Is it possible to create a native iOS app which only services as a wrapper for a pwa?
So the native app has no functionality other then to load the pwa inside of it and some background functions like push notifications.
This way I would like to create the functionality of push notifications, but still only have to create a pwa.
So when you open the native app this app will open the pwa (In my mind it looks similar to an iframe inside the native app). Everything will happen in the pwa, but we can still send push notification and use other features which are not yet available in the pwa.
If this is possible how can this be accomplished?
Apple writes:
Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. If your app is not particularly useful, unique, or “app-like,” it doesn’t belong on the App Store. If your App doesn’t provide some sort of lasting entertainment value, it may not be accepted.
Link here
I've heard that they are very consistent in not allowing apps outside of their guidelines and as long as you are not giving additional value in the app, that is not present on the website (your PWA), it will not be accepted.
I still have not heard anyone who succeeded with the wrapping alone, but if there are cases I am very interested to know too.
I think Apple will not approve your app
Related
The company, that I work for, wants to develop mobile apps using react native. The idea is to reuse the content on the websites instead of creating native views.
The current decision is to implement the apps like follows:
Create a react native app with bottom navigation and webviews as the
content.
Each time the user clicks on a different section of the
navigation, the webview loads a different page of the website into the web
view.
For example the login functionality will be the login page from the website in a webview.
Is this sort of apps allowed to be published in the appStore? My thinking is that the app will not be allowed because the content of the pages can be changed!
No, you are not allowed to wrap a web app in a WebView and release it apple app store (btw: Google Play may reject your app too eventually).
you can make this if the web app is a small part of your whole app (for example: some food delivery apps use a WebView for chat with support, which is totally acceptable)
4.2 Minimum Functionality
Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. If your app is not particularly useful, unique, or “app-like,” it doesn’t belong on the App Store. If your App doesn’t provide some sort of lasting entertainment value or adequate utility, it may not be accepted. Apps that are simply a song or movie should be submitted to the iTunes Store. Apps that are simply a book or game guide should be submitted to the Apple Books Store.
you may get this rejection letter:
If you develop such an app you will get the following feedback from apple:
We found that the experience your app provides is not sufficiently different from a web browsing experience, as it would be by incorporating native iOS functionality.
While your app content may differ from your web site or other existing sites, the experience it provides does not differ significantly from the general experience of using Safari, as required by the App Store Review Guidelines.
You may wish to provide convenient access to a web property for a select or niche group of users - and may enhance that experience with features such as Push Notifications. However, such apps do not include enough native iOS functionality to be appropriate for the App Store. As an alternative, you may wish to provide instructions to your users on how to create a Safari web clip to add to their iOS device Home Screen. Or, if you would like to share the app with a select group of users, we recommend the Ad Hoc distribution method. See the iOS Provisioning Portal for details on Ad Hoc Distribution.
We encourage you to review your app concept and evaluate whether you can incorporate additional features to enhance the user experience.
As apple guidelines says that:
4.2 Minimum Functionality
Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. If your app is not particularly useful, unique, or “app-like,” it doesn’t belong on the App Store. If your App doesn't provide some sort of lasting entertainment value, or is just plain creepy, it may not be accepted. Apps that are simply a song or movie should be submitted to the iTunes Store. Apps that are simply a book or game guide should be submitted to the iBooks Store.
Is there any possibility to know which apps are in the background (Those apps that appear when you double tap home button)?
For 3rd party apps, no. Not in a reliable, App Store safe, future proof way. Think of your app as siloed, unaware of what else is running, and you'll be pretty much in the mindset Apple want (and try to technically enforce).
For other apps developed by you, you can use shared containers to write load/unload data each time one of your apps opens/closes, and work out what's currently running.
This is not possible on iOS with public api. There might be private api calls that do this, even though I don't think you will have access to them while running in the sandbox. This however might be possible on jailbroken devices, but you will not be able to submit to the app store with such api usage, unless you know how to hide that from apple.
Also please note that apps shown in the app switcher are not necessarily running. The app switcher shows every app that has been running in the past which the user didn't force-quit. If the user does not force quit an app, every app that has ever been launched is shown in the app switcher. If iOS decides to terminate an app because of memory needs, the app is still shown in the app switcher. This is one of the reasons why everyone should implement state restoration, as the user does not know whether an app is currently running or not!
I have a view containing 4 buttons:
Home
Lock
Volume up
Volume down
all I'm trying to make is that when you press one of these buttons, my app should do some communication with the device to simulate one of these buttons.
Example: If I click the home button exists within my app, is the same as I press home button in device.
This kind of thing is possible? jailbreak is necessary for this?
None of these functions are available to you if you want to get your app accepted into the App Store. For a while some apps accessed private API's in AVSystemController however it seems recently apps using this method are being rejected. (Although some apps still using the method seem to be left in the app store)
If you want to go down the jailbreak route you'll have to dig into private API's and the headers of the various frameworks.
Also just a note, Apple provides some sort of interface like this through their accessibility options.
To do what you are after would go against Apple Review Guidelines so it will get your app rejected under
2.5 - Apps that use non-public APIs will be rejected
You are not allowed to take the functionality of the Home and Lock away from these buttons and put it within your application.
Though I will not say it is impossible to do if your app is for jailbroken devices. Such as to exit your app you can do exit(0); though I still wouldn't recommend it as it makes it look as though your app has crashed when it hasn't.
For the volume control you can do this with the use of MPVolumeView I would recommend having a read of the Apple Documentation and this question iOS: Accessing device hardware audio volume control
I am building an album app. I want to set a photo in my own app as wallpaper. Is there some method available for doing so?
update:
I know there are already some similar questions posted. But they are out of time. So I am wondering if there is some method in iOS7 to implement so.
For apps going into the app store this isn't possible. Apps can't change anything outside of their environment this is because apps on iOS run in a sandboxed mode so they don't know anything about other apps that are on the device and can't affect the OS directly.
To actually do it you would probably need to use some private API so your app would get rejected under:
2.5 Apps that use non-public APIs will be rejected
but I suspect that they would actually reject it under:
10.4 Apps that create alternate desktop/home screen environments or simulate multi-App widget experiences will be rejected
As you are directly altering the home screen.
I have never developed for iPhone, but I have developed an HTML5 web application.
I would like to submit to the Apple store a free app whose job would be to just open up the HTML5 webapp in the mobile browser.
Do you think it will be likely that such an app can be accepted? Can you please provide links or evidence?
Is it possible to ask this question to the Apple team so that I am not going to waste $99? If so, how?
If your app has native web views pulling internal HTML5 information, you might be able to sneak it by some of the app reviewers, but a good portion will say that there is not enough native Apple code in the app. They are sticklers for that.
I have, on a few occasions, gotten away with adding push notification, saying it HAS to be an app, and can't rely on users going to the website since they need push (even though I never intended on pushing anything out), but Apple has caught on to this.
Ultimately, you need to use Apple code in xCode, and you need to use a lot of it.