Amazon Launches Lens Live, a Real-Time Visual Shopping Tool

Amazon has introduced Lens Live, a new AI-powered visual shopping feature inside its mobile app. Point your phone’s camera at nearby items and you'll instantly see related product recommendations with purchase links. The feature is rolling out first on iOS to tens of millions of U.S. users and will expand to more users over the coming weeks.

Compared with the existing Amazon Lens, Lens Live adds real-time recognition. You don't need to snap a photo or upload an image—just move your camera and the system scans objects in the scene on the fly, using computer-vision models to identify them and match results against billions of products on Amazon. Results appear in a swipeable carousel, and you can tap the “+” icon to add items to your cart or hit the heart icon to save them to your wishlist.

Lens Live also integrates Amazon's AI shopping assistant Rufus, which provides quick product descriptions, feature summaries, and suggested questions—helping shoppers research and compare options faster. The experience mirrors a common real-world habit: checking online prices and details while standing in a physical store.

Under the hood, the feature runs on AWS services such as SageMaker and OpenSearch, paired with lightweight object-detection models. As you pan the camera, Lens Live identifies the primary objects in view and uses deep-learning visual embeddings to retrieve the best matches from Amazon's massive product catalog—nearly instantly.

Lens Live doesn't replace traditional Amazon Lens. Shoppers can still search by taking photos, uploading images, or scanning barcodes. Amazon describes Lens Live as another significant investment in AI-driven shopping, following earlier launches like the AI assistant, AI-generated buying guides, AI-powered review summaries, and more personalized recommendations.

Industry watchers see the rollout as Amazon's answer to Google Gemini Live, Google Lens, and Pinterest Lens. The key difference: Amazon pairs each recognition result with a direct path to purchase, reinforcing the platform's commerce-first advantage.

As visual search becomes real-time and purchase-ready, sellers can expect faster product discovery and more impulse-friendly paths to checkout. If you're coordinating FBA replenishment or launching new SKUs from China, Forest Shipping can help move your inventory reliably—ocean, air, or DDP to Amazon FBA—so your listings are in stock when shoppers find you through Lens Live.