App Clip Home & Search Guide

Overview

App Clip Home & Search lets you create a full browsing experience in your Reactiv App Clips. Instead of shoppers landing on a single product, they can now explore your Home screen and search for products—all within the clip.

This guide walks you through setup and shows what your shoppers will see.

Who this applies to: Merchants with Reactiv Clips enabled and a Home screen on their mobile apps.

Not using Reactiv Clips? If you're using Clip Kit, this feature isn't available yet. Please contact our customer support team for more information.

What Your Shoppers Will Experience

Home Screen

When shoppers open your App Clip, they'll land on your Home screen by default. They can:

Browse your featured collections and products
Tap products to view details
Use navigation to explore different areas

If a shopper follows a specific link (like a QR code for a product), they'll go directly to that product instead of Home first.

Search

Shoppers can search by tapping the Search button in the bottom navigation bar

How Search Works

When shoppers start typing:

They see instant suggestions for products and collections
They can tap a suggestion to jump directly to that product or collection
Or they can complete their search to see all matching results

Search results display as a product grid. As shoppers scroll, more products load automatically. If there are no results, they'll see a friendly message.

Recent Searches

Shoppers will see their recent searches when they open Search with an empty query box. They can:

Tap a recent search to run it again
Remove individual searches by swiping
Clear all recent searches at once

Recent searches are saved per store on their device.

Setting Up Home & Search

Option 1: Copy Your Existing Home Screen

As a default, Reactiv will display your Home screen to all Clips experiences if you have one set up for your mobile app. This screen is the default fallback screen if the link to products or collections returns no results.

If you already have a Home screen set up for your mobile app, you can copy it to your App Clip with just a few clicks, if one was not set up for you by default.

Steps:

Go to your App Clip configuration
Using the screen drop down, select which Home screen you want copied
Review the copied screen to see what transferred
Make any edits if you'd like (optional)
Save and publish your changes

Once published, your App Clip will use this Home screen.

Note: Some custom sections or custom code won't copy over. Most standard sections (collections, product recommendations, banners, etc.) will work as-is. If you see sections missing after copying, you can add them back manually using the same drag-and-drop editor you use for your mobile app.

Option 2: Create a Home Screen from Scratch

If you want a different Home screen experience in your App Clip, you can build one from scratch.

Steps:

Go to your App Clip configuration
Create a new Home screen by clicking the +Add Screen button
Drag and drop sections to design your layout
Save & Publish your changes

This is useful if you want a streamlined or focused experience for App Clip shoppers.

Adding Search to Your Home Screen

The Search section is a draggable component, just like any other section on your Home screen.

If Search is already on your mobile Home screen: It will automatically copy over when you copy your Home screen. No extra work needed.

If you want to add Search to your App Clip Home screen:

Open your App Clip Home screen editor
Drag the Search section into your layout wherever you'd like it
Save and publish

Shoppers can always search using the bottom navigation bar, but adding a Search section on your Home screen makes it more discoverable.

Before You Go Live

Here's a quick checklist to make sure everything works as expected:

[ ] Your Home screen appears when shoppers open your App Clip
[ ] Home sections render correctly and look good
[ ] Search opens when shoppers tap the Search button in the bottom bar
[ ] If you added a Search section, it opens the search experience
[ ] Search suggestions appear when shoppers type
[ ] Shoppers can tap suggestions to view products or collections
[ ] Tapping a product takes them to the product details page
[ ] Navigation back and forth works smoothly
[ ] Your App Clip feels like a complete shopping experience, not just a single product link

If anything looks off, you can edit your Home screen and publish the changes. Updates go live immediately.

FAQ

Q: Will this slow down my App Clip? A: No. This feature is optimized for speed and won't impact performance.

Q: What search engine do you use in App Clips? A: App Clips use Shopify's built-in search capabilities. We don't integrate custom search engines or third-party providers.

Q: Can I customize how search results are ranked? A: Search rankings are powered by Shopify's algorithms. Custom ranking rules or merchandising beyond Shopify's standard approach aren't available in App Clips at this time.

Q: Will recent searches appear in preview mode? A: No. Recent searches only show up when using a real App Clip (via QR code, link, etc.). When previewing your setup, recent searches won't appear.

Q: What if my Home screen has custom sections or code? A: Custom sections and code won't copy over automatically. You'll see what transferred and what didn't. You can add back standard sections manually, but custom work will need developer support.

Q: Can I edit my Home screen after it's live? A: Yes. Any changes you make and publish will go live immediately for new shoppers opening your App Clip.

Q: What happens if I don't set up a Home screen? A: You'll see an error message. If this happens, contact our support team, we may have already set up a Home screen for you.

Need Help?

If you run into issues or have questions about setting up Home & Search, reach out to our customer support team. We're here to help.