App Clips

In this video, we’re going to be taking a look at app clips on the iPhone. App clips are mini versions of apps, and this was introduced with iOS 14. With an app clip, you no longer have to go to the app store to download an app. The developer can develop an app clip that downloads on the fly. What can you do with an app clip? Well, as an example, with Panera bread, what you’ll be able to do is order from their menu using an app clip. You don’t have to download the Panera app from the app store. Let’s see what I mean. Let’s go to my iPhone.

Now I mentioned Panera bread. This is what I’m going to be using as my example. I do not have Panera bread’s app on my iPhone. I’m going to swipe over the left to get to my library here. And then when I swipe up to get to where Panera bread would be, you’re going to see I do not have Panera bread here. I do not have this app installed on my iPhone, but now watch what happens when I go over to the Maps app. I tap on it. I search for Panera bread. I already have it searched, so I’m just going to tap on recently viewed here. It finds my local Panera bread here. And if I swipe up on the card, I can get the hours; I can get the address, I can call them. But you’re going to see we have a new option up here. I can now order food. Again, I did not download the app. When I tap on this, what it’s going to do is it’s going to download an app clip. So this is a very small version of their app. It’s designed to do basically one thing – allow me to order food. It has to be under a certain size, so it can download quickly. It’s also not going to take up a lot of space on your iPhone.

Let’s go and tap on this to see how this app clip works. I tap on it to order food. And now we can see we have a new card here. I can download the Panera bread app. That’s not what I want to do. What I want to do is just open up this app clip. I tap on open, and now I am looking at the app clip. Again, this is not an app in the traditional sense. It did not download it from the app store. So let’s say I wanted to order some cheese flatbread. I tap on it. We can see the price. I tap on continue. And now I can order it with Apple Pay. Again, this is not an app. If I go and swipe up to go back to my app library here, you’re going to see I do not have Panera bread installed.

Basically, what the maps app did is it downloaded an app clip. So this is a very small version of Panera bread’s app, basically allowing me to do one thing, order food.

Now, even though it doesn’t download the actual app, it does download the app clip. So when I go back up to my app library here, and then I look at my recently added apps, you’re going to see I have one here for Panera bread, but you’re going to see that it has a dotted line around the app icon. This indicates that it is an app clip. It is not a full-blown app. Now you cannot add this app clip to your home screen. When I tap and hold on this, I have three options. I can share this app clip. I can view it in the app store, which will take me to the actual Panera bread app. And then, I can also remove the app clip. I cannot add it to my home screen because it is an app clip. It is not a full-blown app.

So that’s what app clips are on the iPhone. With app clips, what we have are mini versions of an app. They’re small in size, and you don’t have to go to the app store to download them. They usually allow us to do just a basic task, as in Panera bread, what it allows us to do is order food. You will find them in the app library, but you cannot add them to your home screen.

So that’s what an app clip is on the iPhone.