For my iOS App, I am using Campaign Links from App Store Connect for advertisement purposes, and sometimes use Branch links.
Is it possible to get Campaign details inside app after installation is done natively without using any third party SDKs?
I would like to know from which campaign the installation came from with apple provided technology.
Is it possible to get the details inside the app programatically?
I have heard that In Android, they can achieve the functionality using InstallReferrerClient of the library com.android.installreferrer:installreferrer
Do we have any similar option for iOS?
Please guide, Thank you.
Before create a new account for iOS, android to upload web app to Google play and apple store, I want to ask:
Are they allows developer to upload an application that use InAppBrowser of Ionic to view website through that uploaded app ?
We need this to keep our work up to the latest date of updates for all users without need so many versions for both iOS and android.
So, are there any positive, negative or past experiences related to this topic ?
If you take a look at the review guidelines from Apple, https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/ it states 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.
I would make the case to package your app as an Ionic app, and use either Ionic Deploy, or Code Push to update the content of your app on the fly. Note: This type of deployment cannot update Cordova dependencies, but it does let you keep your html, css and js files up to date.
In general yes, they allow this, but they might get confused (specially Apple) and ask you to be careful about the links that you open inside your app.
For example, Apple has certain guidelines about apps that buy/sell cryptocurrency. If you put a link to a buy/sell cryptocurrency website and open it inside the inAppBrowser, the app reviewer might "think" your app is for buying/selling cryptocurrencty and you might get rejected as a result.
However, if you put links to normal website, for example CNN, they should be ok with it, as there are many apps that already do this.
First and foremost, I am not the developer behind this application, however I am looking for a solution to this problem as I work at the company that runs the application and I've been tasked to do so. This is not a focused code-line question, but more so an application question.
Background: The application is an educational tool that simulates a physical science laboratory that is programmed using Flash. It is accessed from a Learning Management System (LMS) web browser - i.e. Blackboard, Canvas, etc. - through a link to the object. There are multiple simulated labs that are each their own object.
The main problem: The simulators/labs are able to be accessed on an Android device (phones & tablets) by prompting a download of a .apk file once the link is clicked on that device where they will have a menu that localizes all the simulators. This is to centralize all the simulators into one menu app. Now, when you attempt this process on an iOS device, it's obviously incompatible (.apk vs .ipa). We can create a runnable .ipa file for each individual simulator, but this is not efficient at all when attempting to execute on a mass scale (think district-wide access).
What I want to find out is the most efficient way to adapt the application for iOS since it utilizes Flash. The same process would be desired (click the link and it prompts a download of the menu app that holds the sims/labs).
Thanks in advance.
You need to enrol for apple developer program to distribute builds. Normal subscription consider distribution thought App Store, and it seems not your case. There is Enterprise subscription - it allows to create .ipa, that can be installed on any device, but distributed locally (Ad-Hoc). While assembling Ad-Hoc build in latest Xcode you can select opportunity to create distribution manifest as well (Xcode will provide description how to use it). Then you can upload manifest and iPad file to you file server, and share link to manifest with you user. Opening manifest on iDevice will launch installation of application.
I am developing a Windows Phone 8.1 application, since this application is only used intern its unnecessary to upload it to the store. We'd like to share it through a download link instead.
I'd like to know if this is possible for Windows Phone applications since I didn't find anything about it.
Yes, you can publish your app with link only download from your "Distribution and visibility" section in dev center. If you select this option than people with only app link can download your app and it will be hidden in the store from global availability.
Please check this MSDN documentation for more details.
I want to test my website on Safari on my iPad. I only have another PC. Is there a way for me to do remote debugging like ADB (Android Debug Bridge) with mobile Chrome? I searched on StackOverflow, seems there is an Adobe Edge Inspect CC, but I don't know if this is a good choice.
Thanks!
Update October 2019
This solution doesn't work for IOS 12+ (resource 1, resource 2).
Updated and tested on 24/6/2017
Using Chrome on Windows 8 and more recent:
Download and install Node
Download and install ITunes and connect it to your Device. (A pop-up should shows to your iPad to get authorization)
. Be sure to allow web inspector in your iPad
Download and install the remote webkit adapter
Using Powershell (As administrator):
npm install remotedebug-ios-webkit-adapter -g
Execute the adapter:
Using Powershell (as administrator):
remotedebug_ios_webkit_adapter --port=9000
You should get a similar output:
C:\Windows\system32> remotedebug_ios_webkit_adapter --port=9000
remotedebug-ios-webkit-adapter is listening on port 9000
iosAdapter.getTargets
...
Open Chrome and go to the following link:
chrome://inspect/#devices
Click on configure next to "Discover network targets" and add the following:
localhost:9000
Make sure to have the web page you want debug open on safari, you should see it on chrome inspector page under Remote Target
Extra step for iOS 11 Thanks to #skaurus
See monkeythedev's answer for the easiest way to debug on a Windows 8+ machine with iOS 9+. I updated my blog post using information from that answer and other sources and also recorded a screenshare. The method below should still work for iOS 8 and down, if needed.
There is actually a pretty easy way to debug a website in Safari on iOS using Firefox on a Windows machine.
NOTE: Ryan wrote in the comments below that this may only work on iOS 8 and down. I am unable to confirm, but be aware.
I wrote a detailed blog post about this, but here are the highlights:
Install iTunes to get the "Apple Mobile Device Support" and "Apple Application Support" applications that come with it. (uninstall iTunes afterward, if you want)
Connect your iOS device via USB.
Enable web inspector on iOS (available on iOS 6 and later).
Open Safari on your iOS device and browse to a website.
Open Firefox on your Windows machine and press Shift + F8 to open WebIDE, which should include the necessary Valance add-on, if you use Firefox Developer Edition (any version) or Firefox 37 and later (any channel).
For some reason, I couldn't get it to connect to my iOS device until I downloaded the ios-webkit-debug-proxy-win32 program and ran it. It opens a blank Command Prompt, but after I went back to WebIDE after opening it, I disconnected, then reconnected, and I saw debug info for the website I had opened in Safari. You may not need to do this though, as another user just had to add an exception to their firewall then disconnect/reconnect, and it worked.
The debug info available isn't as exhaustive as Chrome Developer Tools (specifically no "Networking" tab), but it was enough for me to be able to view what was going on in the Console.
2018 Update:
Since the original post, the blog post is dead & Telerik App Builder is discontinued and no longer offered. Adding this update to inform readers in case they don't read the user comments that follow this answer post. As for the blog post, for those still interested, here's a web cached copy. Regarding the blog, I think the company that blog's from has since shut down.
When I get a chance, I'll see if I have a copy of the app builder saved so that I can post it online for those still interested in using it, along with another cached copy of the blog post maybe.
Original Answer
You can try option of using Telerik AppBuilder (Windows client) as a replacement on Windows for Safari debugger on Mac when remote debugging. There's a nice blog post about the steps to do it in link below. I'd rather not repost the info as there are also screenshots and it's a lot of text. But essentially, you install app, open it, connect device via USB, then you can find it in the app and open up the developer tools/debugger for it. For non-public websites, you'll have to open up port 80 with some firewall configs documented in the post.
http://blog.falafel.com/Blogs/josh-eastburn/2014/03/04/ios-web-inspector-on-windows-with-telerik-appbuilder
The tool requires a license or you can use the trial, which becomes a basic edition afterwards. I think the basic edition will still allow you to do the debugging. I'm going to try it out myself.
You can also try these iOS apps too, you can find them in the iTunes App store. They give you a built in developer tools feature (right on iOS no remote debug) that mobile Safari doesn't offer.
MIH Tool - basic edition
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mihtool/id584739126?ls=1&mt=8
HTTPWatch Basic
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/httpwatch-basic-http-sniffer/id658886056?mt=8
I gave them a try and they're at least better than the mobile Safari you get on iOS, unless one needs to target full mobile Safari compatibility. I'm guessing the pro/paid editions of those apps give you more/better features.
This question was more than 4 years ago, but I feel like it's worth to mention another option which is platform-independent which seems is not mentioned above:
VConsole
It's a JavaScript that you can inject into your page(s) which will overwrite all native console output and show it as an overlay on top of your page content, in a level of detail that is almost as good as Google Chrome's Developer Tools.
Runs well on iOS Safari, as well as on other mobile browsers - for as long as JavaScript is enabled in the browser.
How to install: https://www.npmjs.com/package/vconsole
You will need NPM tools to install it, but not actually required to use NPM to build your project. You can simply install VConsole somewhere in a separate folder, and just copy-paste vconsole.min.js from it.
Once you inject it into your page, will look like this:
<script type="text/javascript" src="vconsole.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript>let vc = new VConsole(); // this will initialize it.</script>
Visually is very appealing, you will see green button in lower-right corner of your page on your mobile/desktop browser, which will open console overlay.
Very neat!
Of course, it does not provide you with ability to select an element, see calculated css etc., but if you are looking for console output and some network report, this one is really easy to use.
October 2019
AFAIK, For recent IOS versions there is no overall solution for debugging IOS from a PC.
You can however use one of the following solutions:
Display console messages in the browser itself. As described here and in Sinisa's answer.
The "remotedebug-ios-webkit-adapter" doesn't work for debugging IOS 12+. It requires extra steps for IOS 11, and works for IOS 10 and perhaps older versions as well.
I use PrePros for CSS preprocessing and it has a built in server for mobile debugging and web inspector. But this is only good for local sites even still...
In my experience it is often not an issue with mobile Safari only but Safari in general. In these cases it can help to try the normal Safari (for Windows) and see if the bugs appear there. If so, it's much easier to debug something by this way.
2021 update:
The creator of RemoteDebug here. I've built a replacement for RemoteDebug called Inspect, which packages everything together in a pleasant experience and enables easy iOS web debugging from Windows, macOS, and Linux, with a few extra features like screencasting and wifi debugging.
http://inspect.dev
There are a couple of options I've come across for debugging on iOS. They're not full step-through debuggers, but they offer a JS error log, console and some inspection tools:
1. Eruda
By adding the following snippet to the top of your page:
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/eruda"></script>
<script>eruda.init();</script>
You get an interactive set of developer tools similar to those in Chrome and Firefox. Here's a screenshot:
Available at https://github.com/liriliri/eruda
2. MiniConsole
This one I developed myself when I had not discovered another suitable option. It has less features, but it does the main things - capture JS errors, and allow you to run commands to inspect variables and object on your page.
Here's a demo:
It's activated by just placing this script tag on your page:
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/SimonEast/MiniConsoleJS#main/console.js"></script>
Open source, GPL licence. Available at: https://github.com/SimonEast/MiniConsoleJS/
3. vConsole
Another similar option that I've not really tried. Available at https://www.npmjs.com/package/vconsole with a live demo at http://wechatfe.github.io/vconsole/demo.html.
I haven't tried this on a PC, but you should be able to go to http://[DEVICE_IP_ADDRESS]:9999 to debug.