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One of the features that got a lot of buzz in the last WWDC has been App Clips – it’s a slick, polished mini-app experience that lets you ‘test drive’ an app’s functionality (you could pay for a coffee or meal – or play a level of a game without having to go through the app download flow).

I can see how it’s inspired by playable ads that over the last number of years have attained significant traction. These are also similar or comparable to Google’s Instant Apps, that didn’t go very far.

So: app clips are a very slick – and convenient experience, in theory. 

In practice, there have been a number of challenges – the primary among them can be described in a single word: discoverability.

App clips are an incredibly cool experience – but they are not helpful if you can’t discover them. For a marketer this is a huge deal. The primary ways that you can invoke app clips are:

1. NFC tags or QR codes when you are outdoors (say at a coffee shop, or restaurant or near a rentable scooter). I’m not sure if there is going to be a significant portion of your potential new users that are ready for ‘impulse’ purchases or use like these cases.
2. A smart banner in Safari. So: this can work if you are already in Safari – and maybe a small portion of users will click on them. 
3. As a link in iMessage (but not elsewhere). This perplexes me. If you send a link to an app clip in iMessage, the recipient can click and open the app clip card immediately. However if you send the link via email or post it on a blog, it’s going to take the user to Safari from where the user can invoke the app clip card. Not very convenient – I might say.

As a developer, you can’t develop just the App Clip – you still have to develop a full app – and yes: you still have to get it reviewed by Apple, and yes: if your users make a purchase through it, you still have to pay Apple 30%.

And yes: app clips aren’t easily attributable – you can’t attribute them with SKAdNetwork.

In summary, yes, this could be useful for apps with significant outdoor presence that can benefit from NFC tags/QR code based flows – or for apps whose new users go via Safari, but to my knowledge, very few developers have made app clip experiences.

It’s a shame that such a slick experience has seen not a lot of adoption. How could this have been improved? What could Apple have done differently?

One direction I’d recommend would have been the direction that playable ads took in games – and really, you could argue that playable ads are a predecessor of app clips in many ways. If Apple would let app clips be linked to by games – or products within ads (or heck, even their email newsletters in a seamless manner), they’d be far far more accessible. 

The success of playable ads over the last many years offers helpful pointers to what could have been.

But for now, for want of distribution, an amazing product will probably slide into oblivion – or simply stay on the backburner for consumers and developers alike.

A REQUEST BEFORE YOU GO

I have a very important favor to ask, which as those of you who know me know I don’t do often. If you get any pleasure or inspiration from this episode, could you PLEASE leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform – be it iTunes, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast fix. This podcast is very much a labor of love – and each episode takes many many hours to put together. When you write a review, it will not only be a great deal of encouragement to us, but it will also support getting the word out about the Mobile User Acquisition Show.

Constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement are welcome, whether on podcasting platforms – or by email to shamanth at rocketshiphq.com. We read all reviews & I want to make this podcast better.

Thank you – and I look forward to seeing you with the next episode!