Amazon rolled out a new augmented reality (AR) feature which allows users to visualise how products will appear in their living spaces before making a purchase.

Dubbed AR View, the feature is available on Amazon’s iOS app and gives customers the option of viewing products including furniture and home decor through AR technology.

“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,” Amazon explained.

In the past, the commerce giant looked at integrating AR technology on its app in form of AR stickers. However, the move somewhat failed because of a limited product set available and flaws in the design of the stickers.

AR big for furniture
Indeed, implementing AR technology in the process of shopping for furniture online could prove incredibly useful given it is often hard to visualise how a certain product will appear in the home. The most common practice of choice for this task is to visit a retailers’ showroom, but AR certainly offers the potential to change this.

Major furniture retailers including Ikea have added AR shopping features to websites and apps.

Amazon’s AR View leverages Apple’s ARKit software, which is boosting the availability of technology by allowing developers to integrate such functionality to mobile apps.

To use the feature, Amazon customers need to open the app, click on the camera and choose AR view.