Pinterest has introduced a new feature to its mobile app that adds the ability to zoom in on any photo by pinching the screen. The social media service announced that it has started rolling out the pinch-to-zoom function to iOS users, though a similar update should land on Android devices soon, according to Pinterest’s Jeff Harris. No firm dates for the release of the Android counterpart to this feature have yet been given by the company, though it’s understood that more details on the matter will follow soon.
Harris noted that pinch-to-zoom has been one of the most requested functionalities on the part of its users in recent times, adding that Pinterest is now hoping to address that demand. The addition of the pinch-to-zoom feature to Pinterest is likely intended to boost the visual search engine that it added to its Google Chrome extension in March, along with the rollout of the beta version of its Lens visual search. The recently added engine is designed to help you search for the things you see in a Pin even if you do not know exactly how your object of interest is called. The visual search tool hence lets you pin any image that you stumble upon while browsing any site, consequently sending it to your Pinterest board. However, without the ability to zoom in on an image, the firm’s visual search engine had limited applications until now as it didn’t allow users to focus on a particular detail in an image, consequently making its results less accurate, especially in photographs in which it would identify numerous objects without knowing which one exactly do users want to search for.
The visual search engine has also gained some new improvements that make the tool easier to find with the latest update. That approach seemingly paid off for Pinterest, as the company notes that the number of users taking advantage of its visual search tool following the tweak has grown by 70 percent during the pilot testing period, though it remains to be seen how owners of Android devices will accept it once the new update hits the Google Play Store.
