iOS 14 appears to offer a new way to use some of the apps without the hassle of installing them on the iPhone.

This is what 9to5Mac discovered in a glimpse at an early build of this year's iOS update. According to the report, iOS 14 includes a new developer tool called Clips, which allows app makers to let iPhone users control certain parts of their apps.

Apps built with Clips will allow users to scan a QR code to navigate to the relevant part of the app without having to download and launch the app from the iOS App Store. Also, unlike the current behavior of scanning QR codes, links from apps not installed on the phone will open in Safari.

A 9to5Mac report describes a scenario where someone shares a link to a YouTube video with you. You scan the QR code accompanying the link, and if YouTube is not installed on your phone, the video opens in a floating window with an interface that still looks like YouTube's native UI. (If YouTube is installed on your phone, there will probably be an option to open that link within the app itself.)

According to 9to5Mac, the Clips feature is currently being tested on YouTube as well as OpenTable, Yelp, DoorDash, and the Second Screen app for PS4. We will hear more about these efforts at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which will be held exclusively online in June as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Clips seems designed to remove some of the hurdles to doing things with the iPhone. Clips also suggests that there will be a try-before-you-buy element, and the developers will reportedly offer users the option to download the entire app if they so desire.

To me, Clips is very similar to Apple's take on Google's Instant Apps feature, first announced in 2016, which began rolling out in 2017 and allows developers to break their apps into smaller chunks that support specific activities that can now be split into smaller chunks that support specific activities. This eliminated the need for Android users to visit the Google Play store to obtain an app just to perform a particular function.

9to5Mac suggests that this feature is similar to Slices, which debuted as part of Android 9 Pie. Under Slices, specific features of an app appear in search results. For example, typing "Lyft" will allow users to make a phone call directly from the search results.

iOS 14 will be announced along with the new iPhone 12 model, which is expected to be available this fall. We should be able to see a preview of iOS 14 at WWDC but Apple has not set a specific date for that June event. We expect a public beta of iOS 14 to be available during the summer months.