What Is an App Clip? The Complete Guide to App Clips for Ecommerce

Do you remember playing Snake? It shipped pre-installed on Nokia phones in the late 1990s, and it’s widely considered one of the first mobile phone apps. It was the start of phones becoming more than, well, phones.

Today, apps come two ways: built into your phone, or downloaded from an app store. But there’s a third type.

An App Clip is a small part of an iPhone app that opens instantly, with no App Store download. Apple introduced App Clips in 2020. You scan a QR code, tap an NFC tag or follow a link, and a native app opens in seconds, complete with Apple Pay, Sign in with Apple and push notifications.

For online stores, that closes the gap between a mobile website and an app. Shoppers get the speed and one-tap checkout of an app on their very first visit, and nobody asks them to install anything. That matters, because the install is exactly where most mobile shoppers drop off. (If you know Reactiv Clips, App Clips are the Apple technology underneath.)

Why mobile websites lose shoppers that App Clips keep

Here’s the uncomfortable part of mobile shopping: most carts never make it to checkout. Baymard Institute puts the average at 70.22%, across 50 studies. If you’ve ever typed a shipping address with your thumbs, you know why.

Apps fix most of this. In Reactiv customer data, shoppers in a native app convert at 2x the rate of mobile web. So why doesn’t every brand just send shoppers to the app?

Because an app download is a big ask. In a 2021 survey reported by Forbes, 77.9% of people said a required app install had made them abandon a transaction. Among 18 to 24 year olds, it was 87.1%.

Call it the app download barrier: the best mobile experience sits behind the one step most shoppers won’t take. For years, brands had two imperfect options. Lock the best features behind an install and lose most first-time visitors, or keep everything on the mobile website and live with lower conversion.

App Clips take that trade-off off the table. Shoppers get native speed, Apple Pay and push notifications at the moment they’re ready to buy, and the install becomes optional. On ad traffic, Reactiv customers see 3x higher conversion when the click opens an App Clip instead of a mobile web page.

Want to go deeper on the mobile gap? See the benefits of mobile commerce and our guide to mobile conversion rate optimization.

How App Clips open: QR codes, NFC, App Clip Codes and links

Nobody searches the App Store for an App Clip. You find one in the moment: on a shelf, on a restaurant table, in an ad. There are four main ways to open one, plus a few places where iPhone surfaces App Clips on its own.

QR codes

Most shoppers already know how to scan a QR code, so there’s nothing new to learn. What changes is what opens. Instead of a static web page, the code launches an App Clip with the product, menu or offer ready to go. A few ideas:

• A code on in-store signage that opens product details, sizing and reviews
• A code on a direct mail piece or drop card that opens a shoppable offer
• A tabletop code at a restaurant for browsing the menu, ordering and paying

NFC tags

An NFC tag opens an App Clip when someone holds their iPhone near it. It’s a small, deliberate tap, which makes NFC a natural fit wherever a physical object could use a digital layer:

• Product packaging that opens setup instructions or warranty registration
• A loyalty tap at the counter that adds a stamp to a digital card
• A scooter or bike that unlocks with a tap

App Clip Codes

App Clip Codes are Apple’s own visual codes, built only for opening App Clips. They look a lot sleeker than a black-and-white QR square, and they can include NFC, so shoppers can either scan the code or tap it. Use NFC-enabled codes on print, packaging and signage within arm’s reach, and scan-only codes on screens and signs people can’t touch.

Links in ads, email, SMS and Messages

Links are the simplest way in, and they fit into any campaign you already run: social ads, email, SMS and the Messages app. On your own website, a Smart App Banner at the top of the page in Safari can open the App Clip too. For example:

• A social ad that opens straight to a product inside the App Clip
• An abandoned-cart SMS that brings the shopper back to a native checkout
• An email that opens a limited drop

The best seasonal campaigns mix physical and digital triggers. Our post on Reactiv Clips for peak season covers how brands plan QR, NFC and link campaigns around their biggest selling windows.

Discovery without a scan: Maps, Siri Suggestions, Spotlight and App Library

App Clips can also find people without anyone scanning anything:

• Apple Maps. A business can attach its App Clip to its place card, so people can order or book right from Maps.
• Siri Suggestions. iPhone can suggest an App Clip based on location, for example near a store that offers one.
• Spotlight search. App Clips can appear in Spotlight results.
• Other apps. Since iOS 17, other apps can show an App Clip preview or link that opens it.
• App Library. App Clips someone has used appear at the end of the alphabetical list in their App Library, so they can open them again.

A few of these need extra setup in App Store Connect. Maps place cards, for example, use an advanced App Clip experience tied to a physical location.

The App Clip user journey, step by step

Remember how Snake felt once you got into a rhythm? A good App Clip should feel the same: one smooth motion from trigger to purchase. Here’s what the shopper sees.

Step 1: The trigger

The shopper scans a code, taps a tag or follows a link. Your only job here is to make that first step effortless.

Step 2: The App Clip card

An App Clip card slides up from the bottom of the screen. Think of it as a quick bit of window shopping: a header image, a short title and subtitle, and an action button such as “Open.” Apple recommends keeping the title to 30 characters and the subtitle to 56. If the App Clip can send notifications or confirm the shopper’s location, the card says so, and the shopper can turn either off right there. You’ll see this note on the Caesars cards further down.

Step 3: Sign in or pay with Apple

This is where App Clips really shine. Most commerce App Clips lean on Sign in with Apple and Apple Pay, so there’s no new password to invent and no card number to type. The shopper just confirms with Face ID or Touch ID. It’s still good practice to offer guest checkout.

Step 4: The task is done

The order is placed, the scooter unlocks, the table is booked. No redirects, no downloads, no setup screens. If the brand has a full app, the App Clip can suggest it at the end, and installing the app replaces the App Clip.

Under the hood: how an App Clip opens the right page

Fair warning: this part gets a little technical. Merchants can skip ahead, because platforms like Reactiv handle all of it. If you’re a developer, or just curious, here’s what happens between the tap and the product page.

An App Clip lives inside your app’s Xcode project

An App Clip isn’t a separate product. Developers add an App Clip target to the full app’s Xcode project, and the two share code and assets. Apple requires a full app that offers at least the same functionality as the App Clip, and both are submitted to App Store Connect together. Once someone installs the full app, it replaces the App Clip on their device.

Every launch starts with an invocation URL

Every way of opening an App Clip, whether a QR code, an NFC tag or a link, carries an invocation URL. The system checks that URL against the App Clip experiences registered in App Store Connect, uses the matching experience to fill in the App Clip card, and then hands the URL to the App Clip.

The App Clip reads the URL from the NSUserActivity it receives on launch, confirms it’s a web-browsing activity, and sends the shopper to the right screen. So a URL like https://shop.example.com/products/linen-shirt can open straight to that shirt. The full app has to handle the same URLs too, because once it’s installed, every invocation opens the app instead.

Associating the App Clip with your website

For simple setups, App Store Connect generates a default App Clip link that works without touching your server. If you want a Smart App Banner on your own site, your own domain in codes and links, or support for iOS 16.3 and earlier, you’ll need to associate the App Clip with your website. That takes two pieces: an Associated Domains entitlement in the app (appclips:shop.example.com) and an apple-app-site-association (AASA) file in the .well-known folder on your server:

{
  "appclips": {
    "apps": ["ABCDE12345.com.example.shop.Clip"]
  }
}

Notice what’s missing: paths. The App Clip entry only lists the App Clip’s app identifier. Which URLs open which experience is set up in App Store Connect, not in this file.

App Clip size limits in 2026

App Clips have to be small to open instantly. Apple’s limits apply to the uncompressed App Clip binary:

• 10 MB if the App Clip supports iOS 15 or earlier
• 15 MB if it supports iOS 16 and later
• Up to 100 MB on iOS 17 and later, if the App Clip only opens from digital invocations like websites and Spotlight, doesn’t support physical ones like QR codes, NFC tags and App Clip Codes, and doesn’t support iOS 16 or earlier

The one exception is Apple’s App Clip demo link. It allows 100 MB with physical invocations too, but it’s meant for demo versions of apps and games, and it can’t carry URL parameters.

Testing an App Clip

Developers test App Clips from Xcode, using the _XCAppClipURL environment variable to simulate an invocation URL, then with TestFlight before release. Local experiences on a test device let teams try out different App Clip cards.

Curious how Reactiv connects App Clips to Shopify data? See the Reactiv ecommerce API. For the latest look, see Liquid Glass for Reactiv Clips.

App Clip vs. mobile website vs. native app

Here’s how the three stack up side by side:

These three aren’t rivals. Most brands use a mobile website for search and discovery, App Clips for high-intent moments, and a native app for their most loyal shoppers. Very often, the App Clip is the bridge that turns a first visit into an install.

Key benefits of App Clips for ecommerce

Native app speed without the download

Here’s the thing to remember: an App Clip isn’t like an app. It is an app, with native code, native navigation, and access to the camera, Apple Pay and Sign in with Apple. Shoppers get all of that on their first visit, without committing to an install.

It also works as a test drive. If the App Clip experience is good, it earns the install. On average, 15% of shoppers who open a Reactiv Clip go on to install the brand’s full app, and Top of the Mornin’ sees 35% where its Clips are live.

Checkout in a couple of taps

Apple Pay removes the slowest part of mobile checkout: typing names, addresses and card numbers on a small screen. One glance for Face ID (or a touch for Touch ID) and the order is placed. Paired with Sign in with Apple, there’s no account to create before buying.

The 8-hour push notification window

For ecommerce, this is the feature that matters most. An App Clip can schedule and receive notifications for up to 8 hours after each launch. The permission is on by default: the App Clip card says the App Clip can send notifications, and the shopper can turn that off with a tap. There’s no separate opt-in prompt. Anything longer needs regular notification permission.

Eight hours is plenty of time to win back a sale. The most common uses:

• Abandoned browse and cart nudges. Sometimes a shopper just needs an extra push (no pun intended). Push can beat email here: OneSignal reports that push click-through rates are 37% higher than email for cart abandonment campaigns. And push works even when the shopper never typed in an email address.
• Order and delivery updates. Keep shoppers in the loop and build a little trust after the purchase.
• Lifecycle and loyalty messages. Start a longer relationship, for example with a loyalty program welcome.
• Promotions. Let shoppers know about a sale or a drop while they’re still thinking about you.

One caveat: just because you can send a notification doesn’t mean you should. Personalized notifications can see up to 400% more engagement than generic ones, so make every message count. For more, see our push notification best practices, push notifications vs. SMS, and why personalized push notifications belong in every ecommerce strategy.

Privacy built in

Apple built App Clips with privacy in mind, and that’s a big part of why shoppers feel comfortable opening them:

• App Clips can’t track people across other apps. App Tracking Transparency and SKAdNetwork aren’t available to them.
• They can’t ask for continuous location access. If a shopper allows location while using the App Clip, that permission resets at 4:00 a.m. the next day. For physical locations, Apple offers a lightweight check that only confirms the shopper is where the code says they are, and the shopper can turn it off on the App Clip card.
• They can’t read Contacts, Photos, Health, Calendar or Files, and they can only share data with their own full app.
• They don’t sit on the Home screen. iOS removes an App Clip after a period of inactivity, and shoppers can remove one anytime from App Library.
• Apple Pay doesn’t share the shopper’s actual card number with the merchant.

Reactiv Clips: App Clips built for Shopify brands

Building an App Clip from scratch means an iOS team, an App Store listing and ongoing maintenance. That’s a lot to take on for one feature. With Reactiv Clips, App Clips are deployed alongside the brand’s native app on one platform, and Reactiv’s team does the build. Most brands launch in 2 to 4 weeks, including design, integrations and App Store review.

The biggest difference is the order of operations. Most app journeys ask for the commitment first: download the app, get a discount, maybe shop, maybe stay. Reactiv Clips flips that around and puts the product first: tap, shop in a native experience, buy, and then decide whether the full app is worth keeping. If the Clip is good, it sells the app for you, and that’s where real loyalty starts.

App Clips in action: real examples

Apple’s launch partners showed what App Clips could do for restaurants, mobility and hospitality. Today, Shopify brands use them to turn ads, social posts and QR codes into native shopping.

Panera Bread: order and pay from Maps or a code

Panera Bread was one of Apple’s original App Clip examples, and it baked up something fast. Customers scan a Panera App Clip Code or tap the App Clip on Panera’s Apple Maps place card, tap Open, choose their order and pay with Apple Pay.

Spin: unlock a scooter without the app

Mobility company Spin was another of Apple’s launch examples, and it turned iPhones into scooter keys. Scanning the code on a scooter opened Spin’s App Clip, so a first-time rider could check the battery, unlock the scooter and pay with Apple Pay without downloading anything.

Caesars: directions and reservations on the resort floor

Caesars Entertainment placed an early bet on App Clips at its Las Vegas resorts. One App Clip card offers step-by-step directions to your hotel room at Caesars Palace, and another lets guests reserve a table at Bugsy & Meyer’s in a few taps. Both cards show the notification note, so Caesars Rewards can keep guests updated for the next 8 hours.

Cozy Earth: from an AI answer to native shopping

Cozy Earth has gotten really cozy with Reactiv Clips. The brand comes up often when people ask AI assistants like ChatGPT for recommendations, and when a shopper taps through from one of those answers, they land in a Reactiv Clip instead of a mobile web page.

If they wander off before checking out, Cozy Earth has 8 hours to send a friendly nudge. No email address required. The shopper gets a faster experience, and the brand gets a second chance at the sale.

Hobbiesville: Clips across ads, social and QR codes

Hobbiesville’s collectors don’t browse, they hunt. The retailer moved to Reactiv in 2025, and now Reactiv Clips are everywhere in its marketing: ads, social posts and QR codes open instant in-app experiences with no App Store detour. Clips are one of the ways into an app that now drives about 40% of Hobbiesville’s total revenue, with a 12% in-app conversion rate. Read the Hobbiesville story.

Top of the Mornin’: reaching shoppers before the download

Top of the Mornin’ Coffee grew out of one of the largest communities on the internet: YouTuber Seán McLoughlin’s (Jacksepticeye’s) audience. The brand uses Reactiv Clips to open native experiences from ads, social and QR codes for fans who haven’t downloaded its app yet. Where its Clips are live, they drive a 35% install rate.

“Anything that can make our shopper’s life easier makes my life easier.”

Kenzie McAndrew, Head of Marketing, Top of the Mornin’

Read the Top of the Mornin’ story.

Med School Bro: push follow-ups without an email address

Med School Bro is a creator-led study brand with more than 2 million social followers. Its App Clips let that audience use the app without downloading it, and when a student abandons a browse or cart session, push follow-ups still reach them. That recovers sales email can’t touch when there’s no address on file.

“We’re on Instagram, we’re on Facebook, we’re on TikTok, but we don’t own any of that data. When we have a mobile app, we own the app users’ data.”

Brandon Portnoff, Co-founder and CEO, Med School Bro

Read the Med School Bro story.

How to launch App Clips for your Shopify store

There are two ways to get there.

Build it yourself. You’ll need a native iOS app first, because an App Clip can’t exist without one. Then come the App Clip target, App Store Connect experiences, website association, a Shopify integration for catalog and checkout, and updates every time iOS changes. It’s a real engineering project, and it mostly makes sense for brands that already run an in-house iOS team.

Use a platform. Reactiv Clips launches App Clips on your Shopify store alongside your native app, and Reactiv’s team handles the build and App Store review. That leaves you the fun part:

1. Pick your first moment Paid social traffic, an abandoned-cart flow, in-store signage or packaging.
2. Choose the trigger Links for ads, email and SMS. QR codes, NFC tags or App Clip Codes for physical spaces.
3. Design the App Clip card A strong image, a clear title and a one-word action.
4. Plan the 8-hour follow-up Decide which push notifications go out if the shopper leaves without buying.
5. Measure against mobile web Compare conversion, average order value and installs with your mobile web baseline.

From biting pixels to bite-sized App Clips, phones have come a long way since Snake. What hasn’t changed: the easier you make that first moment, the more people stick around for the second.

Want to try one yourself? On an iPhone, open this demo Reactiv Clip from the Reactiv merch store. Then see how Reactiv Clips work, or check Reactiv pricing.

App Clip FAQ

What is the App Clip size limit in 2026?

Most App Clips must stay under 15 MB uncompressed, or 10 MB if they support iOS 15 or earlier. On iOS 17 and later, an App Clip can be up to 100 MB if it only opens from digital invocations and doesn’t support iOS 16 or earlier. Apple’s demo link also allows 100 MB, including from QR codes and NFC tags.

How long can an App Clip send push notifications?

Up to 8 hours after each launch. The permission is on by default and shown on the App Clip card, where the shopper can turn it off. Sending notifications after that window requires the shopper’s explicit permission.

Do App Clips work on Android?

No. App Clips are an Apple technology for iPhone and iPad. Android’s closest equivalent, Google Play Instant, was discontinued in December 2025, so on Android the usual options are a fast mobile website or the full app.

What’s the difference between an App Clip and a PWA?

A progressive web app (PWA) is a website that can be added to the Home Screen and runs in the browser. An App Clip is native code that opens instantly from a code or link, without being added anywhere. App Clips get Apple Pay in a native interface, Sign in with Apple and an 8-hour push window by default. On iPhone, a PWA can only send push notifications after the shopper adds it to their Home Screen and grants permission.

Do App Clips stay on my iPhone?

Not permanently. App Clips don’t appear on the Home screen. The ones you’ve used show up at the end of your App Library, and iOS removes an App Clip after a period of inactivity. To remove one yourself, find it in App Library, touch and hold it, and tap Remove App Clip.

How do App Clips reduce cart abandonment?

They remove the steps where mobile shoppers drop off: the app install, account creation and typing in payment details. Apple Pay handles checkout, and if the shopper still leaves, the brand can send push notifications for up to 8 hours to bring them back.