SEPTEMBER 2020 MACWORLD 41and a list view for the honeycomb home
screen, finding apps to buy and use isn’t
all that pleasant on the Apple Watch. But
App Clips could be a game-changer,
turning app discovery into a smart,
effortless extension of the watch face with
tools that arrive when we need them and
disappear when we don’t. We wouldn’t
need to load up our watch with apps we
rarely use, and most importantly, App Clips
would take the focus off apps and put it
where it belongs: on the watch face and
complications.THE FUTURE OF APPS
Of course, apps aren’t going anywhere for
a while. In fact, Apple is launching a brand
new one in iOS 14 called Translate that
does what you’d expect: help you learnlittle more than a
shortcut to your apps,
but in iOS 14, it’s going
to be a destination.
You’ll be able to unlock
your phone, glance at a
widget or swipe
through a stack, and
put it back in your
pocket all without ever
opening an app.
PIECE BY PIECE
Somewhat ironically,
App Clips will reduce
our dependency on apps as well.
Designed to deliver small pieces of apps
when and where we need them, App Clips
are by nature ephemeral, serving a
specific purpose and then disappearing.
They may function like the apps, but
App Clips are a very different animal. You
don’t use the App Store to find them, you
don’t explore menus or save files, you
don’t even keep them around after you’re
done using them. They serve a specific
purpose and poof, they’re gone. They’re
apps in name only, and if developers
adopt them as quickly as they should, App
Clips will usher in a whole new way of
installing apps.
Apple didn’t announce App Clips for
Apple Watch, but they make even more
sense there. Even with an on-watch store
App clips are like downloading apps except quicker, smarter, and
more convenient.