Is it possible to read the contents of another application installed on an iPhone? What about from an extension or keyboard?
I'm trying to come up with something that 'checks' other apps to see if they have any deep links (like Twitter's Twitter://timeline that takes users straight to the timeline in the Twitter app).
Is there any smart way to check a given app for deep links?
Is it even possible to peek at another app's contents from within my app? I suspect no.
If no, what about making a keyboard or extension of some sort that I can access from an app like Twitter and see its contents, such as a URL deep link?
You don't have much options, you may use -canOpenURL:, but, since iOS9, must include special credentails listing all the custom schemes you want to check.
You can't read other app's contents on a non-rooted device unless this app is sharing a keychain (so it can exchange data via the shared keychain). The same thing goes with extensions.
iOS has some high bars on security, so, don't expect much or even, anything.
Something you may want is IntentKit. Also there are ideas around the web about standard url query format like MobileDeepLinking.
Related
I am stuck somewhere. My client wants me to develop an application that has a dedicated icon over other applications as well. For example – If I have an ecommerce application opened in my iPhone, there should be an icon over that application through which I can take screenshot and add the image to my application. I know this is possible in android, but is it possible in iOS as well, if yes then how?? Also refer the image attached for more clarification.
Share data between two applications
Historically, the iPhone has tried to prevent data sharing between apps. The idea was that if you couldn't get at another app's data, you couldn't do anything bad to that app.
In recent releases of IOS, they've loosened that up a bit. For example, the iOS programming guide now has a section on passing data between apps by having one app claim a certain URL prefix, and then having other apps reference that URL. So, perhaps you set your event app to answer "event://" URLs the same way that a webserver answers for "http://" URLs.
Have a peek under "Implementing Custom URL Schemes".
The use case is, essentially, this:
the user create some content and uploads it to our server.
our server responds with the URL.
the user sends the URL (eg via text message) to another user.
the other user clicks on the URL. If they have the app installed, they should be taken to the content in the app. If they don't have it, they should still be able to view the content on our site (eg in safari).
This is easy enough, and we have that working, except our URLs are long and we'd like to use shortened URLs. With shortened URLs, the problem is it always opens in Safari, instead of the app, unless we setup a custom domain. (This is described in many places, including here: iOS Universal Links and URL Shorteners).
The docs for google URL shortener indicate that they have overcome this somehow:
Even though App Indexing for iOS is available only in limited release, you can still enable iOS app deep links with goo.gl by implementing App Indexing for iOS. While these deep links may not begin appearing in Search results, they will start working with goo.gl links.
So I installed the app indexing for iOS into our app on a test device and ran it. Then I created a short link but it still opens in my browser, not my app.
Does this really work as advertised? Do I have to wait longer? Install the indexer on more apps? Will a created link open in the app right away, or does the content have to be indexed?
...Or am I missing something else?
Related:
Google app indexing for iOS and universal links
UPDATE:
The only way I can see this actually working without a custom domain is if Google added every app they indexed to their apple site association file. All I see is google apps there, so obviously that's not the case.
Stack overflow won't let me link it because it thinks it's a link shortener, but it's close to this:
https://goo. gl/apple-app-site-association
You are exactly right: for this to work, Google would need to add your app to their apple-app-site-association file. Unfortunately that would be impossible even if Google wanted to do so, because Apple puts a size limit of 128 kb on that file.
Integrating the App Indexing SDK was a good thought, but doesn't solve this issue either.
What you need is a (free) service like Branch.io (full disclosure: I'm on the Branch team). This is specifically designed for exactly what you're trying to accomplish, and takes care of all the housekeeping tasks you are running into. You'll be able to create branded short URLs that take you to your app (if installed) or website fallback (if not installed), and the AASA file will be generated automatically for the short URL domain.
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.
How do you import or display an application inside another application?
It is like, it will be a part of the app where you can use it's functionalities. Maybe in full screen or not in full screen. My thoughts are these are web based and is being opened in a UIWebView to use the functionalities.
Extensions? It's more like "piggybacking".
Here's an example:
https://hub.united.com/en-us/news/web/pages/uber-on-the-united-app.aspx
I'll post an answer regrouping my answer and also #Popeye one that seems valid too.
There may be a few ways to do it, each ones of them may act differently.
The other app offers a public SDK/API/WebServices
As an example, I'll take FaceBook API, that allow you to login giving you a UIViewController (that you can customise), and allowing you to ask for some data through their WebServices (like who are the friends, etc.). You're still inside your app.
The other app offers you a private SDK/API/WebServices
Same as the other one, but it more like a parternship. You're still inside your app.
URL Schemes
The other app gives you a few way to interact with it. They check if the app is installed, and launch it with some parameters, or if not, they may redirect it to the app in the Store, their website, etc. More info about URL Schemes from Apple Doc. You have to check their documentaion to know how to interact with it.
I would like to search the Apple App Store from within my app, and return App information such as Icon, Description, Name, etc.
I found some examples using URL's. But from what I understand, they cause your app to pause as it opens either the App Store or the browser. If I am mistaken, please may you provide me with an example on how to accomplish this (seemingly) simple task?
Regards,
Shane
I don't think there is an API available to do what you are describing directly in the iOS device. However, you could hack something together using the search API available from apple. Check it out at here. You could do this behind the scenes rather then using the browser. It's not a simple task, but it is doable. Besk of luck.