Apps for Shopify: The Latest Updates

Updates for Apps on Shopify 🔥

Many changes have happened across the available apps for Shopify merchants to utilise and we're going to share these with you in today's guide.

We have the newest information released only yesterday from Shopify Unite and one of the most exciting updates to date for Shopify websites is the Storefront API.

The Storefront API enables precise and high performance for the Shopify stores involved, as well as allowing those merchants access to the full breadth of Shopify commerce primitives.

Currently, Shopify is working to bring this engine to every major geographical region. To unlock this, the team are re-writing their APIs from scratch and optimisation which powers Shopify stores.

With the power of this powerful ecommerce platform and the vast range of innovative apps for Shopify stores to utilise, merchants can run a site that requires no code.

With just a few clicks, you can get a battery-included Shopify store up and running in minutes.

You can then tailor and scale your website using thousands of different Shopify themes and apps, as we mentioned in our previous article Dawn: The Latest Theme for Shopify Design.

The best thing about Shopify is that the platform grows with you and it allows your Shopify store to flex when and where you need it to. So, let’s take a further look at Storefront API:

Shopify Storefront API 💻

As you may already know, the platform releases quarterly updates for Shopify sites to enjoy and we’ve heard the latest information from Shopify Unite sorrounding the updated apps for Shopify so, we’re going to go through the releases for July that we think are worth highlighting:

Metafields

You can create and whitelist meta fields via the admin API and thanks to the platform's latest update, our team of Shopify experts are excited to annoucne that you will now be able to retrieve all of them via your Storefront API. This gives you the full power to enter date products, product variants, orders, customers and all other core Shopify types.

International Pricing

Shopify Unite also introduced the new in-context QraphQL directive. This feature will enable Shopify sites like yours to pass in relevant buyer contexts. For example, access to international pricing configured by the merchant will be one of the new things that can be seen here.

Selling Plans

Selling plans enable Shopify stores to create custom billing, pricing and delivery policies. Combined, they enable merchants to create subscriptions, pre-orders and other ways to sell through direct integration apps for Shopify with a native checkup.

Our Shopify expert team members also heard that admin APIs which allow you to create custom plans were released earlier this year, but now you will also have the ability to retrieve selling plans configured by the merchants.

Shopify Store Cart Capabilities 🛒

Last but not least – another update from Unite. Shopify wants to ensure that every merchant can scale to any need and size, whilst providing the best buyer experience throughout the journey. So, to help you to achieve this new cart capabilities have been introduced in the Storefront API.

The cart has been built for performance, reliability and Shopify scale. It is powered by the same powerful primitives that can be seen at the checkout but have also been fine-tuned to provide predictable low latency response. It has also been designed to scale without any storewide rate limits which has a huge approval from our Shopify development agency.

There will be more to come too where the latest apps for Shopify are concerned as Shopify Unite noted that they have listened to Shopify developer feedback regarding the overall ergonomics of the Storefront API. Based on this feedback, Shopify plans on releasing a major update to the storefronts schema later on this year.

The removal of cruft and the simplification of things is on the agenda to make the Storefront API more intuitive to use for Shopify stores on the platform.

Store Checkout Apps for Shopify

In the past, everyone was able to make small changes through the Shopify store editor, plus merchants had access to checkout.liquid. So, now the platform has made it possible to extend the checkout with a variety of apps for Shopify merchants to utilise.

A new set of capabilities have been introduced here so that you can build exactly what you need. From simple changes to the look and feel, all the way through to complex UI Shopify design and bespoke server-side business logic.

These new capabilities include; checkout UI extensions, an overhaul of scripts and a new payment platform. In the past customisations required you to hack checkout.liquid, but now how customisations are built is changing as apps for Shopify are at the centre of the new approach.

Checkout Extension Apps for Shopify 💸

Apps for Shopify stores will be easy for you to distribute, fast for you to install and upgrade safe so that merchants can continue to receive the best of all platform benefits as new features are added.

Checkout extensions allow Shopify to take your code, host it on Shopify CDN for fast delivery and run it securely inside of a web worker sandbox in the browser.

Since apps for Shopify are built on solid APIs, they will always be automatically compatible with the new features that Shopify releases.

Checkout.Liquid for Shopify Stores

In the past, changes to checkout extensions would not have been applied to Shop Pay, which meant that merchants had to choose between their customisations or disabling shop pay and risk-taking a hit on their conversions. However, checkout extensions and branding settings will now show up on Shop Pay.

Post Purchase Extension

This is the platform’s earliest checkout extension apps for Shopify that can be used to present different offers or to show content to buyers right after they’ve completed their checkout on your Shopify store, but before they arrive on the thank you page.

Shopify Scripts 📜

The biggest improvement that Shopify Unite mentioned is that you can now build Shopify Scripts using your preferred development workflow. Scripts are now deployed and installed using apps for Shopify stores, making it possible for you to deploy your scripts to multiple stores and merchants will be able to use them without touching code.

Even though Script for a Shopify site is a powerful tool, it would seem that this could be made even better, which is why the script infrastructure has been rebuilt using Web Assembly. This new foundation will speed up the development process, improve reliability and make your scripts run much faster.

Payment Apps for Shopify

It’s exciting to know that there is now a better option for all payment Shopify developers, as Shopify’s payment platform will replace the legacy integration points for Shopify stores which enables you to create payment gateways as apps for Shopify merchants to implement. The payment platform has been built to work with Shopify’s new checkout technology stack.

Payment apps for Shopify will be easier to customise, faster for merchants to install and will allow you to build faster with modern APIs. Thanks to Shopify Unite and our team of hard core Shopify experts, we’re able to bring you the latest information on the topic.

If you’re actively looking to work with a Shopify agency designer or developer to assist you with your business, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us an email to get started!