Your phone can already deliver course GPS, but that does not make a laser redundant for every golfer. Answer 5 questions about phone tolerance, exact targets, maps and battery to find your best setup.
This is the hard gate for an app-first recommendation.
Choose the decision layer you use more often.
Smartphone convenience has its own friction.
Apps win on physical minimalism; lasers win on dedicated precision.
Use this as the final tie-breaker.
Best when exact pin distance, point-and-shoot speed and a dedicated laser workflow matter more than whole-hole GPS information.
Best when you are comfortable using your smartphone for GPS maps, course context and distance information and do not want to carry another dedicated distance device.
Best when the phone handles whole-hole GPS context and the laser is used only for exact target distances.