MagicPlan 4.4
Sensopia offers its MagicPlan app as a free download to give architects (and amateurs alike) a quick taste of what can be done with a simple iPhone or iPad in the field.
Lots of pinching
MagicPlan has a pretty thick interface, but you’ll soon learn the nuts and bolts just by playing with it. The introductory demos and various video tutorials are very welcomed as well. The drawing UI is intuitive and extremely large, if you’re not easily tired of pinching the screen to zoom in and out.
Three ways to draw up a room
Getting to work is as simple as snapping pictures of your walls, or drawing the room from a template, or even in free form. You can stretch the room in any way you like, add objects (furniture, doors, windows, bathroom items etc.), and even duplicate items or the entire room altogether. The controls are easy to follow, and the question mark sign is always there to help with video guides.
The entire app is extremely explicative and can be used even by the most inexperienced of users. However, most of its hardcore functions are behind some very expensive in-app purchases. But the free app is enough to give you a taste of just how easy it is to design a room, with everything from furniture to staircases, in just minutes.
MagicPlan’s Master Account allows you to manage multiple users, across several devices and subscriptions. The app allows users to create custom objects and to scale selections when exporting to PDF. Some recent updates have improved the Augmented Reality feature during room capture, while the help files and the tutorials are now more detailed than ever.
Security
Other than cloud integration and the various warnings about snapping screenshots of your display, we couldn’t find anything wrong with MagicPlan. For the screenshots, we drew up a terrible room not because we’re idiots, but to avoid a lawsuit. Jokes aside, MagicPlan is pretty safe to use, but you should go through the app’s license agreement just in case.
Add to watchlist:
DrawingCAD
In a hurry? Add it to your Download Basket!
0/5
Hits & Misses
hits
|
misses
|
Bottom Line
Design / UI8
MagicPlan has a thick user interface, but everything becomes clear after watching the demo videos. |
Function8
Thanks to the freeform drawing function, making your first room will be a delight. Creating a room just from photos is also pretty slick. |
Security9
Cloud integration and warnings about snapping screenshots of your display |
Battery8
Indoor mapping requires quite a bit of CPU/GPU power, but surprisingly it doesn’t draw too much power. |
Price5
As much as we’d like to praise Sensopia for offering a free CAD solution in the App Store, most of MagicPlan’s truly relevant features are behind a paywall (and an account with the company). |
Compatibility8
Requires iOS 7 and works with all compatible iDevices, including iPads. The iPad interface is much bigger and more usable, which is why we recommend using SimplePlan on a tablet if you have one. |
Highly recommended
Specifications
- price:
- Free with IAP
- current version:
- 4.4
- reviewed version:
- 4.3.1
- developer:
- Sensopia
- category:
- IMAGE
- os version req.:
- 7.0
- age rating:
- 4+
- in-app purchases:
- Yes. IAPs up to $59.99 for various plans and formats
- hits:
- 753