In iOS 10, I was able to forward directly from my app to its App Store ratings page by using the following link:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=app_id_here&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=2&type=Purple+Software&mt=8
However, in iOS 11 with its all-new App Store where the review page doesn't exist any longer, this seems to be broken now.
Does anyone know an alternative url that opens up the review creator page directly? Or does Apple want us to stop using such links?
You need to add a name after the app parameter of your url (here I use 'itunes-u') :
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itunes-u/id\(appID)?ls=1&mt=8&action=write-review
Also note that the scheme seems to be working properly so you could instead call :
itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itunes-u/id\(appID)?ls=1&mt=8&action=write-review
What you should do is implement the SKStoreReviewController for IOS 10.3 and higher.
It's super simple,
import StoreKit
SKStoreReviewController.requestReview()
It turns out that the system will automatically limit the display of the dialog to 3 times over a 365-day period, so there’s no logic required to check this.
There is however a recommendation that you show the prompts at ‘logical points’ when it is clear the user has made some sort of engagement within the app.
The guides also say you should allow a week or two between repeated displays of the prompt so users don’t feel like they’re being pestered(this will require some thoughtfulness and implementation on your part).
Jordan Holland
First, according to apple guidelines you shouldn't do this,
but you can just add to itunes link of your game &action=write-review and just open this link.
Related
I would like to have a link on my mobile website that once clicked from an iOS device, it will open up the Apple Wallet app.
I know there are some questions about this subject when it comes to an app that I built, but since this is not the case here, I'm not sure what is the right approach. I'm also aware of Brnach.io, but again, I think this solution is for an app I own, and I'm not sure how I can implement it for apps created by Apple (or other 3rd party developers) and specifically Apple Wallet (for example: how do I get the app ID?).
I know Universal Links might also be an option but I've read that I can't use an automated redirect with them (which I will need to do too)
Use this in your URL- shoebox://
To simply open the Wallet app you can use the wallet:// deeplnk, I'm also trying to figure out how to open specific passes.
I want to update an iOS application, so it only contains a splash screen that says: we are working on updating the app as soon as possible, stay tuned for the next version.
I don't want to remove it from sale, and i also don't want new users to interact with the application, i just want to show them a page with a message.
Is this against apple rules? will they accept my update?
Too simple applications usually don't pass through the Appstore validation.
Have a look a the official documentation : App Store Review Guidelines.
2.12 Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may
be rejected
It's likely it'll be blocked for 2.1 (App Completeness), or 4.2 (Minimum Functionality), but can't be answered conclusively without trying it.
for situations like these you should implement some kind of functionality in your app that lets you control those "maintenance periods" without updating the app. for example some kind of API that returns a special http status code when the app should not be usable for a specific time. then you can react on that status code and show the user some kind of "maintenance message". as soon as you're done you can easily reenable functionality.
This almost certainly won't make it past review. The only way you could do this (and I wouldn't advise it) is to add a splash screen behind a feature flag that you activate remotely after review.
I'm in the process of updating my iOS app, and one feature that I'd love to add would be the ability to create links (to send via email, or for social media) that would allow users who have downloaded the app to be taken to a certain section of the app, and users who haven't to be taken to the app store page for my app. I also want it to take desktop users to the itunes page for my app.
Now, I've been looking into url schemes as I think this is the way forward, and have managed to create a custom url scheme that will indeed take users to different parts of my app. However, I'm struggling to find a way to check if the app has been installed, and what device the user is on etc.
Would I need to use a server to redirect them to the correct place?
Thanks!
I found out the best way to do it is with universal links, introduced in iOS 9.
https://blog.branch.io/how-to-setup-universal-links-to-deep-link-on-apple-ios-9/
i am in the process of making my app with firebase i am pretty much done with that except Firebase App Indexing. I am very exited with this feature because it could help me to increase my app get more traffic from the web but the problem is i really can't able to see how to implement this. According to Firebase Docs i just need to register my app with this pice of code
[[FIRAppIndexing sharedInstance] registerApp:your Apple ID from iTunes Connect];
I have done that but what should i do after that?
1.My app is firebase app that means i don't have any website to host my content except firebase realtime database. Does my content is available for crawlers? if not how can i make available to them?
2.If i can able to show my content in the google search results i don't wanna show all the content and i wanna show just some of my content for example i have a social app for sharing General Knowledge questions, i wanna show just the question like "What is the highest mountain" in the search results and if the user want to see the answer it should take them to my app how can i do that?
3.As per docs i came to know that i need to create univiersal links for my app content to direct users from google search but how shold i do that ? Lets say should i crate universal links when the user create question?? if so how can i do that ??
Thank you very much for the help.
This is not currently possible on iOS using Firebase App Indexing. The situation is slightly different on Android, but that is not applicable to your question.
On iOS, Firebase App Indexing is simply highlighting pages on your website in Google search results that have corresponding content inside your app. This is achieved by piggybacking on Apple's Universal Links standard, and there is no proactive 'crawling' going on inside your app. This means unless you have a corresponding web page for your app with 1:1 content parity, you can't really benefit from Firebase App Indexing on iOS as it comes out-of-the-box.
The best workaround is to generate little 'placeholder pages' for every piece of content in your app, which the sole purpose of opening your app (if it is installed) or redirecting to the App Store (if it is not installed). Ideally you'll need some sort of deferred deep linking system so that users still see the correct content after downloading. Fun fact: this is essentially how HotelTonight operates their entire business model. Unfortunately Firebase's implementation is not mature enough to support this full flow, and Google hasn't quite figured out how to rank app-only content properly yet in search results so you will probably need to pro-actively submit your placeholder pages to them.
Shameless plug: at Branch, we provide all of the above as a free service. You can read more about it here and take a look at the set up docs here.
I want to programmatically track my app's search ranking on Apple's app store. Is there any API or website to do this, outside of the 'App Store' app on my iPhone?
the following websites allow searching the iOS app store.
https://theappstore.org
http://fnd.io
I'm not sure how the exact ranking is reflected, but Apple now provides an JSON API call that you can make.
https://affiliate.itunes.apple.com/resources/documentation/itunes-store-web-service-search-api/
This includes the ability to add in a callback parameter so you can even incorporate it into a web app without having to parse the results on your server.
The end API call would looks something like this:
http://itunes.apple.com/search?term=props&entity=software&country=US&callback=lkasdfj
In case users are still looking for this. Apple finally made it possible to just use the apple.com website:
https://www.apple.com/ios/app-store/ Use the magnifying glass in the top right to search the apps.
Once you find the app you want, there is a unique URL that you could use to grab information for tracking or other purposes as well.
You can't do anything other than look at the app information at this time (no way to initiate a remote install to your phone or leave a review, that has to be done on the device)
You can use the google advance search option like
site:itunes.apple.com/us/ "requires iOS 9 or later"
and then scrape the response.
You can use data.ai formerly App Annie. The free version will give you daily and overall search ranking for your app, and will help you immensely in ASO (App store optimization)