The basic definition of a floor plan may sound relatively simple at first – a simple sketch of a building’s interior that can be performed with just a piece of paper, a pen, and a ruler. However, this is not the same definition of a floor plan that modern architects use in their day-to-day work. Simple floor plans would not be able to live up to the expectations of a modern-day, so they need to be a lot more detailed and versatile than that.

Creating a floor plan that would be fit to be used in modern construction or design tasks is surprisingly difficult, with plenty of meticulous measurements and a lot of planning involved. A single floor plan may take hours, or even days, to be created by hand (even if the hand in question belongs to an industry professional) – and the same logic applies to floor plans created with CAD software of sorts.

This particular problem does have a solution – an entire market full of floor plan apps for mobile devices that grew exponentially in recent years. These applications are usually compatible with either an Android device, an iPhone, or an iPad, or available via a dedicated web interface. It is rather difficult to imagine a person that does not have some sort of mobile device with them at all times in the modern world, which is why this particular market has been growing nonstop for years now and shows no signs of stopping any time soon.

However, the number of different apps on the market is not a clear representation of the overall quality or feature set of these apps. A large and highly competitive market usually means that it is not particularly easy to find a solution that suits a specific company or individual’s tastes or needs. Plenty of floor plan apps also have their own limitations in one way or another – such as the inability to create custom geometric shapes, which is somehow absent from most floor plan apps (even though it is a very obvious feature that practically every CAD app can offer).

A proper floor plan app is available on either Android or iOS devices (or both), it can offer floor plan creation, floor plan modification, as well as additional design fields, be it interior design, landscaping, foundation, etc. There are also four different general purposes that a floor plan app may have, including:

  • Inspection and audition – detailed floor plan being available at all times is a massive benefit for various inspectors and auditors since they would be able to add accurate comments and marks using the floor plan in question
  • Sales and estimates – being able to create and/or operate with a highly-detailed floor plan makes it a lot easier to perform estimates for services such as waterproofing, foundation repairs, and HVAC, boosting the performance of contractors and salespeople  
  • Landscaping and exterior design – not a particularly common feature for floor plan apps that usually imply only indoor plan creation, but there are also plenty of examples of how the same apps can be helpful when it comes to performing various landscaping tasks, such as tree placements, flowerbed placements, and many others
  • Drawing and floor plan creation – the obvious purpose of every floor plan app would be to create said floor plans, be it via drawing manually or by using some form of help (device’s camera or LiDAR sensor, for example)

The floor plan app market is vast and varied, and there are plenty of interesting solutions to choose from. Planner 5D is a good example of a floor plan solution, it is relatively popular, capable of working with various structure types, and has plenty of design-related features – as well as a powerful rendering engine, landscaping capabilities, pool planning, and more. Planner 5D supports a variety of platforms – including both desktops (Mac, Windows) and smartphones (Android, iOS), and its pricing model can be a bit confusing to newcomers.

MagicPlan is another popular floor plan app, but this one can offer both traditional floor plan creation by hand, as well as the ability to scan the rooms using the camera on your mobile device. It can also connect to a laser meter for more accurate measurements, and there are plenty of other options – calculating cost estimates, internal furnishing, and so on. It can be used with both Android and iOS devices, but its pricing model may be somewhat expensive in comparison with other software in this industry.

Grapholite is a good example of another interesting category of floor plan apps – diagramming tools that can create floor plans while also being able to generate various graphs, diagrams, and other forms of visual representation for statistics. Grapholite only works with Apple devices, and its desktop version is a Windows-only offering, as well.

Revizto mobile app also works great in this context, offering floor planning capabilities (and plenty of other features) in a portable form as a standalone Android and iOS app. The desktop version of the software is a comprehensive BIM solution with a significant focus on clash detection and issue tracking. It is fast, effective, and user-friendly enough to be used by thousands of companies across the globe.

At the end of the day, there are plenty of different floor plan apps on this particular market. A lot of them are flawed in one way or another, but it should not be particularly difficult to find a specific solution that works great for a specific company if the company in question can clearly see its priorities and what specific features it wants to have in the first place.