Amazon augmented reality app brings old boxes to life via QR code

• Amazon has launched an augmented reality (AR) app that brings printed objects on its delivery boxes to life.
• Users scan a QR code on a box to bring up a customizable AR version of the object, which will stay on your phone’s camera as you move around.
• Videos and images show pumpkins, a car, and even a dog being brought to life on screen using the app.
• The Amazon Augmented Reality app is free, and available on both Android and iOS.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

You can now bring your empty Amazon boxes to life thanks to a new augmented reality app from the e-commerce giant.

A promotional video for the “Amazon Augmented Reality” app shows users drawing a face on a pumpkin printed on Amazon Halloween delivery boxes. They then scan the QR code to bring the pumpkin to life as a jack o’lantern, which follows the phone’s camera around the room.

You can change the color of the pumpkin and add accessories in the app, too.

So far the jack o’lantern is the only function available on the free app, but photos on the App Store page suggest the retailer will distribute other shipping boxes with different AR functions.

One photo shows a delivery box being transformed into a blue car, for example. Another shows a dog’s head replaced by a pumpkin wearing a top hat and a monocle. 

The app is available on both iOS and Android, and the description says it is “fun way to reuse your Amazon boxes until you’re ready to drop them in the recycling bin.”

The video also shows the on-screen pumpkin following a user’s face as they turn their head. Amazon notes in the App Store description that if you have Apple’s TrueDepth camera technology, which renders 3D photos, the app will track your facial movements.

The app comes with sound effects, too.

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Amazon notes on its website that its team is creating more augmented reality experiences.

The app can only be used on Amazon boxes and isn’t compatible with other QR codes. But if users don’t have a physical box, they can test the function out with a virtual box on Amazon’s website.