Micro-apps are making a comeback

🚀 Remember Apple's App Clips?

The idea was genius: stream tiny app experiences instead of downloading full apps—perfect for quick, one-time tasks. But they never really took off.

Now, I think micro-apps are quietly making a comeback—but in a different form.

Here's why.

Balancing family, work, and triathlon training is a logistical puzzle. Every Friday, I plan my week, and swimming is always the hardest to fit in. I rotate between three pools in Gothenburg, each with different opening hours.

That means manually checking three separate websites every week. Inefficient.

So I turned to AI.

🔹 Step 1: Scraping the Data

Using Firecrawl, an AI-powered web scraper, I pulled the latest pool schedules with a simple prompt.

🔹 Step 2: Automating It

With Lovable, I built a lightweight tool that:

✅ Scrapes opening hours from a URL

✅ Generates a calendar subscription link (.ics)

✅ Auto-updates my calendar—no manual checks needed

After ~25 AI-assisted iterations, I had a fully automated solution.

💡 This is the App Clips concept—without Apple.

Instead of downloading full apps, I built a micro-app that solves one problem, seamlessly integrating into my workflow.

Are micro-apps like this the future?