Purpose-built professional 3D scanners are still quite expensive, from at least $2,000 to upwards of $10,000. Most scanners of the price range are used by law enforcement to collect evidence from crime scenes, healthcare providers to create custom orthodontics, and museums to digitize artifacts.

Polycam is the leading 3D scanner application for iPhone and iPad. Create high-quality 3D models from photos with any iPhone or iPad, rapidly generate scans of spaces with LiDAR, and capture full 360 photos with ease. Edit your 3D captures directly on device, and export them in over a dozen file formats.

In general it's best to move slowly and pan the device around slowly while taking a scan. Quick and jagged movements will affect the quality of the scan. It can take a few passes to figure the best technique for the object or scene you are trying to capture. To start a scan, press the red button once and again to stop.

3D scanning is the process of analyzing a real-world object or environment to collect three dimensional data of its shape and possibly its appearance (e.g. color). The collected data can then be used to construct digital 3D models.