Your iPhone can now be a measuring tape, thanks to the magic of augmented reality

Apple's new augmented reality framework will monumentally shift the way we use our phones, if the first few demos are any indication.

The new ARKit is Apple's framework to bring augmented reality applications to iOS devices, launched at WWDC this year.

New demos such as this measuring tape app, show a simple and useful application of ARKit.

The applications use the camera to measure distances and are shown alongside tape measures to indicate their accuracy. One of the apps, AR Measure can be used as a measuring tape or just by drawing a line between two points.

There's already more than one of these, with ARuler which is very similar.

ARKit is still new, but the demos are quite impressive. Another recent demo shows an ARkit app that lets you draw in mid air using just your iPhone:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

A recent demo even used ARKit to display a rendering of the new iPhone.

These demos are cool themselves, but what's even more exciting is that ARKit is still brand new. These demos are merely scratching the surface of what could eventually be possible with ARKit.

For something like a measuring tape that never seems to be around when you need it, an iPhone application could be the perfect solution.