images with reduced noise and enhanced dynamic range, suitable for both casual and professional users.
- Computational photography pipeline
- Natural image look (SLR-like)
- Full manual camera controls
- Photo and Night modes
- Super-resolution for zoom
- Macro mode
- Live viewfinder with histogram and zebra striping
Read full descriptionHide full description
Welcome to Project Indigo, a new camera experience from Adobe Labs. With a custom computational photography pipeline, a natural image look, and full set of manual camera controls, it offers something for professional and casual photographers alike. Also with new controls for computational cameras and a glimpse into the future of AI image processing on our Tech Previews page. Available for iPhone 12 and 13 Pro/Pro Max, and all 14, 15, 16, or 17-series devices, and initial support for iPads. For best experience we recommend using iPhone 15 Pro or newer. A COMPUTATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY CAMERA Instead of capturing a single photo, for every shutter press Indigo captures a burst of photos and combines them together to produce a high-quality photo with lower noise and higher dynamic range. PHOTO MODE VS NIGHT MODE Photo mode is intended for everyday use in good lighting and has zero shutter lag, meaning it captures the moment you wanted. Night mode is intended for use in low light. In this mode images are captured after you press the shutter button, but use longer exposure times, further reducing noise. NATURAL LOOK Photos produced by Indigo employ computational photography and AI to produce a natural (SLR-like) look for your photos, including special (but gentle) treatment of subjects and skies. This look is applied when generating JPEG images and is embedded as a rendering suggestion in raw DNG files (if enabled). All raw pixels remain intact – the look does not alter them. PRO CONTROLS Take full control of how Indigo captures the image: manually specify focus, exposure time and ISO, exposure compensation, or white balance. Includes an optional magnified loupe for setting precise focus, and white balance control allows you to tap on an object known to be neutral gray. Unique to Indigo’s Night mode is manual control over the number of frames aligned and merged into a final photo. More frames result in lower noise but longer capture time. There is also a Long Exposure mode: if the phone is on a tripod, this allows the capture of synthetic long exposure effects like “water-into-silk" with infinite number of frames where the camera captures and merges images until stopped. SUPER-RESOLUTION FOR ZOOM Using pinch-to-zoom in any camera app often results in image quality loss. To recover the image Indigo employs multi-frame super-resolution which can restore much of the lost quality. ‘SR’ indicator on the zoom buttons shows when it is active. MACRO MODE Enable Macro from the viewfinder and capture stunning close-up shots. VIEWFINDER Provides a view of the camera parameters that will be used for capture, a live histogram of the scene, zebra striping that shows you where there are over-exposed areas in the image, and a level to help you capture straight images. LIGHTROOM INTEGRATION Adobe Lightroom for mobile is the most powerful photo editor in the App Store. Indigo filmstrip allows you to send an image directly to Lightroom mobile app for editing. In addition, our raw DNG files provide maximum compatibility with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. TECHNOLOGY PREVIEWS Technology Previews will be a place where we will offer an early look at technologies that may eventually be deployed in Adobe’s flagship products, or that already appear in these products in a slightly different form: - AI Denoise is a variant of the AI-based denoising from Camera Raw and Lightroom desktop clients. It uses DNG as input, and it saves a new DNG to your camera roll. - Remove Reflections is a variant of the technology from Camera Raw and Lightroom desktop clients. It uses DNG as input, and it saves a medium-resolution JPEG to your camera roll. It tries to remove reflections when shooting through plate glass windows covering most of the camera field of view. - Face Dewarp corrects warp on faces near the edge of images captured using wide-angle lenses. It uses DNG or JPEG as input and saves a JPEG to your camera roll.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Project Indigo at 3.8 against Heges 3D Scanner's 2.8. Project Indigo also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 3 months). Heges 3D Scanner's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.5). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Heges 3D Scanner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Project Indigo asks for nothing beyond the download.
Project Indigo holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 2.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 302 and 702 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 48% of Heges 3D Scanner's written reviews are positive against 45% of Project Indigo's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Heges 3D Scanner ships an update every 3 months, Project Indigo every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Heges 3D Scanner | Project Indigo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (302 ratings) | 3.8 (702 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 48.1% of reviews — better | 45.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 302 | 702 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 18.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 347 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Marek Simonik | Adobe Labs, Inc. |
Customer experience
Heges 3D Scanner
Project Indigo
User reviews
Heges 3D Scanner
From 302 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent 3D scanning quality
- 💡 Innovative use of TrueDepth camera
- 👍 Detailed and accurate scans
- 🚀 Fast scanning and export process
- 💡 Useful screen sharing feature
Room to improve
- 🐛 Tracking issues and scan failures
- 👎 Requires in-app purchase to unlock full functionality
- 🔒 No trial or free version to test
- 👎 Awkward scanning experience due to front-facing camera
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
Project Indigo
From 702 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent image quality
- 🚀 Powerful processing algorithms
- 🔍 Impressive zoom and detail enhancement
Room to improve
- 🔥 Overheating issues
- 🔋 Battery drain
- 🐛 Focusing problems
- 🚫 Incompatible with some regions/devices
Bugs and requests
Heges 3D Scanner
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on launch after purchasing 3D scan mode
- Scans getting distorted or lost during the process
- Inability to preview larger scans within the app
Requested features
5 requests- Support for rear camera scanning
- Ability to stitch multiple scans together
- Export options beyond STL (e.g. OBJ, FBX)
- Post-processing tools for cleaning up scans
- Improved tracking and stability
Project Indigo
Reported bugs
2 issues- Shutter sound cannot be disabled
- AI-based features causing loss of detail
Requested features
3 requests- Support for higher resolution photos
- Improved tap-to-focus functionality
- Better optimization for battery and thermal performance
In-app purchases
Heges 3D Scanner
- 3D Scanner$7.99
Project Indigo
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Heges 3D Scanner free?
Is Project Indigo free?
Which has better reviews, Heges 3D Scanner or Project Indigo?
Do Heges 3D Scanner or Project Indigo have ads?
Which is updated more often, Heges 3D Scanner or Project Indigo?
Other comparisons















