Multiple instances of SharePoint 2013 app on host web

Question

This may not be the most orthodox usage of a SharePoint Hosted app but, I am looking into the app model in SharePoint 2013 and am trying to figure out if I can add more than one instance of an app to a single host web? As an example, Consider that you create a SharePoint Hosted app called “My App”. The app has some nifty features and houses data in a SharePoint list within the app web. While using “My App” is great, another user wants to create their own instance of “My App’ on the same host web so that their data and other stuff isn’t stored with the other user’s.

Is something like this possible? I can’t seem to get it to work in a quick test, but I don’t know if that’s because it’s not possible or that I don’t know how.

Answer 1

The host web is used for managing apps in the farm, not for data storage. You can add the app on any web to store different data on each web, and if you use the same app twice on a web, it will store its own data in its own SharePoint list in the app web.

However you can't store the same app twice on the host web, because that's not where the instance(s) of your app resides.