Pinterest gives everyone in the US access to its Lens tool
But it's still only in beta for Android and iOS.
Pinterest's visual search tool isn't quite ready to hop out of beta yet, but the company is giving a lot more people the chance to try it out. The new feature, called Lens, is now open to all Android and iOS users in the US after a month-long trial with a small group of testers. Lens is pretty much the app's version of reverse image search, created so that you can easily shop for items on Pinterest by taking their photos.
Say, you want to look up your friend's unusual vase that's shaped like an upside-down human head -- you only need to tap the search bar and take a photo of it using the camera icon that pops up. You can also use any image from your gallery. Your queries will surface other people's pins and products you can purchase from within the app, though the company admits the feature isn't quite as accurate as it would like it to be.
Pinterest says Lens, while excellent at looking up outfits and recipe ingredients, is still learning. It plans to keep the feature in beta until it gets considerably better at recognizing what's in a photo, and you can help speed up that process by sending in feedback when you can.