App Clips

A small, instant part of your app that people can use without installing it.

Read the documentation WWDC sessions

Introduced

2020

iOS 14

Kind

Framework

Runs on

Get it from

iOS

14.0+

iPadOS

14.0+

Mac Catalyst

macOS

tvOS

visionOS

watchOS

Overview

An App Clip is a lightweight piece of your app that opens in seconds, right when someone needs it, like paying for parking or ordering at a café. People find it through an App Clip Code, an NFC tag, a QR code, Safari, Messages, Maps, another app or Spotlight. It never shows up on the Home Screen, and the system removes it after a while if it isn't used.

You build it as a separate target in the same Xcode project as your app, read the invocation URL at launch to show the right content, and set up App Clip experiences in App Store Connect. It has to stay small, it can send notifications for up to 8 hours after each launch, and when someone gets the full app, it takes the App Clip's place and can keep its data.

Instant launch

Opens from a card in seconds, with no App Store install.

Many entry points

Launch from App Clip Codes, NFC, QR codes, Safari, Maps and more.

Short notifications

Send notifications for up to 8 hours after each launch.

Full app upgrade

The full app replaces the App Clip and can keep its data.

DonutShopClip.swift

import SwiftUI

@main
struct DonutShopClip: App {
    @State private var storeID: String?

    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            OrderView(storeID: storeID)
                .onContinueUserActivity(NSUserActivityTypeBrowsingWeb) { activity in
                    // e.g. https://example.com/order?store=42
                    guard let url = activity.webpageURL,
                          let components = URLComponents(url: url, resolvingAgainstBaseURL: true)
                    else { return }
                    storeID = components.queryItems?
                        .first(where: { $0.name == "store" })?.value
                }
        }
    }
}

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