Amazon Adds Augmented Reality Feature In Its App

A new feature lets customers visualize online products in their own living space.

AR View Launched in the Amazon app for iOS devices. It offers the ability to view thousands of products for the home or office – including furniture, electronics, games, toys, home décor and more – in augmented reality (AI).

The company before has dabbled with using AR technology in its app but only in the kind of AR stickers. These “shoppable stickers” were not that helpful, as they realized a limited merchandise set and were created in an almost cartoonish way with big borders that made them seem more like real stickers.

But many other retailers have pushed forward with AR implementations, particularly for shopping furniture – something it’s difficult to buy online, as it’s difficult to picture if the item will look right in your home. Often, customers have preferred to purchase furniture in physical stores where they can see it placed inside finished rooms, and beside other decorative items like lamps and rugs.

AI has the potential to change that way, as it allows consumers to visualize items not just in a complete room, but in their room.

Some retailers have lately added AR shopping features to their websites and apps, including Target, Wayfair, and IKEA.

Like IKEA’s implementation, Amazon’s new AR View function takes advantage of Apple’s ARKit – software that provides third-party developers to more easily add AR functionality to their mobile apps. For this reason, AR View in the Amazon app will only work on the iPhone 6S or higher, on devices using Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 11.