App Clip Testing
Autosana now opens your iOS App Clip from a URL and tests it end to end on cloud simulators, from the first scan to the handoff into your full app.
- Written by
- Amrit Saini
- Read time
- 4 min read
- Published
App Clip Testing — a walkthrough.
The problem
An App Clip is often the first time someone uses your product. They scan a code at a parking meter, a restaurant table, or an event entrance. A few seconds later, they are paying, ordering, or checking in without installing the full app.
That first experience has been hard to test. An App Clip launches when iOS receives its invocation URL, and on a real phone it only appears when the full app is not installed. Teams check it by hand: delete the app, scan a code, walk through the flow, and repeat before every release.
The handoff into the full app gets checked even less often. Someone signs up in the App Clip, installs the full app, and expects to still be signed in. Testing each app separately does not tell you whether that transition works.
Autosana now tests the whole journey. Open the App Clip from its URL, complete the flow, install the full app, and verify that the user's session and data carry over.
How it works
1. Upload your build
You can upload either:
- Your full app's simulator build. The App Clip is bundled inside
YourApp.app/AppClips/. Autosana installs it when a test first opens it. - The App Clip on its own. Upload its simulator
.app, zipped like any other app build.
Use the full app build if you want to test the transition from the App Clip into the full app.
2. Open the App Clip from a URL
Write a step using the URL your QR code or NFC tag contains:
Open the App Clip at https://example.com/e/abc123
Verify the page shows the event details.
The App Clip receives the URL as it would after a scan. You can test multiple invocation URLs by opening each in a separate step.
If the full app is installed on the simulator, Autosana removes it and its data before opening the App Clip. This lets you test the experience of someone who has not installed your app.
3. Follow the user into the full app
Add an instruction to install the full app after completing the App Clip flow:
Open the App Clip at https://example.com/invite/abc123
Finish signing up in the App Clip.
Install the full app.
Verify you are signed in as the same user.
Autosana closes the App Clip, installs the full app from the build you uploaded, and opens it. The full app receives the App Clip's data through the handoff, so you can verify that your app preserves the user's session and anything they created.
After installation, App Clip links open inside the full app for the rest of that test or suite run.
What this changes for your team
The first scan. Test the flow a new user sees after scanning your code, without printing codes or resetting a phone by hand.
The handoff to the full app. Verify that accounts, sessions, and data created in the App Clip carry over after installation.
Whole journeys across a suite. Split the journey across ordered tests. Later tests continue in the App Clip with its data until a test installs the full app. After that, they start in the full app.
Two people, two App Clips. In a multi-device test on iOS simulators, each device can open its own App Clip. Send an invite on one device and verify the receiving experience on the other in a single run.
Debugging the right app. Logs and performance data come from the App Clip until the full app is installed. When a step fails, the evidence comes from the app that was running.
A few things worth knowing
- App Clip testing runs on iOS cloud simulators. Real devices, local CLI runs, and Android are not supported.
- Bundled builds must contain a single App Clip inside the app's
AppClips/folder. - "Install the full app" requires a full app upload. Use it after opening the App Clip, once per standalone test or once across a suite run.
- Until the full app is installed, closing and reopening act on the App Clip. Reopening uses the most recent invocation URL.
- Standalone tests start fresh in the app you uploaded. App Clip state carries between tests within a suite run.
If a build is missing an App Clip or an invocation URL does not match, the run reports the problem directly. The documentation covers the fix for each error.
Get started
App Clip testing is live now for all Autosana customers. Upload your simulator build and add an "Open the App Clip" instruction to your first flow.
Full documentation: Testing App Clips.