ILW Light Mapper alternatives: projection mapping apps for iPhone, Android and the web (2026)

ILW Light Mapper is a beginner projection mapping app for iPhone and iPad that's free apart from optional tips and one visual pack. It's a good, simple app, but it has no Android version that we could find, its listing doesn't say how it connects to a projector, and it has only a handful of ratings so far.

This guide covers what ILW Light Mapper does, where it fits, and the alternatives worth trying on iPhone, Android, Mac and in a web browser. Facts and prices come from each app's store listing or website, checked on November 3, 2026. Disclosure: we make Lazy Lighting, one of the alternatives listed, and we say below where ILW Light Mapper is the better choice.

Its features are aimed at beginners: multiple grids with four-point corner adjustment, warp painting for uneven surfaces, additive and subtractive masks made from shapes or images, hue, saturation, brightness and speed controls, color-key background removal, a downloadable visual library, imports of your own MP4 videos, audio playback, undo and multiple save slots.

The app's copyright line reads "Illusive Lightworks", which matches the initials. The developer's listed website, illusivelightworks.com, didn't load when we checked; the App Store's developer link goes to the Illusive Lightworks YouTube channel.

• You have an Android phone or tablet. ILW Light Mapper is Apple-only.
• You want ready-made scenes. Its library is general visuals. If you're decorating for Christmas or Halloween, an app with built-in holiday scenes saves a lot of searching.
• You want to cast wirelessly to a projector or TV. The listing doesn't mention HDMI, AirPlay or casting, so plan on a cable adapter or screen mirroring.
• You'd rather work on a computer. Browser and desktop tools give you a bigger screen to map on.
• You want a longer track record. Seven ratings is a small sample. Some alternatives have hundreds.

Lazy Lighting maps walls, windows, doors, boxes and pumpkins from your phone and fills them with built-in visuals: 30 Christmas scenes, 45 Halloween scenes, window scenes, abstract and 3D loops, plus your own videos and photos. It runs on iPhone, iPad and Android, and connects by cable, by AirPlay or screen mirroring, or with Lazy Lighting Link, which plays on Google TV and Android TV projectors over Wi-Fi.

The free plan includes mapping, imports and about 20 visuals, with a watermark on the projector output and no saving. Pro removes the watermark, saves projects and unlocks every scene. It has 4.6 stars from 444 ratings on the US App Store (October 2026).

HappyMapper lets you curve a shape's edges to follow arches, round objects and furniture, with a cutout mode to block light from part of a surface. It searches free stock videos and GIFs inside the app, imports your own media and saves setups. The free version gives you one shape with every feature; Premium adds unlimited shapes, including a $14.99 lifetime option. iPhone and iPad only.

Pro Mapper (ProMapper on Android) uses a surface-based workflow for projects with several surfaces, and imports your videos and photos. It's on both iPhone and Android, sold as weekly to yearly plans from $3.99 to $49.99. Its listings don't say what's free.

Kozo Technology's two Android apps have no in-app purchases. Projection Mapper: Video&Light maps triangles, quads and free-form shapes and fills them with photos, videos or animated patterns, and saves projects to a file. FluxBeam adds a warp mesh of up to 8×8 points for curved objects, live camera input and blend modes.

Both unlock their full-screen Present mode with a short ad, and neither listing names a cable or casting option, so plan on mirroring your phone's screen to the projector.

PicoMap gives you one layer with every tool for free, and a one-time $3.09 unlock raises it to four layers. It connects to a projector with a cable or adapter.

Map Club runs in Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge on Mac, Windows and Linux, and its site says it works on tablets. There's nothing to install, no account and, according to the site, no subscriptions or watermarks. You get side-by-side input and output canvases, mesh and corner warping, unlimited surfaces, masks, and images, videos and built-in shaders as content.

Output goes to a separate browser window that you drag onto the projector and make full screen, so you need a laptop or tablet connected to the projector. Projects are stored in your browser, not in an account, so clearing browser data deletes them. Phones aren't mentioned, and we found no independent reviews yet.

If you have an iPhone or iPad and want a simple mapping app that's completely free, with saving and no watermark, ILW Light Mapper is hard to beat: the only purchases are optional tips and one visual pack. Lazy Lighting's free plan watermarks the projector output and doesn't save, so for a free, general-purpose app ILW Light Mapper gives you more.

Lazy Lighting is the better fit if you're decorating for a holiday and want scenes made for windows and houses, if you're on Android, or if you want to cast to a Google TV projector and put your phone away.

• iPhone, completely free, general visuals: ILW Light Mapper.
• Christmas or Halloween displays, iPhone or Android: Lazy Lighting.
• Curved objects on iPhone: HappyMapper.
• Android, completely free, ads are fine: Projection Mapper, or FluxBeam for curved objects.
• Free, on a laptop: Map Club in the browser.
• Multi-surface art or stage work: Pro Mapper.

• Is ILW Light Mapper free? Yes. It's free to download, and the only purchases are optional tips ($2.99 or $9.99) and an "Organics" pack ($5.99).
• Is ILW Light Mapper on Android? We found no Google Play version as of November 3, 2026. It runs on iPhone and iPad, and on Apple silicon Macs, which the listing says aren't verified.
• What does ILW stand for? Illusive Lightworks, the name in the app's copyright line.
• How do I connect ILW Light Mapper to a projector? The listing doesn't say. A USB-C or Lightning to HDMI adapter, or AirPlay screen mirroring to a projector or streaming stick that supports it, are the usual ways to show an iPhone or iPad on a projector.
• What's the best free alternative on Android? Projection Mapper: Video&Light or FluxBeam if you don't mind ads, or PicoMap for one free layer. Lazy Lighting is free to download on Android too, with a watermark on the free plan.

• Best free projection mapping apps for iPhone and iPad → Every iOS mapping app compared.
• Best free projection mapping apps for Android → Every Android mapping app compared.
• Free projection mapping software → Fully free tools, open source and free demos, in our software guide.
• MadMapper alternatives → Desktop tools for Mac and Windows.