Comparison

Q3D Scan vs specimen · renato.design

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

Head to head
About

Q3D Scan

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Q3D Scan is the companion app for AuraGO, the compact LiDAR device from Q3D Sensing. Connect AuraGO to your iPhone or iPad, and Q3D Scan turns it into a precise 3D reality-capture scanner for the field. Capture large spaces in a single session. AuraGO's long range, up to 30 meters (100 feet), covers more from each position, so you get through full floors, building interiors and exteriors, and entire job sites faster, not just what is within arm's reach. See your 3D scan build on screen in real time, clearly showing the areas you have already covered. Review your capture on site, and add to your scan to fill in any gaps before you leave. What you can do with Q3D Scan: - Capture detailed 3D point clouds with the AuraGO LiDAR device - Work fully offline, capturing in remote locations or anywhere connectivity is limited, with no connection required - Process scans right on your device, without long cloud-processing delays - Your data is never held hostage by a subscription and never trapped in a cloud that goes dark - You control your data: it starts on your device, and you decide where it goes from there - Measure directly in your scan, while on site - Export to standard 3D file formats, including DP, E57, LAS, LAZ, PLY, and PTS - Feed real-world 3D data into the CAD, BIM, and design tools you already use, for floor plans, models, digital twins, and more Built for professionals who work in real spaces: - Construction and engineering: document existing conditions, progress, and as-builts - Interior design: capture existing interiors to design from a to-scale 3D record - Civil engineering: record sites and infrastructure for planning and estimation - Utilities: capture equipment and facilities that are hard to measure by hand - Real estate: capture properties for asset tracking and space documentation Designed for AuraGO. Connect the AuraGO LiDAR device to capture at its full range, or scan with your device's built-in LiDAR when you are working without it. Compatibility: Pro-model iPhone and iPad Pro. Q3D Scan is a practical field tool that works alongside the rest of your kit. Reach for it when you need a reliable 3D record of a real space quickly, then export to the software that carries the project forward. Q3D Sensing builds Spatial AI tools that turn real places into usable 3D data. AuraGO and Q3D Scan are the first of them. https://www.q3dsensing.com https://help.q3dsensing.com

About

specimen · renato.design

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specimen is a 3D scanning app for iPhone that treats the captured object as a specimen — worth describing, worth situating, worth demystifying. You point the phone at a thing. You walk around it. You flip it over. You capture the bottom. The app produces a mesh you can open in Rhino, Blender, or any 3D software. Witness describes what was captured in clinical language. A registrar's voice. Surface reads as glazed ceramic. Bottom not captured. Approximately fourteen centimeters across. Afterwords is six voices from the dead. Sōetsu Yanagi speaks on the beauty of humble objects. Walter Benjamin speaks on what scanning itself is — what aura means when an object is captured. D'Arcy Thompson speaks on the forces that made the form. Roland Barthes speaks on the detail that pierces the viewer. George Kubler speaks on where this object sits in its class. Vilém Flusser speaks on the gesture of capture. Concordance names the mechanism, not the marketing term. Light detection and ranging. Infrared pulses. Time of flight. Structured light. Photogrammetry. Triangulation. Exports in millimeters, Z-up — the Rhino-default design-studio convention. Switchable to inches for the truly stubborn or architects among you. Share a capture package as a .zip and AirDrop it to a Mac running the free specimen Companion for full-detail reconstruction Apple only exposes on macOS. Requirements: iPhone with LiDAR (iPhone 12 Pro or later Pro / Pro Max). Apple Intelligence–capable device if you want the voices to speak on-device; the app falls back cleanly otherwise. No cloud. No account. No credits. No subscription. Built for students and makers as a tool for contemplative work. specimen is part of renato.design, a creative research practice authored through Iterative LLM Co-Authorship — a collaboration between Phil Renato and Claude (Anthropic). Released as a research artifact, not commercial software. See the disclaimer in Settings → About for details.

Screenshots

Q3D Scan4 screens
specimen · renato.design4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: specimen · renato.design at every 2 days against Q3D Scan's every 2 months. Q3D Scan's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.1). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Q3D Scan ships an update every 2 months, specimen · renato.design every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 5 level
Q3D Scan versus specimen · renato.design: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQ3D Scanspecimen · renato.design
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size146 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperQ3D SENSINGPhillip Renato

In-app purchases

None

Q3D Scan

No in-app purchases

None

specimen · renato.design

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Q3D Scan free?
Q3D Scan is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is specimen · renato.design free?
specimen · renato.design is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Q3D Scan or specimen · renato.design have ads?
Neither Q3D Scan nor specimen · renato.design shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Q3D Scan or specimen · renato.design?
Q3D Scan ships an update every 2 months, and specimen · renato.design every 2 days. Most recently, Q3D Scan was updated on October 31, 2026 and specimen · renato.design on October 25, 2026.

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