Wednesday

Amazon Updates iOS App With ARKit Support for Augmented Reality Holiday Shopping

Amazon is preparing its customers for the busy holiday shopping season, posting a detailed plan today on how it aims to help you get the items you want through Alexa voice shopping, curated gift guides, and a new “AR View” in the official Amazon iOS app. AR View was built using Apple’s augmented reality developer framework called ARKit, and the company said it’s meant to help customers “make better shopping decisions.”

Similar to IKEA Place, Amazon’s AR View lets you place virtual versions of real-world products sold on Amazon right into your home, helping you decide whether or not you like the item in a specific living space before you buy it. AR View can be found on the camera icon in the Amazon iOS app, which now has a new “AR View” option. Then you can select from “thousands of items” sold on Amazon, which includes home furniture, toys, Echo products, kitchen electronics, decor, and more.

Amazon’s latest augmented reality offering within the Amazon App launched today for customers with iOS 11 installed on their iPhone 6S or later. Using Apple’s ARKit, AR view helps customers make better shopping decisions by allowing them to visualize the aesthetic and fit of products in their own living space. Customers simply open the Amazon App, click on the camera icon and choose AR view.

They can then select from thousands of items – from living room, bedroom, kitchen and home office products to electronics, toys and games, home décor and more. Whether customers are buying a sofa or a kitchen appliance, they can overlay it onto their existing living space, move it and rotate it to get a full 360-degree peek in a live camera view to make sure it fits their style and aesthetic.

ARKit debuted in iOS 11 in September, and you’ll need an iPhone 6s or later running iOS 11 to use the new AR View feature in Amazon’s iOS app. Target also launched an augmented reality shopping feature last week, but it wasn’t in its iOS app and instead debuted in the Target mobile website. Additionally, Target’s new “See It In Your Space” option doesn’t use ARKit.