I have a menu-button in my app. If user clicks this button he sees UIAlertView which include app-link to the App Store.
Here is the code:
#IBAction func navButton(_ sender: AnyObject) {
let alertController = UIAlertController(title: "Menu", message: "Thanks for using our app!", preferredStyle: .alert)
alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Rate Us on the App Store", style: .default, handler: { (action: UIAlertAction) in
print("Send user to the App Store App Page")
let url = URL(string: "itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/id")
if UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(url!) == true {
UIApplication.shared.openURL(url!)
}
}))
I know that in iOS 10.3 there was an opportunity to set a rating right in the application. What should I change, so that when a user clicks on a link in UIAlertView, he could set a rating right in the application?
I found some information on Apple Developer website (https://developer.apple.com/reference/storekit/skstorereviewcontroller) but I don't know how to do this in my app.
It's one class function based on looking at the docs.
SKStoreReviewController.requestReview()
It also states you shouldn't call this function dependent on a user pressing a button or any other type of action because it is not guaranteed to be called. It would be a bad user experience if you indicate they are about to be shown a review modal and then nothing appears.
If you use this new option in your app it seems the best option is to just place it somewhere that won't interrupt any important actions being conducted by the user and let the framework do the work.
You can use criteria the user isn't aware of to choose when to call the function, i.e. launched the app x amount of times, used x number of days in a row, etc.
Edit: alternative
If you want to keep more control over the ability to request reviews you can continue the old way and append the following to your store URL to bring them directly to the review page.
action=write-review
guard let url = URL(string: "appstoreURLString&action=write-review") else { return }
UIApplication.shared.open(url, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
Related
I want to open the default Mail application chosen by the user on iOS 14 - but without showing a compose view.
After signing up for an account, the user should confirm their email address, so I want to direct the user there.
There seem to be two known approaches based on the other questions I found:
UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "mailto://")!)
and
UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "message://")!)
The problem with the first option is that it will open an empty compose mail view in the app that comes up asking the user to type in a new email. That's not what I want. It would confuse users and they make think they have to send us an email. Putting in some text through parameters of the mailto URL syntax where I basically prepopulate the mail compose view with some text instructing to discard that new email draft and asking to check their email instead would work as a workaround but is not very nice.
The problem with the second option is that always opens the Mail.app, even if that is not the default mail app, and presumably it will ask the user to install the Mail.app if they deleted it from their phones because they have chosen e.g. Protonmail as their default mail app instead. Also not a very nice option for anyone who does not use Mail.app mainly.
So neither of the two approaches that have been proposed by other people solve my issue very nicely.
What is the best way to approach this?
Is there maybe some app to query iOS for the default mail app so at least I can try and launch that app if I know that app's custom URL scheme (e.g. googlegmail://)?
I ended up half-solving it by asking the user with an alert view about their preference, because I did not find a way to query iOS about it directly.
So first am showing an alert view like this:
func askUserForTheirPreference(in presentingViewController: UIViewController) {
let alertController = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: "pleaseConfirmWithApp", preferredStyle: .actionSheet)
alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Apple Mail", style: .default) { action in
self.open(presentingViewController, .applemail)
})
alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Google Mail", style: .default) { action in
self.open(presentingViewController, .googlemail)
})
alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Microsoft Outlook", style: .default) { action in
self.open(presentingViewController, .outlook)
})
alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Protonmail", style: .default) { action in
self.open(presentingViewController, .protonmail)
})
alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Cancel", style: .cancel) { action in
os_log("Cancelling", log: Self.log, type: .debug)
})
presentingViewController.present(alertController, animated: true)
}
Then, I am responding to the user's choice like this:
func open(_ presentingViewController: UIViewController, _ appType: AppType) {
switch appType {
case .applemail: UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "message:")!, completionHandler: { handleAppOpenCompletion(presentingViewController, $0) })
case .googlemail: UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "googlegmail:")!, completionHandler: { handleAppOpenCompletion(presentingViewController, $0) })
case .outlook: UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "ms-outlook:")!, completionHandler: { handleAppOpenCompletion(presentingViewController, $0) })
case .protonmail: UIApplication.shared.open(URL(string: "protonmail:")!, completionHandler: { handleAppOpenCompletion(presentingViewController, $0) })
}
}
private func handleAppOpenCompletion(_ presentingViewController: UIViewController, _ isSuccess: Bool) {
guard isSuccess else {
let alertController = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: "thisAppIsNotInstalled", preferredStyle: .alert)
alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Dismiss", style: .cancel))
presentingViewController.present(alertController, animated: true)
return
}
}
enum AppType {
case applemail, googlemail, outlook, protonmail
}
A clear limitation of this approach is of course that I am limiting the user to very specific apps (in this case Google Mail, iOS "default" Mail, Microsoft Outlook and ProtonMail).
So this approach does not really scale well.
But at least, you can cover a few favorite ones and go from there based on your users' feedback.
The main reason for jumping through these hoops of asking the first is that, at least at the moment, it seems impossible to get that information from iOS directly.
I also could not find a URL scheme that would always open the chosen default Mail app without showing the compose new email view.
I believe it can be done with a button with link: href=“message://“
Visual example from Revolut app:
How can I use push notification capabilities in my project? I don't have developer account, I tried this code
#IBAction func PhoneSignIn(_ sender: Any) {
let alert = UIAlertController(title: "Phone number", message: "Is this your phone number? \n \(PhoneOu.text!)", preferredStyle: .alert)
let action = UIAlertAction(title: "Yes", style: .default) { (UIAlertAction) in
PhoneAuthProvider.provider().verifyPhoneNumber(self.PhoneOu.text!, uiDelegate: nil) { (verificationID, error) in
if error != nil {
print("eror: \(String(describing: error?.localizedDescription))")
} else {
let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
defaults.set(verificationID, forKey: "authVID")
self.performSegue(withIdentifier: "code", sender: Any?.self)
}
}
}
let cancel = UIAlertAction(title: "No", style: .cancel, handler: nil)
alert.addAction(action)
alert.addAction(cancel)
self.present(alert, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
When you call verifyPhoneNumber:UIDelegate:completion:, Firebase sends a silent push notification to your app, or issues a reCAPTCHA challenge to the user. After your app receives the notification or the user completes the reCAPTCHA challenge, Firebase sends an SMS message containing an authentication code to the specified phone number and passes a verification ID to your completion function. You will need both the verification code and the verification ID to sign in the user.
If you don't have a developer account, this is currently not possible using push notifications, better use reCAPTCHA:
Set up reCAPTCHA verification:
To enable the Firebase SDK to use reCAPTCHA verification:
Add custom URL schemes to your Xcode project:
a. Open your project configuration: double-click the project name in the left tree view. Select your app from the TARGETS section, then select the Info tab, and expand the URL Types section.
b. Click the + button, and add a URL scheme for your reversed client ID. To find this value, open the [![GoogleService-Info.plist][1]][1] configuration file, and look for the REVERSED_CLIENT_ID key. Copy the value of that key, and paste it into the URL Schemes box on the configuration page. Leave the other fields blank.
When completed, your config should look something similar to the following (but with your application-specific values):
Optional: If you want to customize the way your app presents the SFSafariViewController or UIWebView when displaying the reCAPTCHA to the user, create a custom class that conforms to the FIRAuthUIDelegate protocol, and pass it to verifyPhoneNumber:UIDelegate:completion:.
Read more:
Authenticate with Firebase on iOS using a Phone Number
I have implemented one-to-one chat using "Firebase" with the help of "JSQMessagesViewController" in swift 4 and I have submitted my app to Appstore. But, app gets rejected and asking for "A mechanism for users to block abusive users".
So, how I can achieve this mechanism in swift 4. I am not able to implement it, any code/suggestions will more appreciate.
Thank you in advance.
Ok there may be many solutions for this.But i am providing the procedure which i have used to achieve the block functionality.
1.You have create a key for user's each message(for example "status")
2.When user's are chatting send "0" in status
3.When user blocks other user send a message or blank message with status "1"
4.Here status "0" means user not blocked and status "1" means user blocked
5.When user is receiving message check if status is "1" do not load that message
Hope you got an idea.
1st you would need is a flag on your user objects similar to isBlocked or you could create a new table in Firebase that holds a list of users (or Ids) that are blocked for a certain user. You could write a cloud function that filters out that information before returning to the device or just parse it on the device. Checking for your isBlocked property and just does not show them in your list of conversations.
2nd yo need an entry point for actually adding the blocked flag to a user. You could do this many ways really depends on your design. You could add a button to the navigation bar that presented the user with options like this
(Make sure to add a call to this where appropriate I would suggest in the ViewDidLoad())
func prepareNavbarButton() {
let button = UIBarButtonItem(image: #imageLiteral(resourceName: "conversation_Options_Image"), style: .plain, target: self, action: #selector(uploadContact))
navigationItem.rightBarButtonItem = button
}
or on a message itself with this method
override func collectionView(collectionView: JSQMessagesCollectionView, didTapMessageBubbleAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath!) {
super.collectionView(collectionView, didTapMessageBubbleAtIndexPath: indexPath)
presentOptions()
}
func presentOptions() {
let actionSheet = UIAlertController(title: nil, message: nil, preferredStyle: .actionSheet)
actionSheet.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Block User", style: .default, handler: { _ in
blockUserAction()
}))
actionSheet.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Cancel", style: .cancel, handler: nil))
}
func blockUserAction() {
//CODE TO ADD USER ID TO BLOCKED USER IN FIREBASE
}
3rd I would provide a list of blocked users in a "Settings" like page that allows you to remove people from the list.
I would also suggest that you swap out JSQMessagesViewController with MessageKit since JSQMessagesViewController is deprecated and will not have future support. MessageKit is the replacement and has a slack channel that anyone can join. It is also written in Swift 4 so you will not need to have a bridging-header-file to have it as a part of your project. It has most of the features of JSQMessagesViewController already and more are to come. 🤘🏼
For JSQMessage you can make use of provided delegate method
override func collectionView(collectionView: JSQMessagesCollectionView, didTapMessageBubbleAtIndexPath indexPath: NSIndexPath!) {
super.collectionView(collectionView, didTapMessageBubbleAtIndexPath: indexPath)
print("Present option to block here.")
}
using this you can get message index and perform any suitable Action
Present a Screen or any Action
You need to get USERID to whom you will block
In my iOS app I have enabled force app update feature. It is like this.
If there is a critical bug fix. In the server we are setting the new release version. And in splash screen I am checking the current app version and if its lower than the service version, shows a message to update the app.
I have put 2 buttons "Update now", "Update later"
I have 2 questions
If I click now. App should open my app in the appstore with the button UPDATE. Currently I use the link "http://appstore.com/mycompanynamepvtltd"
This opens list of my company apps but it has the button OPEN, not the UPDATE even there is a new update for my app. whats the url to go for update page?
If he click the button "Update Later" is it ok to close the app programmatically? Does this cause to reject my app in the appstore?
Please help me for these 2 questions
Point 2 : You should only allow force update as an option if you don't want user to update later. Closing the app programmatically is not the right option.
Point 1 : You can use a good library available for this purpose.
Usage in Swift:
Library
func applicationDidBecomeActive(application: UIApplication) {
/* Perform daily (.daily) or weekly (.weekly) checks for new version of your app.
Useful if user returns to your app from the background after extended period of time.
Place in applicationDidBecomeActive(_:)*/
Siren.shared.checkVersion(checkType: .daily)
}
Usage in Objective-C: Library
-(void)applicationDidBecomeActive:(UIApplication *)application {
// Perform daily check for new version of your app
[[Harpy sharedInstance] checkVersionDaily];
}
How it works : It used lookup api which returns app details like link including version and compares it.
For an example, look up Yelp Software application by iTunes ID by calling https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=284910350
For more info, please visit link
Don't close the app programmatically. Apple can reject the app. Better approach will be do not allow user to use the app. Keep the update button. Either user will go to app store or close the app by himself.
According to Apple, your app should not terminate on its own. Since the user did not hit the Home button, any return to the Home screen gives the user the impression that your app crashed. This is confusing, non-standard behavior and should be avoided.
Please check this forum:
https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/52767.
It is happening with lot of people. In my project I redirected the user to our website page of downloading app from app store. In that way if the user is not getting update button in app store, at least the user can use the website in safari for the time being.
To specifically answer your question:
Use this URL to directly open to your app in the app store:
https://apps.apple.com/app/id########## where ########## is your app's 10 digit numeric ID. You can find that ID in App Store Connect under the App Information section. It's called "Apple ID".
I actually have terminate functionality built into my app if it becomes so out of date that it can no longer act on the data it receives from the server (my app is an information app that requires connectivity to my web service). My app has not been rejected for having this functionality after a dozen updates over a couple years, although that function has never been invoked. I will be switching to a static message instead of terminating the app, just to be safe to avoid future updates from being rejected.
I have found that the review process is at least somewhat subjective, and different reviewers may focus on different things and reject over something that has previously been overlooked many times.
func appUpdateAvailable() -> (Bool,String?) {
guard let info = Bundle.main.infoDictionary,
let identifier = info["CFBundleIdentifier"] as? String else {
return (false,nil)
}
// let storeInfoURL: String = "http://itunes.apple.com/lookupbundleId=\(identifier)&country=IN"
let storeInfoURL:String = "https://itunes.apple.com/IN/lookup?
bundleId=\(identifier)"
var upgradeAvailable = false
var versionAvailable = ""
// Get the main bundle of the app so that we can determine the app's
version number
let bundle = Bundle.main
if let infoDictionary = bundle.infoDictionary {
// The URL for this app on the iTunes store uses the Apple ID
for the This never changes, so it is a constant
let urlOnAppStore = NSURL(string: storeInfoURL)
if let dataInJSON = NSData(contentsOf: urlOnAppStore! as URL) {
// Try to deserialize the JSON that we got
if let dict: NSDictionary = try?
JSONSerialization.jsonObject(with: dataInJSON as Data, options:
JSONSerialization.ReadingOptions.allowFragments) as! [String:
AnyObject] as NSDictionary? {
if let results:NSArray = dict["results"] as? NSArray {
if let version = (results[0] as! [String:Any]).
["version"] as? String {
// Get the version number of the current version
installed on device
if let currentVersion =
infoDictionary["CFBundleShortVersionString"] as? String {
// Check if they are the same. If not, an
upgrade is available.
print("\(version)")
if version != currentVersion {
upgradeAvailable = true
versionAvailable = version
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
return (upgradeAvailable,versionAvailable)
}
func checkAppVersion(controller: UIViewController){
let appVersion = ForceUpdateAppVersion.shared.appUpdateAvailable()
if appVersion.0 {
alertController(controller: controller, title: "New Update", message: "New version \(appVersion.1 ?? "") is available")
}
}
func alertController(controller:UIViewController,title: String,message: String){
let alertController = UIAlertController(title: title, message: message, preferredStyle: .alert)
alertController.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Update", style: .default, handler: { alert in
guard let url = URL(string: "itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/ewap/id1536714073") else { return }
if #available(iOS 10.0, *) {
UIApplication.shared.open(url, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
} else {
UIApplication.shared.openURL(url)
}
}))
DispatchQueue.main.async {
controller.present(alertController, animated: true)
}
}
Use appgrades.io. Keep your app focus on delivering the business value and let 3rd party solution do their tricks. With appgrades, you can, once SDK integrated, create a custom view/alert to display for your old versions users asking them to update their apps. You can customize everything in the restriction view/alert to make it appear as part of your app.
I wish to add some sort of a "Write a Review" or "Rate Us" feature to my app so my customers can easily rate and review my app.
Best practice I can think of is to have some sort of pop-up or open a UIWebView within my app so the user is not kicked off of my app while opening the App Store application as done in:
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"itms://itunes.com/apps/myAppName"]];
Does anyone knows of a way to do that?
StoreKit API (iOS 10.3 and up)
As of iOS 10.3, the StoreKit API provides a way to request a review on the App Store without leaving your app. When called, the system may present the user with an alert that requests a review. The user may provide a star rating directly inside the alert, continue on to write a review, or dismiss the alert. StoreKit handles just about everything for you. To present the review request, make the following call where it is appropriate in your app:
// Objective-C
[SKStoreReviewController requestReview]
// Swift
SKStoreReviewController.requestReview()
As per Apple's instructions, you should not call these in response to a direct user-interaction (i.e. tapping a button that says "Write a Review") because it may not always display the alert. Indeed, the alert may only be displayed three times every 365 days.
Important Note: Although this seems fairly simple, you'll still need to write some kind of logic in order to space out your prompts. For example, to present the prompt only after X number of launches, days, or significant events.
If you fail to do this and just stick the review prompt anywhere (a viewDidAppear call, for example), your users will be rather annoyed because they'll see it pretty quickly and repeatedly. Then, either they leave a bad review (because they're annoyed) or aren't asked to review again for a whole year.
Below is an example of what the alert looks like. For more information, see Apple's documentation.
iRate (iOS 7.0 and up)
If your app runs on versions of iOS earlier than 10.3 or you need more robust control over requesting ratings from users, iRate is a good solution.
For devices with iOS 10.3 or greater, iRate uses the aforementioned StoreKit API. For devices running iOS 7.0 to 10.2, iRate uses a uialertview and storekit to ask the user for a rating (or to remind them later). Everything is customizable, from the title of the Cancel button to the interval at which it reminds the user.
By default, iRate automatically opens when certain requirements are met (e.g. app launched X number of times, user passed X number of levels), but you can also use a variety of methods and your own logic (with the help of iRate methods) to manually display an iRate popup.
Setup
To install, just drag the header file, the implementation file, and the .bundle (for localization) into your project.
Import the header in your AppDelegate: #import "iRate.h"
Add the StoreKit Framework to your project - More on StoreKit from Apple Documentation
In your application: didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method, set the following:
// Configure iRate
[iRate sharedInstance].daysUntilPrompt = 5;
[iRate sharedInstance].usesUntilPrompt = 15;
Properties
The property below is useful for testing purposes. Set it to YES during testing to make sure the dialog appears properly. When set to YES it will appear immediately on startup, disregarding other display settings. Set this to NO for release versions of your app.
[iRate sharedInstance].previewMode = NO;
The appStoreID property allows you to set the ID of your app. This is only required if you have both Mac and iOS apps with the same Bundle Identifier. The App ID set here must also match the Bundle ID set in Xcode and iTunes Connect:
[iRate sharedInstance].appStoreID = 555555555;
More Details are available on the iRate GitHub page.
A really good one I use is Appirater: https://github.com/arashpayan/appirater/
It automatically prompts your users to leave reviews, you just have to provide your app id.
Declare Variable
let reviewService = ReviewService.shared
In View Did Appear
self.reviewService.rateAlert(from: self)
Import the Class
import UIKit
import StoreKit
class ReviewService: NSObject {
static let shared = ReviewService()
private var lastRequest : Date? {
get {
return UserDefaults.standard.value(forKey: "lastRequest") as? Date
}
set {
UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: "lastRequest")
}
}
private var oneDayAgo : Date {
return Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .day, value: -1, to: Date()) ?? Date()
}
private var shouldReview : Bool {
if lastRequest == nil {
return true
}
else if let lastRequest = self.lastRequest , lastRequest < oneDayAgo {
return true
}
else {
return false
}
}
func requestReview(isWrittenReview : Bool = false) {
if isWrittenReview {
let appID = "##########" // App Id
let urlStr = "https://itunes.apple.com/app/id\(appID)?action=write-review"
guard let url = URL(string: urlStr), UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(url) else { return }
UIApplication.shared.open(url, options: [:], completionHandler: nil)
}
else {
SKStoreReviewController.requestReview()
}
}
//MARK:- Rate App
func rateAlert(from : UIViewController?) {
guard shouldReview else {
print("Don't Show")
return
}
guard let vc = from else {
return
}
lastRequest = Date()
let alert = UIAlertController(title: "Rate our App", message: "If you love our app, please take a moment to rate it in the App Store", preferredStyle: .alert)
let action1 = UIAlertAction(title: "Rate", style: .default, handler: {(_ action: UIAlertAction?) -> Void in
self.requestReview(isWrittenReview: false)
})
let action2 = UIAlertAction(title: "Send Feedback", style: .default, handler: {(_ action: UIAlertAction?) -> Void in
self.requestReview(isWrittenReview: true)
})
let action3 = UIAlertAction(title: "Close", style: .default, handler: nil)
alert.addAction(action1)
alert.addAction(action2)
alert.addAction(action3)
vc.present(alert,animated: true)
}
}
You can use my tiny wrapper around SKStoreReviewController.
// Review after 3 launches
AppReview.requestIf(launches: 3)
// Review after 5 days
AppReview.requestIf(days: 5)
// Review after 3 launches and 5 days
AppReview.requestIf(launches: 3, days: 5)
https://github.com/mezhevikin/AppReview