Projection mapping app for iPhone: what to check

Published October 9, 2026

Short answer. A projection mapping app for iPhone should send video to your projector over HDMI and AirPlay, let you drag corners until the picture fits in a minute, and give you a free version you can test on a real wall. Check what the free version removes, whether it puts a watermark on the picture, what the paid plans cost over a year, and whether it works without a computer or an account. Try two apps on the same wall before you pay for either.

Search the App Store for “projection mapping” and you find several apps. Most are free to download. They differ in what the free version lets you do, in how fast you can fit a picture to a door, and in what they ask for later. Every listing looks good. Test on your own wall.

Who is this for

This is for someone who owns a projector, or is about to, and wants to put a picture on a window, a door, a box, a pumpkin or the front of a house, using only a phone. If you run live visuals for bands, with audio, MIDI and layers, you want a different tool, and a different guide.

The eight checks

1. How does it reach the projector?

HDMI through an adapter is the reliable way. AirPlay is the wireless way. A good app does both and tells you whether the projector is connected, without making you hunt for a setting. A test pattern, a grid you can put on the wall, is the quickest way to prove the connection works before you build anything.

Bengala does both. On Home, the projector status turns green when it finds one, and Show test pattern puts a grid on the wall. AirPlay vs HDMI explains why HDMI is better for this.

2. How do you fit the picture?

For doors, windows, boxes and house fronts, dragging four corners is enough. The picture bends in perspective, so the projector does not need to sit square. Check that the handles are easy to hit on a phone screen and that you can zoom in to place a corner exactly.

Curved surfaces and complicated 3D objects need more than four corners, usually a mesh. Not every app has one, and that is fine if you do not need one.

Bengala uses a shape with draggable corners, a rectangle that can take extra points, plus circles and stencils. You pinch to zoom in up to 4× and nudge a corner. It does not have a mesh for curved surfaces.

3. Where does the picture come from?

Some apps only play your own photos and videos. Others come with a library. A library saves you hours if you do not make video, and it matters most for seasonal use: Halloween, Christmas, a party.

Ask how the library is delivered. Effects that download when you tap them keep the app small and let the maker add new ones without an update. Ask whether they play offline once they are on your phone.

Bengala has a library sorted by theme, with Halloween and Christmas among them. Effects download the first time you use them and play offline after that. You can also use your own photo, video or color.

4. What does the free version take away?

This is the check that matters most. Common limits are a watermark, a cap on projects, no saving, and a content library you can look at but not use. None is wrong by itself. What counts is whether you can test the app on a real wall before you pay.

Bengala’s free plan gives you one project, which holds as many shapes as you like (rectangles, circles and a set of free stencils), corner dragging, your own photos and videos, and a set of free effects. A small Bengala watermark drifts across the picture. Pro removes it and unlocks every effect.

5. What does it cost over a year?

Look at all the plans. Apps in this category tend to offer a weekly price, a yearly price and sometimes a one-time purchase. A weekly price looks small. Multiply it by 52 before you choose it. Check whether the yearly plan has a free trial, and find out how to cancel.

Bengala Pro comes as a weekly plan, a yearly plan with a 3-day free trial, or a one-time lifetime purchase. The app shows each price in your own currency before you buy. We do not print prices on this site because they change by country.

6. Does it need an account or the internet?

Be wary of an app that makes you sign up before it shows you anything. A projector app has little use for an account. Check what the store’s privacy label says. And check what happens without a signal: a garage door at 9 pm is not always in Wi-Fi range.

Bengala has no account. Your projects, photos and videos stay on your device. It needs internet only to download an effect the first time, and to buy Pro.

7. Does it behave during a show?

Once the picture is on the wall, the phone should stay awake and the controls should get out of the way. A mode that blanks the phone screen while the projector keeps going is a real help.

Bengala keeps the screen awake while a project is open, and Present mode darkens the phone while the projector keeps playing. Keep the app open while you project.

8. Does someone answer?

Apps in this category are mostly small teams. Look at the support address on the store page and write to it with a real question before you pay.

Bengala’s support address is hello@bengala.app.

What Bengala does not do

No mesh warp for curved surfaces. It is corners, with extra points where you need them.
No timeline, layers with blend modes or live mixing. Each shape shows one thing at a time: an effect, a photo, a video or a color.
No sound. The effects are silent.
It does not react to music in this version.
iPhone and iPad only. There is no Android, Mac or Windows version.
It needs a projector or a TV with HDMI or AirPlay. Without one you can build everything on the phone, but nothing leaves the screen.

If any of those is a deal breaker, you have saved yourself a download.

Try before you pay

Most of these apps cost nothing to download. Put two of them on your phone, take them to the same wall in the same evening, and fit the same door in each. Count the minutes. See how the free version treats you. Then pay for the one you would open again.

For a first project, the beginner’s guide walks through the steps, and how to project Halloween on your house covers a full evening.

Questions

Is there a free projection mapping app for iPhone?

Several are free to download, with purchases inside. Bengala has a free plan with one project, any number of shapes, free effects and a small moving watermark, and no account.

Can I do projection mapping with just an iPhone?

You need a projector or a TV too. The phone fits the picture and sends it out. A projector with an HDMI input needs a USB-C or Lightning to HDMI adapter for the phone. A projector or TV that supports AirPlay needs nothing extra.

Do I need a computer?

No. Everything happens on the phone or iPad.

What is the difference between projection mapping and just projecting a video?

A normal projector shows a rectangle that lands on whatever is in the way. Mapping bends and cuts the picture so it lands only on the object, a door or a window, and the rest of the wall stays dark.

Does it work on iPad?

Yes. It is the same app and the same projects.