Apple is developing iOS 14 ‘Clips’ feature in order to to offer specific parts of third-party apps for iPhones and iPads without needing to have them installed, 9to5Mac has learned based on an early build of iOS 14. By simply scanning a QR code, the new “Clips” feature would allow users to experience parts of an app’s functionality.
If you open a link or scan a QR code today from an app that you haven’t installed on your iPhone or iPad, it will open that link in Safari. Apps can provide universal links, which open the app instead of Safari when the app is installed. But that could change in the near future with a new API internally referred to as “Clips” found on iOS 14 code.
As 9to5Mac has analyzed this new API, we can say that it allows developers to offer interactive and dynamic content from their apps even if you haven’t installed them. The Clips API is directly related to the QR Code reader in the build we have access to, so the user can scan a code linked to an app and then interact with it directly from a card that will appear on the screen.
MacDailyNews Take: So, for example, with this new iOS 14 Clips feature, a user without the YouTube app installed will be able to scan a QR code linked to a YouTube video and still be able to watch that video in a popup card. This will be a boon for those of us with parent and grandparents who can’t seem to remember their Apple ID password – they won’t have to download apps to their iPhones and iPads!
And I regard all apps as potentially moderate to full of on spy and tracking programs so I absolutely never download a website’s app when it asks. No. Never. Because I can watch or listen to the content directly in Safari which is why I primarily welcome Apple’s modular functionality that is based on absolute need, is the way I read it.. Hopefully, developers will not sneak in spy and tracking code. Secondarily, the method should use less resources.