iOS 10 turned iMessage into an app discovery secret weapon

Caitlin McGarry, writing for Macworld, digs into iOS 10’s new iMessage app. An all around interesting read, but this stuck out:

Federighi used a funny image creation app called JibJab to demonstrate the features in his WWDC demo. JibJab lets you create and share e-cards with people, and the iMessage extension allows you to select from a gallery of faces in your Camera Roll and drop a friend’s face on a JibJab GIF. When you share that image with someone, it will appear in the same iMessage conversation with a button beneath the image to install JibJab. Whereas Facebook Messenger would kick you to the App Store to finish downloading the app, in iMessage, you’ll remain inside your conversation. JibJab will appear in the new iMessage app drawer, which you can open without ever leaving Messages.

This is a subtle change, but a huge win for developers, an OS level viral mechanism developers can use to help spread the word about their app. This sort of discovery mechanism can help a developer build awareness, all without having to take out an ad or pay for PR.