Share apps

Web apps are an effective way to share information in your map or scene or to display items and related information about a shared group. A web app is a customized user interface that focuses your map or scene for a specific purpose, message, and audience. For example, if you want to showcase your map, your app only needs a few basic navigation tools. If your map will be used to collect feedback from the public, it will need specialized data editing tools and instructions for how to enter the information.

For apps created from maps or scenes, any changes the author makes to the map or scene—including such properties as its extent, layers, or description—are reflected in the app. If a map or scene that was available to everyone in the organization is made private (or deleted), the map or scene no longer appears in the app.

For apps created from groups, any changes made to the group or items in the group are reflected in the app. If an item that was public or shared with the group is made private or is deleted, the item no longer appears in the app.

If your organization does not allow anonymous access, share the public URL to the app (https://www.arcgis.com) rather than the URL that includes your organization name (https://<organization_name>).

Share apps publicly that contain subscriber content

Sharing apps publicly helps extend the reach of your message. If the map used by an app contains content from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, the app may require credentials to access the content. Most of the ArcGIS Living Atlas content is free and can be viewed by anyone. However, a subset of layers, tools, and services known as subscriber content requires an organizational account to access. Subscriber content includes Landsat 8 imagery and landscape analysis layers. Premium content is a type of subscriber content that also consumes credits. Premium content includes demographic maps and tools for geocoding and analytics.

To share an app publicly that contains subscriber content, you can configure the app to allow access to the content through your organizational subscription so that app users aren't prompted to sign in to access those layers in your app. You can track app usage and disable sharing later if needed. Configuring access to subscriber content in the app is an optional setting in some of the builders, including ArcGIS Configurable Apps, ArcGIS Web AppBuilder, and ArcGIS Dashboards. Other app builders, such as ArcGIS Instant Apps, ArcGIS StoryMaps, and ArcGIS Experience Builder, automatically authorize public access to subscriber content in the app and prompt you to authorize any premium content when you publish the app. To determine how a specific app builder handles subscriber content, refer to the respective app documentation.

Note:

Any credits that users consume by accessing premium content in the app will be charged to your organization. If you do not want to consume credits on behalf of app users, do not enable any of the premium layers to be accessible through your subscription. This way, users will be required to provide their own credentials for consuming credits. However, keep in mind that if you do this, you will limit who can access your app to people who have an organizational account with privileges to access premium content and available credits. For public apps, you should either remove all premium content from the map or you should configure the app to have your organization incur the credit costs. If you want to minimize credit costs incurred for premium content in an app, you can limit the number of requests allowed for each premium content layer when you configure the app or modify the configuration.

Set subscriber content options in ArcGIS Configurable Apps

When you create an app using ArcGIS Configurable Apps, you can authorize its subscriber content in the configuration pane by confirming the layers to allow for public use.

1. Use a Configurable Apps template to create an app. If you already created the app, click Configure App from the item details to open the configuration page.

   The Subscriber Content setting appears in the configuration pane with a list of the subscriber and premium content in the app. Premium content is marked with an icon and indicates layers that consume credits.

   Note:

   If you used an Instant Apps template (with the express and full setup configuration experience), subscriber content is automatically authorized instead. You'll be prompted to authorize any premium content when you publish the app.

2. Check all the layers to allow full access to the app through your subscription. Optionally, enter a request limit and interval for each layer.

   For example, to limit the number of requests for a premium content layer in your app to 100 requests per minute, set the Request Limit value to 100 and the Interval value to Minute. Save your changes when finished.

   Tip:

   If you leave some layers unchecked, the app will prompt the user for credentials, which isn't a good option for a public app. Instead, consider removing those layers from the map.

3. Share the app with everyone (public).
4. To test that the setting is working correctly, sign out of your organization and open the app.

   You should not be prompted to sign in.

5. To view usage, including any credit consumption for premium content, open the item page for the app and click the Usage tab.

   You can adjust the report to see credits or users and change the time frame for the reporting period. If you have privileges to view status reports, you can view the Apps with Premium Content Proxy section on the Apps tab to track the number of requests, credits used, and other premium content usage information.

6. To disable allowing access to subscriber content through your subscription once you have enabled it, open the item page for the app, click Configure App, uncheck the layers in the Subscriber Content section, and save your changes.

   The Credits Used option is also disabled from the item details.