App Clips

Lightweight, instantly-available versions of your iOS app for in-the-moment experiences or demos. Targets iOS 26+ / Swift 6.3 unless noted.

Contents

• App Clip Target Setup
• Invocation URL Handling
• App Clip Experience Configuration
• Size Limits
• Invocation Methods
• Data Migration to Full App
• SKOverlay for Full App Promotion
• Location Confirmation
• Lifecycle and Ephemeral Nature
• Capabilities and Limitations
• Common Mistakes
• Review Checklist
• References

App Clip Target Setup

An App Clip is a separate target in the same Xcode project as your full app:

1. File → New → Target → App Clip — Xcode creates the target with the com.apple.developer.on-demand-install-capable entitlement and a Parent Application Identifiers entitlement linking back to the full app.
2. The App Clip bundle ID must be a suffix of the full app's: com.example.MyApp.Clip.
3. Xcode adds an Embed App Clip build phase to the full app target automatically.

Share code between targets

Use Swift packages or shared source files. Add files to both targets, or use the APPCLIP active compilation condition:

// In App Clip target Build Settings → Active Compilation Conditions: APPCLIP

#if !APPCLIP
// Full-app-only code (e.g., background tasks, App Intents)
#else
// App Clip specific code
#endif

Prefer local Swift packages for shared modules — add the package as a dependency of both targets.

Shared asset catalogs

Create a shared asset catalog included in both targets to avoid duplicating images and colors.

Invocation URL Handling

App Clips receive an NSUserActivity of type NSUserActivityTypeBrowsingWeb on launch. Handle it with onContinueUserActivity:

@main
struct DonutShopClip: App {
    var body: some Scene {
        WindowGroup {
            ContentView()
                .onContinueUserActivity(
                    NSUserActivityTypeBrowsingWeb
                ) { activity in
                    handleInvocation(activity)
                }
        }
    }

    private func handleInvocation(_ activity: NSUserActivity) {
        guard let url = activity.webpageURL,
              let components = URLComponents(url: url, resolvingAgainstBaseURL: true)
        else { return }

        // Extract path/query to determine context
        let locationID = components.queryItems?
            .first(where: { $0.name == "location" })?.value

        // Update UI for this location
    }
}

For UIKit scene-based apps, implement scene(_:willConnectTo:options:) for cold launch and scene(_:continue:) for warm launch.

Key rule: The full app must handle all invocation URLs identically — when a user installs the full app, it replaces the App Clip and receives all future invocations.

App Clip Experience Configuration

Configure experiences in App Store Connect after uploading a build containing the App Clip.

Default App Clip experience (required)

• Provide: header image, subtitle (≤56 chars), call-to-action verb
• App Store Connect generates a default App Clip link: https://appclip.apple.com/id?=<bundle_id>&key=value
• Supports: QR codes, NFC tags, Messages, Spotlight, other apps

Demo App Clip link

• Auto-generated by App Store Connect for demo versions of your app
• Supports all invocations including physical (App Clip Codes, NFC, QR)
• Allows larger binary size (up to 100 MB uncompressed)
• Cannot contain URL parameters

Advanced App Clip experiences (optional)

• Required for: Maps integration, location association, App Clip Codes, per-location card imagery
• Each experience has its own invocation URL, header image, and metadata
• URL prefix matching lets one registered URL cover many sub-paths
• Use the App Store Connect API to manage large numbers of experiences programmatically

Associated domains

For custom URLs (not the default Apple-generated link), add entries to the Associated Domains entitlement and host an AASA file:

appclips:example.com

Size Limits

App Clip binaries must stay within strict uncompressed size limits (measured via App Thinning Size Report):

The 100 MB limit on iOS 17+ for non-demo links requires: digital-only invocations, no physical invocation support (no App Clip Codes / NFC / QR), and the App Clip must not support iOS 16 or earlier.

Measure size: Archive the app → Distribute → Export as Ad Hoc/Development with App Thinning → check App Thinning Size Report.txt.

Use Background Assets to download additional content post-launch (e.g., game levels) if needed. App Clip downloads cannot use isEssential.

Invocation Methods

Safari Smart App Banner

Add this meta tag to your website to show the App Clip banner:

<meta name="apple-itunes-app"
      content="app-id=YOUR_APP_ID, app-clip-bundle-id=com.example.MyApp.Clip,
               app-clip-display=card">

Data Migration to Full App

When a user installs the full app, it replaces the App Clip. Use a shared App Group container to migrate data:

// In both targets: add App Groups capability with the same group ID

// App Clip — write data
func saveOrderHistory(_ orders: [Order]) throws {
    guard let containerURL = FileManager.default.containerURL(
        forSecurityApplicationGroupIdentifier: "group.com.example.myapp.shared"
    ) else { return }

    let data = try JSONEncoder().encode(orders)
    let fileURL = containerURL.appendingPathComponent("orders.json")
    try data.write(to: fileURL)
}

// Full app — read migrated data
func loadMigratedOrders() throws -> [Order] {
    guard let containerURL = FileManager.default.containerURL(
        forSecurityApplicationGroupIdentifier: "group.com.example.myapp.shared"
    ) else { return [] }

    let fileURL = containerURL.appendingPathComponent("orders.json")
    guard FileManager.default.fileExists(atPath: fileURL.path) else { return [] }
    let data = try Data(contentsOf: fileURL)
    return try JSONDecoder().decode([Order].self, from: data)
}

Shared UserDefaults

// Write (App Clip)
let shared = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.com.example.myapp.shared")
shared?.set(userToken, forKey: "authToken")

// Read (Full app)
let shared = UserDefaults(suiteName: "group.com.example.myapp.shared")
let token = shared?.string(forKey: "authToken")

Keychain sharing

Starting iOS 15.4, App Clip keychain items are accessible to the corresponding full app via the parent-application-identifiers and associated-appclip-app-identifiers entitlements. Use distinct kSecAttrLabel values to distinguish App Clip vs. full app entries.

Sign in with Apple

Store the ASAuthorizationAppleIDCredential.user in the shared container so the full app can silently verify without re-prompting login.

SKOverlay for Full App Promotion

Display an overlay recommending the full app from within the App Clip:

SwiftUI

struct OrderCompleteView: View {
    @State private var showOverlay = false

    var body: some