Amazon’s new tool lets you “try on” shoes remotely with your phone camera

Amazon has launched Virtual Try-On Shoes, a new feature that lets you try footwear remotely and see how it looks on you. Using augmented reality, you can virtually try on shoes without even leaving your home. You can also check out how T-shirts and glasses look on you, and all you need is your phone’s camera and Amazon’s shopping app.

Virtual Try-On Shoes lets you visualize how shoes you like would look on your feet. As you point the camera at your feet, you can look at them “wearing” the shoes of your choice, and take a look from all angles. While it sure is fun, it still has a major flaw that’s impossible to resolve: you can’t tell if the shoes fit and if they’re comfy. That’s something you can only determine by actually trying them. Still, you can use the tool to try on T-shirts and eyewear, and honestly, I find it more useful for these.

So, how does it work? You need to browse the products from the Amazon mobile app. When you find the product you like, look for the Virtual Try-On Shoes button beneath the product image on the product page. Alternatively, you can open the Amazon shopping app, type “Virtual Try On” in the search bar, and it will guide you to the Virtual Try-On Shoes homepage from which you can browse the products that have this option.

Once you choose the shoes you want to “try on,” tap the Virtual Try-On Shoes button below it and point the camera at your feet so you can see how the shoes look from any angle. While Amazon doesn’t note it, I believe that the same principle works for visualizing T-shirts on your body and glasses on your face.

To use the Virtual Try-On Shoes, go to Amazon, open your phone’s camera and scan the QR code on the web page. Note that only Amazon’s iOS shopping app supports the feature at the moment and you need to have iPhone 7 or older. But worry not, fellow Android users, the Android version is coming soon, too.

[via 9to5 Mac]