Patent ID: 8887181

Claim:
A method comprising: querying, by an application running on a device, an application add-on platform executed by a processing device of the device for available add-ons; determining, by the application add-on platform, one or more add-ons that are compatible with the application; notifying, by the application add-on platform, the application of the one or more compatible add-ons; receiving, by the application add-on platform, a request from the application to access an add-on of the one or more compatible add-ons; determining, by the application add-on platform, an address of the add-on and an application programming interface (API) of the add-on; notifying the application of the address and of the API; sending a service request to the add-on by the application using the address and the API; receiving a request to access the add-on from a second application by the application add-on platform; connecting the add-on to the second application; and communicating with the add-on by the second application, wherein a single instance of the add-on is used by both the application and the second application.