How to understand the Light App technology in the post-app era
Published: 2022-10-18 09:53:58

The form of Apps shows these problems:

- They are information islands in users’ cell phones because they cannot jump to each other to connect though they are obviously on the same device. In particular, they cannot connect or interoperate with the open Web smoothly. It can even be said that the mobile Internet between mobile apps and the Internet in the browser since the PC era are two parallel worlds.

- The process of discovering, installing and running an app is not smooth. One discovery mechanism is to find the links to jump to Google Play, Apple App Store, Huawei App Gallery, etc. through Internet search engines or some media content introduction, and then download apps from these application stores. The other discovery mechanism is to search and download apps directly in the application stores, and then install and use them. However, there is no particularly convenient mechanism for users to recommend and share with each other — one sends links via email, SMS, and then the receiver repeats the above process, during which the churn rate is high.

- The existence of the app store is somewhat useless for both developers and consumers. It cuts off the possibility for users to download apps directly through links on the open Web, and its content usually cannot be directly indexed by Internet search engines either, so users have to “shop” on their own. They initiate searches there, or scan the current App ranking list to find something interesting. But apparently less and less people are going to do that now. For the developers, when they apply for the launch of their apps, they will find the time for review uncontrollable, the reasons for rejection opaque and the release cycle long. After release, it is extremely expensive to market their apps to make them stand out from millions of apps in the App store.

- For any enterprise, informatization means raising a team to support iOS, Android and Web at the same time; the functions of the three are not easy to align, the progress is not easy to synchronize, and the experience is completely different.

The era calls for new software forms — Light App
The “heavy” nature of apps has led to the emergence of a series of technology tools to make them “lighter”, including Apple App Clips, Google Instant Apps, the “Quick Apps”, developed in the Chinese market and driven by cell phone manufacturers’ alliance, and miniapps which are the most successful. These technology carriers have different standards and specifications, and their development tools, development methods and running environments are also various. But they undoubtedly share the same aim to be “light and fast”.

What is the viable and sustainable light application
We are optimistic that the technology form of miniapps is a good choice for the light application area. Because:

- It is easy to share and spread among users and devices
- Recommendation among users is also a discovery mechanism
- It is easier to develop when its extensions/derivatives are based on JavaScript, CSS and XML so a large number of web developers can be found to do this work
- As the code runs in a container based on the browser kernel, often isolated from other hardware and software resources of the device where it is running, the security is guaranteed when the complexity is low (no need for developers to understand the internal principles in depth)
- It will still be compatible in the future- just because the technology stack is built on Web technology, open-source frameworks and tools that are emerging on the Web can often be leveraged
- It makes being agile and lightweight possible when the host application is extremely loosely coupled to the miniapp,
- FinClip: the technology base of light applications originating in the financial industry

The earliest product to use miniapps as the technology carrier for light applications of enterprises is FinClip — an area that Finogeeks has been deeply involved in since around 2019.

The purpose of FinClip’s technology solution is to give any enterprise in any industry the ability to independently build a miniapp ecosystem, release and manage miniapp content, and run miniapps in their own apps. Because the FinClip team believes that:

- Miniapps are the best carrier to promote digital connectivity
- Connectivity is the key to enterprises’ digital transformation
- The miniapp for assets with digital content is most conducive for agile release in business scenarios, real-time risk control, and cost reduction and efficiency increase
The name FinClip comes from FinTech + Clip. The technology, originated in the field of financial technology, was originally designed for banks, securities companies and other financial institutions to develop digital business scenarios with complex functions, strict compliance requirements and strong data security risk control in a technology form of “light applications”. It also aims to help the business segment to independently manage the release of functional fragments by the “on-and-off” mechanism, and consumers to load the content into the App on demand for use when the latest version is always automatically obtained for each use. Considering the needs of the financial business scenario, the R&D team of FinClip decided to adopt the format of “miniapp” and called it “Clip” after an in-depth study of a series of related technologies.

FinClip enables financial institutions to release business scenarios in an agile and dynamic way, and quickly take down scenarios with any potential compliance and information security risks in real time, without having to re-release the app and go through the review for days or even knockback in the app stores and app markets of mobile OS platforms. After all, the risk treatment of financial business faces a huge time pressure and the accountability pressure from the regulators. Risk control is never too “real-time”.

Today, FinClip is no longer a technology dedicated to financial business scenarios. As it turns out, it can meet the demands of the financial industry with strong supervision, strong regulations of information security and privacy protection, and strong risk control requirements, so it can meet the application demands of various other industries as well. It no longer only supports running light applications in mobile apps, but also supports running them in various desktop and IoT smart devices. So, it has gradually developed into a platform technology tool for digital content release, monitoring and control in multiple terminals and devices.

If you want to know more about [FinClip](www.finclip.com), please visit the FinClip website for more information. or contact us by email :contact@finogeeks.com