How virtual try-on works, and which products it suits

Two ways to try on: the live camera and the single photo

Camera try-on opens the phone's camera and draws a 3D model of the product on the shopper in real time. The phone finds the foot, the face or the head in every frame, and the product moves with them. It suits products that are judged in motion and from several angles.

Photo try-on works from one photo of the shopper: their hand, their wrist or their face. The product is placed on that photo, and the result holds still, so the shopper can zoom in and look as long as they like. It suits small products whose detail matters more than movement.

Which products suit which

• Camera: shoes, glasses and hats. The shopper turns, walks, looks down, and the product follows.
• Photo: watches, bracelets, rings and earrings. A ring on a hand that keeps moving is the hardest case for live tracking; on a still photo it is the easiest.

What each one needs from you

Camera try-on needs a 3D model of each product, one per colourway, in GLB format. Sizes share one model. If you have no models, our guide on getting 3D models of your products compares the ways to get them.

Photo try-on needs only the product photo you already use on your page. Your photograph is the asset, which is also why the try-on shows the piece exactly as your photographer captured it: nothing is rebuilt, relit or recoloured. A photo-based piece can go live the day its photo is uploaded.

What the shopper does

1. They tap the try-on button on your product page. Nothing is installed: it runs in the phone's browser.
2. For camera try-on, they allow the camera and point it at their feet, face or head. For photo try-on, they upload a photo from their gallery or take one on the spot.
3. They see the product on themselves, and add it to the cart from the same page.

On a computer, the shopper can move the camera step to their phone by scanning a QR code. On a device that cannot run camera try-on, the photo path is offered instead of an error.

Privacy: where the camera and the photos go

This is the question shoppers ask, and it deserves a clear answer on your page.

• Camera try-on: tracking runs on the shopper's own device, in the browser. The live video is never uploaded or stored.
• Photo try-on: the photo has to be processed to place the product on it. It is used to build the try-on and for nothing else, and it is not published anywhere.

What try-on does not do

Try-on shows how a product looks on a person. It is not a sizing tool: it will not tell a shopper their shoe size or their ring size, and glasses try-on does not measure the face. The one exception is watch size, because a watch case has a size in millimetres that can be drawn honestly. Our guide on watch try-on at true size explains how.

How to start

Pick five to ten products: your best sellers in the category and the ones returned most often. Put them live, compare each with its own numbers from before, and extend from what the numbers show.