Amazon has rolled out six new visual search features for its app, including an Amazon Lens widget for iPhone that places a camera shortcut on the lock screen—letting users find products before unlocking.
The next time something catches your eye, Amazon wants you to buy it before your phone even fully wakes up.
The company has rolled out six new visual search features, one of which is the Amazon Lens widget for iPhone. Instead of opening the app. tapping around. and starting a search after you’ve unlocked your device. the widget puts a camera shortcut directly on the iPhone’s lock screen. Point it at something in front of you, and the Amazon app finds it before you’ve unlocked the phone.
Adding it is simple, but it changes how your lock screen behaves. To install the widget. unlock your iPhone. then press and hold on the lock screen and tap “Customize” at the bottom. In the lock screen editing mode. select “Add Widgets.” From the list of apps. choose Amazon and swipe until you see the Amazon Lens widget. Tap or drag it onto your lock screen, and it’s ready.
Amazon also lets you add two existing widgets alongside Lens: its Search and Orders widget. That comes with a clear trade-off—your lock screen can turn into an Amazon shopping panel for finding products, running text-based searches, and tracking deliveries.
The push toward the lock screen isn’t just about convenience. It’s about the narrow window that impulsive shopping depends on. When you spot something you want, there’s a short stretch of time before distraction takes over. You either forget it or get enough room to decide whether you actually need it. Even for people who stay motivated. the current path—unlocking the phone. opening Amazon. finding the product through search—adds steps that can break momentum. The mid-search pause is where a potential purchase can slip away.
By collapsing the process into a single tap—without requiring you to unlock the phone—Amazon is trying to make sure it’s the first place you go when something looks worth buying.
Amazon Amazon Lens lock screen widget iPhone visual search widgets shopping mobile ecommerce iOS
So they want you buying stuff before you even see your own notifications? That’s wild.
Lock screen widget… so basically Amazon gets another way to watch what you point your camera at? Not saying it’s evil but I’m not putting it on my phone.
Wait, does this mean it can find anything like like even if you don’t unlock? I thought lock screen cameras were blocked. Also why would anyone need this unless you’re shopping 24/7 lol. Seems like it would just make people waste money faster.
This is why my phone stays in airplane mode. Next they’ll be putting ads in your lock screen background photo and you can’t turn it off. I get the point, but I’m old school—unlock phone, go to Amazon, search, then decide. If it’s “one tap” you’ll forget you already bought it twice. Companies like this don’t care about deliveries either, they just want the sale.