You’re bored with your home’s look. It’s time for a change. Repainting could make all the difference, but which colour scheme will work best? Dulux Visualizer is a smart iOS/ Android app which can show you. Just point your camera at the wall and it’s repainted, in real time, to match whatever colour you like.

This all starts by selecting your preferred colour. One option is to browse a colour picker covering the entire Dulux range. Alternatively, you’re able to take a picture of any scene and extract a colour you like.

With that done, launching the Visualizer displays a camera view of your room. Tap any wall and Dulux augmented reality technology automatically displays it in your chosen colour, even as you move the camera around, helping you see how it matches everything else.

Tap a wall and it’s redisplayed in your chosen colour

Does it work? Some elements are surprisingly effective, considering the total lack of any setup. We found Dulux Visualizer accurately detected the edge of our walls, filling the areas we asked, and keeping this updated as we panned the camera around. If you like the results then you’re able to view matching Dulux products or order testers in a tap or two.

But there are also problems, particularly in low light. If there’s “too much” shadow at the edge of a wall then the new colour won’t quite stretch far enough, leaving a line of the original colour remaining. The edges of the recoloured area tend to flicker and pulse as your camera moves, too, which can be very distracting.

We’re also unsure why the app needs permission to access your calendar and contacts. More fundamentally, it won’t work at all if your Android device doesn’t have the movement sensors it needs.

Dulux Visualizer is generally well-designed, though, and so easy to use that it’ll probably only take 5 minutes to find out if it works for you. If you’re looking for some interior design inspiration then we’d give it a try.