What is Mini-App?

New software vehicle for digital age

• A “new” form of user interactable software (not exactly new, considering it a reinvention of Flash or Java Applet but more open, or a PWA – Progressive Web Application but suitable to run on mobile/IoT devices), in the post mobile App era

• A digital content format, consisting of HTML, JavaScript, CSS, XML/JSON and multimedia files organized in certain directory structure, in compressed form

• A tiny, light-weight piece of code providing a smooth digital experience, without requiring users’ explicit awareness of its downloading and upgrading

• Little snippet shareable across a social network among users to achieve viral effect – application scenarios that can be disseminated, moving from device to device, person to person

• On-demand, per-use based instant app without on-device installation and management overhead – totally non-intrusive and transparent to users

• • Becoming a standard - the W3C formally established the
  • MiniApps Standards working Group
  • in 2021 explore and promote the MiniApps standardization process

History of Mini-App

• Originally invented by Tencent as “Mini Program”, running in its popular WeChat social network. Have taken China by storm since exploding in 2018 and almost omnipresent in every consumer-oriented digital service scenario
• Grow an ecosystem with 5M+ mini programs over 200 categories (lifestyle services, business, shopping and education etc.) and a DAU approaching 500M (2021) or MAU of 832M ( as of September 2020) within 4 years, leapfrogging Apple App Store and Google Play easily
• In 2020, more than 100 million people shop via WeChat Mini Programs. With the help of mini program pre-sale + offline self pick-up mode, more than 300 million users purchased fresh fruits and vegetables, for example
• Other Chinese Internet giants quick to follow suit, rolling out their own flavors of instant App technologies
• In the Chinese digital landscape, more and more developers are building and deploying applications on these platforms as alternatives to the mobile App Stores

Mini-Apps form a Super App