Shazam adds visual recognition, letting it identify posters, magazines and boxes

Companies will be able to use the tools to allow physical things to provide easily-accessed digital links

Shazam's Chief Executive Rich Riley poses at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona March 4, 2015 (Reuters)

Shazam has added visual recognition features to its app, meaning that it can identify pictures and text in the same way it does music.

The feature will allow people to point their phone at posters, magazines and other real-world things, which will then bring up certain content on their phones. Magazines will be able to embed the feature into covers, for instance, so that showing them to the phone will bring up videos involving the person in a photos.

Users can open up the feature by clicking on the camera icon on the app’s home screen. Anything that can be recognised will feature a little Shazam logo or a QR code, and users can then point their camera at the packaging or ad.

The feature has launched with a range of tie-ups with companies including Walt Disney and HarperCollins. Those companies have created posters and covers that can be photographed, bringing up trailers and ads.

At least in the beginning, the feature seems mostly focused on allowing companies to set up recognition for their products and services, rather than allowing consumers to identify anything.

“The introduction of visual recognition is another step on our journey to extend the ways people can use Shazam to engage with the world around them,” said Rich Riley, Shazam’s CEO. “For brands, we’re providing a near-frictionless way to engage customers on their mobile devices, with a single tap of a button.”