I'm currently working on a small app to demonstrate the usefulness of iOS 14's new App Clips. Since this is a proof of concept to demonstrate the power of App Clips, rather than an app meant for production, I do not have an app available on the Store.
Is it possible to configure an App Clip launch experience without having an App available on the App Store? The documentation I could find appears to require the creation of an App Clip on Apple Connect.
Without an app in the app store you can create an app clip that can be used in a very limited way. If a proof of concept is what you're after, maybe the app clip testing methods will do.
Generally there are 3 options:
Run the app clip project in Xcode. add the environment parameter _XCAppClipURL to simulate the invocation link.
Use the local experience. Create a local experience on the iPhone you'd like to simulate the app clip on. Then invoke the app clip using a QR scanner or whatever other method you'd like to use. You'll need to configure this for each device you want to use the app clip on.
Use TestFlight. For this you'll need to upload some app and the app clip to app store connect (The build is for an app and app clip together). You don't have to submit them to the store, uploading the build to app store connect is enough to get them on TestFlight (at least for closed testing).
more information can be found in Apple's documentation
Related
I want to release an update of my app with the new addition of an app clip. Apple states in their documentation
Safari's Smart App Banner and sharing via Messages is only available when the app clip is published in the App Store.
Is there any way to verify that the app clip via smart banner will definitely work once the update is available in the store? Otherwise I basically have to hope that everything was set up correctly which I just refuse to believe that's the case. Did anyone do this yet and can tell me how to verify everything will work as expected?
I am new to app clip experience and currently struggling to deliver my demo app to my client with full app clip experience (including scan QR code to open app clip).
My question is that can we have scan QR code to open app clip card for testflight beta version? I tried to add an invocation URL for the specific testing build, but not working at all.
Here are things I have done so far:
Scan QR code is working as expected for local registered experience, which means you must have app clip cached in your device via building from Xcode
App & clip is submitted to Testflight for testing. I can see the open app clip from Testflight App, and my app clip works perfectly.
I did a set of configuration about aasa file, and I can see it is configured properly
Any help would be very appreciated.
For testers, they launch through Testflight. Documentation says:
Users don’t install App Clips, and App Clips don’t appear on the Home screen. Similarly, testers don’t install the beta version of your App Clip, and it also doesn’t appear on the Home screen either. Instead, testers launch the App Clip experiences you configure for testing through the TestFlight app on their device.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/app_clips/testing_your_app_clip_s_launch_experience
Testers can configure a local experience and then launch the app clip in that way.
Testers can also configure a local experience to launch the App Clip you distribute with TestFlight. However, you must still associate your App Clip with your website. In addition, testers must launch the App Clip from an App Clip experience for testing you configure in App Store Connect at least once to ensure that the App Clip is cached on the device.
That same documentation mentions how to setup a local experience.
Say I want to build an app clip for my curbside pickup feature.
Is it possible to have another app clip for an unrelated in-store experience?
I can build both targets and run them just fine in Xcode, but when it comes to publishing, is this a possibility?
You can only have one App Clip target when you upload your binary to App Store Connect, however you can configure multiple App Clip Experiences within the one App Clip.
From the Apple documentation:
Some apps provide multiple experiences and App Clips can be configured to support each of them in a special way. For example, a restaurant app may support multiple restaurants. App Clips make it possible to create a unique experience for each restaurant through a single App Clip.
In your example, you could instead create separate schemes for your curbside pickup feature and unrelated in-store experience, both targeting your single App Clip target. Each scheme can specify its own Environment Variable for _XCAppClipURL so that you can test different invocations of your App Clip.
No. Only One App Clip per App.
You can use other experiences for that unrelated experience
I got an email from Apple that apps now require iOS13 + storyboard for app launch screen for existing apps. (I do not use storyboard for main app functionality)
I have developed a couple swift1/swift2 based for schools a long time ago. (Still works well)
Can I somehow ditch the app store and then provide direct access or download for school pupils?
i.e. is there any way forward to simple keep the apps-as-they-are? Maybe limited download availability?
Or will I have to take plunge back into app-building?
The requirement of a Storyboard launch screen is only when you need to submit an app update. If you are not wanting to update your app any more, then it won’t stop working because of this new requirement.
Regarding distribution outside of the App Store, you could use Adhoc distribution which requires you to know the device ID’s of the devices you want to install it to.
I have developed an app and I want to run another app installed on the phone and downloaded from the store (a game) inside a portion of the screen.
As I understood from my search, this is not possible. The next best solution would be to launch the game from my app and always return to it once the game closes.
I have been able to bootstrap a solution with a particular game using URL Schemes but is there a general solution working with any app downloaded from the store?
Do the answers provided there still apply or is it now possible? Can you run an iOS app inside another iOS App
No, you still can not run an app within another app.
The only way to launch another app from your own is by using URL schemes, and there is no way to make a third-party app reopen your original app once the user completes a game.
You cannot directly obtain a list of installed applications to launch, but you could use iHasApp and possibly your own dataset of known URL schemes to check if a given app is installed on the device.