Ever see a piece of decor and wish you could search it on Pinterest?

The service is designed to let you find things related to what really intrigues you. However, if you want to use Pinterest, you must recall what you once wanted to look up, or you need to grab your phone in the moment and start searching keywords, which is time consuming, especially if you prefer to casually browse and find relevant pins to save. Well, Pinterest has launched a game-changing feature that streamlines this process.

Called Pinterest Lens, the feature is described as something people can use if they happen to spot an item out in the world that looks interesting, but when they try to search for it online later, words fail them: "You have this rich, colorful picture in your mind, but you can’t translate it into the words you need to find it," Pinterest explained in a 8 February post, which announced Lens is available in beta.

Lens lets you use the camera in your Pinterest app to search for objects you see out in the real world. Just point Lens at a table, then tap to see related styles or even ideas for how you can build something similar yourself. Or try it on a pair of shoes. You can also use Lens with food to find recipes. Pinterest said Lens currently works best for finding "home decor ideas, things to wear, and food to eat."

However, as more people use Lens, which is based on a visual search technology that Pinterest introduced in 2015, the range of objects Lens recognises will grow wider. Lens will roll out in the US in "the coming weeks" in the Pinterest for iPhone or Android app. To complement this feature, Pinterest also introduced Shop the Look, a tool that identifies clothing items in pins that can be bought through partners.

Shop the Look is currently available for brands including CB2, Macy’s, Target, Neiman Marcus, and Wayfair.