Clinometer

Clinometer turns your phone into three tools: a bubble level, an angle finder, and a way to measure how tall something is and how far away it stands — without a tape measure.

Lay the phone flat and it is a spirit level. Hold it upright against a beam, a shelf or a slope and it reads the angle. Point the camera at the top of a tree, a roof or a wall and it works out the height.

MEASURE AN ANGLE

• Bubble level for flat surfaces — shelves, tables, appliances, picture frames

• Angle finder for anything upright — walls, posts, ramps, handrails, ladders

• Hold a reading with one tap, or let it lock on its own once the phone is steady

• A warning appears if the phone is moving too much to measure, so you never record a number taken mid-wobble

MEASURE HEIGHT AND DISTANCE

Enter how high the phone is off the ground. Sight the bottom of the object, then the top. Clinometer gives you both the distance to it and its height.

• Works on trees, buildings, roofs, poles, walls and towers

• If the base is hidden behind a hedge or a fence, enter the distance you already know and measure the height on its own

• Every calculation states its assumption: the object stands on the same level ground as you

BUILT FOR REAL WORK

• Four ways to read a slope — degrees, percent grade, roof pitch in 12, and 1:H ratio for civil and geotechnical work

• Relative angle: zero against any surface and read the difference, for transferring an existing angle to a new cut or comparing two surfaces that are both out of true

• Choose which edge of the phone reads zero, so you can clamp it to a beam in whatever position fits

• Metres, centimetres, feet, inches and yards

CALIBRATION THAT ACTUALLY WORKS

No phone has its sensor mounted perfectly square to its own body. Uncalibrated, most read a degree or two off even when lying flat — and there is no way for you to tell whether that is your phone or the app.

Clinometer fixes it in one tap on any flat surface. And if you are not certain the surface is level, use two-step calibration: measure, turn the phone half a turn on the spot, measure again. That cancels the tilt of the surface itself out of the result, so you do not need a certified reference to calibrate against.

Calibration is never restored onto a different phone from a backup, because a correction for one sensor is wrong for another.

SAVE THE PROOF

Save any measurement as a photo with the angle written onto it. Useful for site records, quotes, insurance claims and before-and-after shots. Saved measurements live in the app and share anywhere.

Optionally stamp coordinates onto saved photos. This is off by default and only asks for location access at the moment you switch it on.

ABOUT PERMISSIONS

The camera is a backdrop for aiming, nothing more. Every angle, height and distance is computed from the tilt sensor, so all of it works with the camera switched off. Nothing in the app is locked behind a permission, and none is requested at startup.

HOW ACCURATE IS IT

Accuracy is limited by the accelerometer in your phone. After calibration you can expect readings within a few tenths of a degree on a steady surface, which is enough for building, carpentry, DIY, landscaping, solar panel alignment, satellite dish aiming, vehicle levelling and camera work. For anything where a mistake is dangerous or expensive, check against a purpose-built instrument.

Clinometer, inclinometer, spirit level, bubble level, angle finder, protractor, slope meter, roof pitch calculator, tree height measurer, distance meter, plumb and level — in one app that works offline.