Canvas Personal Apps

Previously, only administrators could install canvas apps. Administrators can still install canvas apps, but now developers can create canvas personal apps that end users can install themselves.

End users install and use canvas personal apps right from the Chatter tab (provided that they have appropriate permissions in Salesforce). When end users install the app, they are prompted to allow the app to use their Salesforce data.

Creating a canvas personal app is similar to creating any canvas app, except that:

• Users are prompted to approve or deny a canvas personal app the first time they access the app, regardless of whether you’ve used OAuth or signed request as the access method. This is because initial access triggers the OAuth approval flow. After initial access, users are identified transparently and are not prompted for approval or credentials (as long as they are logged in to Salesforce).
• With a canvas personal app, only the app’s metadata is installed, without the other package components (such as Apex classes and Visualforce components). This facilitates widespread installation of the app, and lets you limit the app’s functionality to only what the end user needs.

For information about managed packages, see Use Managed Packages to Develop Your AppExchange Solution.