Pétanque Scanner
Two boules either side of the jack, a metre or two out, and your eye can't call it: at that range you cannot compare two distances. Start a scan, walk around the game for a few seconds, and the app shows how far each boule is — drawn in augmented reality right on the ground.
How it works
1Start the scan
Leave the boules exactly where they are, open the app and point it at the game. Nothing to put on the ground, no marker to place.
2Walk around
Take a few steps around the boules, keeping the jack in frame. A confidence score climbs live while the app gathers viewpoints.
3Read the ranking
Distances appear on the ground, shortest to longest. You know who has the point without anyone crouching down.
What it gives you
Down to the centimetre
Every boule is measured against the jack and the ranking is drawn on the pitch itself, not buried in a table.
Works with no signal
Detection runs on your phone. No pitch is too far from a cell tower for the app to work.
Nothing leaves your phone
No server, no account, no sign-up. Camera frames never leave the device.
No subscription
Free every day. If you want unlimited, it is a one-off purchase — nothing monthly.
The app in pictures
What it does not do
Better said upfront, so the pitch holds no surprises.
It carries no official weight
In competition, the referee's measurement is the only one that counts. This is built for games among friends, on holiday or at the club.
It needs to see the boules
Low sun, harsh shade or a boule half sunk into gravel and detection gets considerably harder.
The jack is the hard part
Small, and often hidden behind a boule. It is what trips the app up most often — a "magnet" mode lets you nudge it back into place by hand.
Within a few millimetres, go get the measure
The app settles gaps you can see. Two boules touching the jack stay a job for a proper measuring tool.
What it costs
The app is free, with 3 scans a day. You can watch an optional ad to refill them, or buy lifetime Premium once: unlimited measurements and no more ads. There is no subscription, and no purchase is needed to use the app.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use it in competition?
No. In an official game, only the referee's measurement counts. The app is built for friendly games, when nobody has a measure to hand.
How accurate is it really?
Around a centimetre when the boules are clearly visible. A confidence score is shown during the scan: if it stays low, the measurement should not be trusted.
Does it work offline?
Yes, completely. Boule detection runs on the phone and there is no server involved.
Are my photos sent anywhere?
No. No image ever leaves the device, and the app asks you to create no account.
Which phones are supported?
Android phones with ARCore and iPhones with ARKit, which covers the large majority of models released since 2018.
Do I need to place a marker on the ground?
No. The app locates itself on the pitch from the camera and the phone's motion sensors.
How it was built
Boule detection runs on a vision model trained purely on synthetic images, and the measurement comes from triangulating accumulated rays. I wrote up the whole approach — including the experiments that did not work.
Available on Android and iOS
See also: privacy policy · terms of use