I am trying to integrate More Apps button inside my app. When user press this, I want to navigate to App Store and open my developer's app page. Expecting to work iOS 8 and above. If anyone did this before, please give me solution. Thank you in advance.
This can be done by simply having the app open a link. Now this link depends on your developer account. I cannot tell you what your link will be. However, it will look something link this:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/id(some id here)
Note that the id is NOT your developer team ID. I really don't know what this id is. You can find it by navigating to one of your apps on the website version of the App Store called iTunes Preview. Simply go to google and search up one of your app's names like so:
AppName by Muzammil
Once you have opened this page, you will see the link "more by this developer". Click this, and copy the link of that page. Then you can just have your app open that link to show your list of apps on the App Store.
Here is the code to open a link just in case your need it:
let yourDeveloperURL = URL(string: "https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/id(some id here)")!
UIApplication.shared.open(yourDeveloperURL, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
Hope this helps!
Related
I used to have a UIButton that would load an URL in the form of itms://example.com this when pressed would load the relevant item within the AppStore application on iOS (rather than in the browser).
However that is no longer working for me. If I switch the URL to https:// then the relevant page opens in the browser but if I use itms or itms-apps then it does nothing. Any ideas why or if there’s a new way of doing this?
The use case is to refer people from one app to download another from the AppStore.
Using the http link should open directly into App Store app via universal links.
// open Google Earth in the app store
UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-earth/id293622097?mt=8")!, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
If you wish to keep the experience inside of your app, then use SKStoreProductViewController as pointed out by rmaddy
Hi I have a requirement in my app. From my ios Application(myapp),i share a link to facebook. Then I opened up my facebook account in browser or Facebook application and clicked the link, link should open in myapp if myapp is installed in the device otherwise link should open in browser. How can I achieve this ? Please suggest me step by step. Thanks in advance for your consideration and help.
I am not sure if this is possible. I have looked at various questions including
Is it possible to register a http+domain-based URL Scheme for iPhone apps, like YouTube and Maps?
as I am sure you might have already done but these questions target their own app, mainly web app, but you want that behavior to occur from an app that is not yours like twitter or facebook. But what you can do is show them two links on facebook/twitter, if they have installed press link 1 and if they want to install, press link 2 and you can pass parameters in link 1 as you might already know.
I will also keep checking answer of this question if some one comes and gives a better solution.
There is an option called custom URL scheme in iOS. It will help you to create a URL scheme which identifies your application. You can post link with this URL scheme and when you tap on this link on your iOS device it will open up your mobile app. Please see the link below to know how to setup this.
Custom URL Scheme in iOS
This is called 'deep URL linking'. Facebook have built a service called 'App Links', which seems pretty cool.
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/ios/app-links
In my app i am opening documents via UIDocumentInteractionController. if no apps is installed in device we want to navigate to app store.In that place i want to navigate to document viewer related apps page.
if anyone can suggest me.
You can open the App Store to an app page by getting the app page url. On iOS, you can go to the app page, click share and copy the url.
Then, you can open it like this (Swift) :
let theURL = NSURL(urlWithString: "app url here")
UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(theURL)
If that answers your question.
All you have to do is use iTunes search query and it will navigate to a an 'app like' visual:
http://itunes.com/Dropbox
Where 'DropBox' is your search term. This is what it looks like on device :
Or you can do it to a specific category:
http://itunes.apple.com/genre/mobile-software-applications/id6002?mt=8
I know that Facebook's custom URL scheme for iOS goes pretty deep, but I'm not sure if it would be possible to link directly to the post review page for a business.
I can launch to the business page with this URL:
fb://profile/323276694418242
But I'd like to launch directly to this page:
I have been attempting to find an answer to this for 2 years now, and the closest I've come is linking to the Reviews "screen" of the app by using the mobile web URL and not even the fb:// URL scheme. For example, https://m.facebook.com/pg/PAGE_NAME/reviews/ If the person has the app installed on their phone, this works. From there the user must tap the stars to leave their review.
Has anyone discovered a better solution, closer to what novicePrgrmr was asking originally?
Some URL schemes are listed here http://wiki.akosma.com/IPhone_URL_Schemes#Facebook. There's nothing about URL schemes in official documentation, so it may be unreliable.
fb://page/(fbid) will work to open to a specific page.
In Reviews documentation we have the following format https://graph.facebook.com/2345053339/reviews.
Try to derive URL scheme from this: fb://page/(fbid)/reviews or something similar.
Here are my requirements:
1. Create links to a single app in the app store 2. Access the links either from inside an app, on the device generally (e.g. mail link) or from a PC (e.g. via facebook share link) 3. Open links using iPhone or iPad running iOS 5+
I have done some digging around and come up with the following options:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=487547243
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/anyValue/id487547243?mt=8
http://itunes.com/apps/seligmanVenturesLtd/mouseTrapFree
http://itunes.com/apps/mouseTrapFree
itms://itunes.com/apps/mouseTrapFree
itms-apps://itunes.com/apps/mouseTrapFree
Just wondering if one (or some) of these are better than other?
Thanks.
Ok, so have done a lot of research/testing and here is my conclusion:
Links you use in your code should not rely on the 'current' name of you app, since this might change over time (e.g. Light Alarm Lite vs Light Alarm Free). Therefore the following 4 are out IMHO:
http://itunes.com/apps/seligmanVenturesLtd/mouseTrapFree
http://itunes.com/apps/mouseTrapFree
itms://itunes.com/apps/mouseTrapFree
itms-apps://itunes.com/apps/mouseTrapFree
That leaves itunes and phobos URLs. I have just tested both URLs via the iOS 6 share functionality (so this might be different on iOS 5, but given numbers are reducing daily for that I dont really mind). I tested accessing via SMS, Email, Facebook, Twitter (on an iPhone 5 and using a Mac).
Both url types produced near identical results, except for the following:
Phobos:
e.g. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=346542660
+ None
- Sharing this link on facebook created a facebook link without any image... this was the showstopper for me that will mean I use iTunes urls going forward (see below).
iTunes
e.g. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/appName/id346542660?mt=8
+ When opening link on iphone 'Mail' app the app store opened within the 'Mail' app and no tabs along the bottom appeared, so arguably this creates increased focus on your app
- None
In summary, I will be going with itunes type urls going forward. eg:
e.g. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/appName/id346542660?mt=8
(Note: you don't have to stipulate the '/appName' in this url, just keeping it as '/appName/' works fine, which means you dont have to worry if you app name changes over time.
Cheers, Charlie
URL/Link to an app on the app store can be created very easily but there are several ways to achieve the end result. First of all we need to be clear on the purpose of the link (For ex. link might be used for Facebook posts or used inside an app for urging users to rate the app through in-app alerts/buttons). We can broadly categorize how we will use the link in 3 categories:
1. We want to use the link publicly outside the iOS (or OS X) domain. Means you can use this link to share on your Facebook wall or you want to embed the link in mail. I said outside iOS domain because your friends who doesn't have iPhone (or any other iOS device) or MacBook they might also use click that link from Facebook or their mail app/client.
2. We want to use the link inside iOS (or OS X) domain. Means when we are certain that our link will be clicked by device using iOS or OS X.
3. We want to send the app user (already a user of our app) to specific section (like review section) of the app on app store.
For category 1 and 2 it's best to use this type of URL:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/dots-a-game-about-connecting/id632285588?mt=8
When you embed this link then it can result in several outcomes:
If user clicks on this link from iPhone (from any iPhone app or mail app on iPhone): Your app page on App Store will open directly
If user clicks on this link from any Android Phone or Browser (Chrome/Safari/etc.): Your app page on itunes.apple.com website will open inside default browser. Even if you are opening it on you MacBook it won't open iTunes App Store but will display you app page in Browser itself.
Side Note: There are several places on web where below mentioned sort of link is also suggested:
http://appstore.com/dotsagameaboutconnecting
When you embed this link then it can result in several outcomes:
If user clicks on this link from iPhone or MacBook: Your app page on App Store will open directly. So this link is a bit better for MacBook users as it send users of MacBook directly to iTunes instead of staying within Safari browser.
If user clicks on this link from any Android Phone or Browser (Chrome/Safari/etc.): If user is clicking from PC that has iTunes installed then this link will open your app on iTunes else (on Android devices and PC that doesn't have iTunes) it will open a Apple.com page displaying "Download iTunes" without any mention of your app. Screenshot of that page below:
So If you are not sure about who will click on your link (outside/inside iOS domain) or If you want to be on safer side then I recommend first approach. Read here on how to create specific link for your app.
For category 3 simply use below code in some function/action:
NSString *myAppID = #"632285588";
NSString *url = [NSString stringWithFormat: #"itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=%#", myAppID];
//iOS7 doesn't approve above format so add iOS7 specific format
if ([[[UIDevice currentDevice] systemVersion] floatValue] >= 7.0) {
url = [NSString stringWithFormat: #"itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/id%#", myAppID];
}
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: url]];
For details on above code see this answer.
For developers who are developing first version of app and app is still not published on app store there is always a quandary about how to get the right link for your to be published app. For that:
Get your app ID from iTunesConnect. Use iTunesConnect to create your new app - give it a name, description, icon, screenshots, etc. Once app is created on iTunesConnect (without even submitting the app), you can get the Apple ID from the Identifiers section for the app.
You should not have any problems with the following one:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/notebookpro/id<APP_ID>?mt=8
I believe, it will be opened on all major browsers/OS.
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id##app-id##?mt=8
Replace ##app-id## with real app-id.
For example:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id346542660?mt=8
Summary
No country code. Ex: gb
No appName, only app-id.
https protocol.
I'm using the itms-apps: approach in our app, which also allows you to select to which "section" of your app the user will land.
So if you want to show them the reviews, this is what I use: itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=XXXXXXX
and for updating to the latest version of our app: itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftwareUpdate?id=XXXXXXX&mt=8