Default App Clip URL (appclip.apple.com) shows website preview instead of triggering App Clip card

Thank you for the post, thanks for your patience, your AASA file looks ok for the App Clip but the rest does not match to the Universal Links AASA file.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appclip/associating-your-app-clip-with-your-website

TN3155: Debugging universal links | Apple Developer Documentation

It is very common for QR codes and Safari banners to work immediately upon release, while URL invocation in Messages/Notes remains until you have provided a good Universal Link in the AASA file.

Use Settings > Developer > Universal Links > Diagnostics on your physical device with both URLs. The output here is usually the smoking gun. Verify in App Store Connect that the Default App Clip Experience has all required imagery/text published. Verify in App Store Connect that an Advanced App Clip Experience is explicitly published.

Please also check the swcutil file on your sysdiagnose for the registration or errors of you AASA file. Can you provide us the output?

Thanks

Albert  WWDR

Thanks Albert for looking into this.

This is the output of swcutil:

sudo swcutil verify -d passportreader.app -j ./AASA.json -u https://passportreader.app/open
{ s = applinks, a = 2UNR2APH47.hazel-torus, d = passportreader.app }: Pattern "https://passportreader.app/open" matched.
{ s = appclips, a = 2UNR2APH47.hazel-torus.Clip, d = passportreader.app }: Pattern "https://passportreader.app/open" matched.

Diagnostics on my device for https://passportreader.app/open

Diagnostics on my device for https://appclip.apple.com/id?p=hazel-torus.Clip

Status in App Store connect:

Thanks for the great and detailed post.

That looks like the registration works, can you provide the AASA file and what your App Clip URL resolves to? Thanks

Albert  WWDR

Thanks Albert.

Here is the AASA file as currently served by Apple’s CDN for passportreader.app:

{
  "applinks": {
    "details": [
      {
        "appIDs": [
          "2UNR2APH47.hazel-torus"
        ],
        "components": [
          {
            "/": "/open"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "appIDs": [
          "2UNR2APH47.hazel-torus"
        ],
        "components": [
          {
            "/": "/launch"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "appclips": {
    "apps": [
      "2UNR2APH47.hazel-torus.Clip"
    ]
  }
}

The App Clip experience URL configured in App Store Connect is:

https://passportreader.app/open

This is what it resolves to:

HTTP/2 200 
date: Sat, 04 Jul 2026 09:04:13 GMT
content-type: text/html
expires: Sat, 04 Jul 2026 09:14:13 GMT
cache-control: public, max-age=14400
nel: {"report_to":"cf-nel","success_fraction":0.0,"max_age":604800}
x-cloud-trace-context: 3ba7fa55bbceb770c7b29838a3c8dbc3;o=1
server: cloudflare
cf-cache-status: MISS
report-to: {"group":"cf-nel","max_age":604800,"endpoints":[{"url":"https://a.nel.cloudflare.com/report/v4?s=D4b8L3Q7aUQhUwvDOd8MJGitGhFA2GrGrioeGhp89VFVF4jZvD%2FrJQxucr0Nvyy%2BAkNMZ9eeLQcQHEM2QKeLekOpP1mZZXEj4IG1rOvAaI%2BaAVWGvqjGsEzcV5i8JfQ49kkaxc4%3D"}]}
cf-ray: a15cf615ffcb5610-ARN
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=86400

It does not intentionally redirect to another App Clip URL. The expected App Clip invocation URL is still:

https://passportreader.app/open

I also tested Apple’s default App Clip URL:

https://appclip.apple.com/id?p=hazel-torus.Clip

and it still resolves as a regular web link preview in Messages/Notes rather than showing the App Clip card, while QR code invocation and the Safari Smart App Banner continue to work.

Since swcutil verify matches both applinks and appclips for /open, is there anything else on the App Store Connect / App Clip indexing side that could prevent the default appclip.apple.com URL from being recognized as an App Clip invocation?

Thanks, I can see there should not be any problem opening that URL as the registration works and the AASA file contains this. My only suggestion is something is not always downloading? I see there is a a.nel.cloudflare.co server do you have the link to the AASA file to see if is accessible by all IPs and user-agents?

Thanks

Albert  WWDR

Sure, our source AASA is hosted here:

https://passportreader.app/apple-app-site-association

We can also confirm its been picked up Apple by comparing to

https://app-site-association.cdn-apple.com/a/v1/passportreader.app

Note: we are now in the process of dropping the /launch universal link, to see if it helps if we only have the single entry /open

@robertarnesson The https://passportreader.app/apple-app-site-association is not a correct link to host a AASA file. please take a look at the Tech Note to the correct address to host an AASA file.

TN3155: Debugging universal links | Apple Developer Documentation

Albert  WWDR