Will we be able to continue using our Shopify apps?

Many site owners express concerns about whether they'll still be able to utilize their current Shopify apps are going headless.

It's a valid question. The answer: it depends.

For all backend apps (apps which add functionality to your Shopify backend), these will remain the same whether you're using a headless storefront or not. A headless storefront will primarily affect your frontend apps, but not always!

We've developed many headless stores with Shopify – and by-and-large – the most popular apps have out-the-box interoperability with headless already. Many of the popular apps include API libraries which facilitate pain-free integration into a headless store. For example, Recharge, Seal, and Rise all provide APIs which can be implemented in a headless build.

However, we've successfully implemented many "non-headless" Shopify apps into headless storefronts by mimicking the behavior of their script embeds directly in a headless storefront. Most Shopify apps are fairly straightforward: all they're doing is utilizing the Shopify API library and injecting some custom Javascript into your store's frontend in order to render something special to the end-user. By mimicking that frontend behavior, and manually injecting whatever is typically injected by your Shopify app, Cocoon is able to then recreate the frontend functionality whilst allowing the app to continue doing whatever it does on the backend. You can check out our headless Shopify services here, or contact us to discuss your needs.

Takeaway: If you're using a popular app, we'll possibly be able to work this into your headless build. Where this isn't possible, we'll be able to appropriately advise and implement an alternative for you. We've had good success.