What is an API?
Application Programming Interfaces, or APIs, power many of the things we’ve become used to in our online journeys: making purchases, comparing prices and switching bank accounts are all enabled by APIs. They allow computers to communicate with each other and govern how those communications work. APIs operate behind the scenes, sending data between an app and a website, or a website and another website, or in countless other online interactions.
As an example, when you search for a flight on a flight-comparison app, the app will use an API to deliver your search criteria to various flight operators, who will then send back the relevant information using the API. The result is that you see a list of flights from various companies – the API has served as the essential ‘messenger’ between an app and a variety of websites.
Using the same example, when you search for a flight you provide a small amount of data – dates, destinations – relevant to your search. The API transmits that data to a flight operator who, in return, only sends back the relevant data: both the phone and the flight operator website are never exposed to one another. They’re designed to be accessed by software rather than directly by humans. This allows developers to build on top of those APIs, interacting with an organisation on a person’s behalf.
What is an open API?
Open APIs are created collaboratively, publicly available and described in an open standard.
Open standards are created collaboratively, use open processes and are published under terms that allow them to be freely used for any purpose.
Open APIs enable new services to exist
As an example, when you search for a flight on Skyscanner’s flight-comparison app, the app will use an API to deliver your search criteria to various flight operators, who then send back the relevant information using the API. The result is that you see a list of flights from various companies – the API has served as the essential ‘messenger’ between an app and a variety of websites. This wouldn’t be possible without an open API.
Another example is that airlines allow people to search for flights on their website. Many also offer the same search through an API, allowing useful services like SkyScanner to search hundreds of airlines simultaneously.
By embracing open APIs, powerful new services can exist that empower people in ways we can’t yet imagine.
For example, banking services in the UK are currently changing as part of the Open Banking Standard. This will allow new financial services, such as real-time budgeting apps, to be developed using open APIs.
Alongside banking, open APIs for telecoms could form a critical part of the UK’s data infrastructure with the potential to enable new products and services that respect people's digital rights.