Since iOS8, when near to the beacon, system is showing an icon of the app that is using this beacon in left bottom corner on a locked screen. I have seen screenshots on the web that are showing shopping card icon when user doesn't have the app installed. I wonder how does iOS identify the app basing on beacon? Do developer have to register his beacons somewhere?
Those icons are for apps that are already installed on the phone (the screenshots show the AppStore app and the Apple Store app). The icons show up on the lock screen whenever the apps discover a beacon they are looking for.
Other folks have reported that the AppStore app has prompted them to download a retailer's app when in the vicinity of the retail store, but this has yet to be substantiated. See here: Can I get my iOS app to appear on the lower left corner of the lock screen?
There is no publicly announced way to register a beacon with the AppStore to trigger this behavior, although it is possible it is part of some private deal or trial effort between Apple and third party retailers.
If anybody else sees this behavior, please report the name of the retailer and the location so others can try to reproduce.
This is all available from Apple. You can read more in this document.
Essentially, you create a UUID that you embed into all the iBeacons that you want to use with your app. Then your app has this UUID too so it knows when iBeacons are around that you are interested in.
Top of page 3 in the linked document.
Related
I have searched for this answer for quite a while with no luck. Is it currently possible to remove the appstore from an iPhone?
No, it is not possible. Even on company controlled devices the App Store will still be present. Using MDM (Mobile Device Management) you can control a lot about the phone, but the App Store is still present.
Remove built-in Apple apps from the Home screen on your iOS 10 device or Apple Watch
With iOS 10, you can remove some built-in Apple apps from the Home screen on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple Watch.
When you remove a built-in app from your Home screen, you also remove any related user data and configuration files. This can affect things like related system functions or information on your Apple Watch.
The apps built into iOS are designed to be very space efficient, so all of them together use less than 200MB. Removing built-in iOS apps doesn't free up storage space on your device.
Built-in apps you can remove from your Home screen
If you have iOS 10, you can remove these apps from your Home screen:
Calculator
Calendar
Compass
Contacts1
FaceTime2
Find My Friends
Home
iBooks3
iCloud Drive
iTunes Store
Mail
Maps3
Music3
News (where available)
Notes
Podcasts3
Reminders
Stocks
Tips
Videos or TV
Voice Memos
Watch app4
Weather
If you remove the Contacts app, all of your contact information will remain in the Phone app.
If you remove the FaceTime app, you can still make and receive FaceTime calls in Contacts and the Phone app.
If you remove the iBooks, Maps, Music, or Podcast apps, they won’t be available to use with CarPlay.
If you try to remove the Watch app from an iPhone that’s paired with an Apple Watch, an alert asks you to unpair your Apple Watch before you can remove the app.
Remove a built-in app from your Home screen
On your iOS device, touch and hold the app lightly until it jiggles. If the app doesn't jiggle, make sure that you're not pressing too hard.
Tap Remove on the app, then tap Remove.
Press the Home button to finish.
If you have an Apple Watch, removing an app from your iPhone also removes that app from your Apple Watch.
Restore a built-in app that you removed
On your iOS device, go to the App Store.
Search for the app. Make sure that you use the exact name of the app. Find the correct name of built-in apps.
Tap to restore the app.
Wait for the app to restore, then open it from your Home screen.
If you have an Apple Watch, restoring an app to your iPhone also restores that app to your Apple Watch.
What happens when you remove built-in apps from your Home screen
Removing built-in apps from your Home screen can affect other system functionalities. Here are some examples:
If you have an Apple Watch paired with your iPhone, removing an app from your iPhone Home screen also removes that app from your Apple Watch Home screen.
If you remove the Podcasts app from your Home screen, Podcasts won’t be available with CarPlay.
If you remove the Music app, you may be unable to play some audio content using Apple apps or third-party apps on some car stereos or stereo receivers.
If you remove the Stocks or Weather app from your Home screen, stocks and weather won’t be available elsewhere. For example, you won’t see stocks and weather information in Notification Center on your iPhone or as Complications or Glances on your Apple Watch.
If you remove the Calculator app, the calculator won’t appear in Control Center.
I've noticed that Uber displays this kind of app shortcut in the App Switcher in iOS 9 with description "Arrived at home":
I'd like to use similar feature in my app. Do you know how is it possible to achieve it? I can't find anything on that in the iOS 9 documentation.
That shortcut is not displayed by Uber, it's displayed by iOS 9.
This feature is called proactive suggestions. The iOS constantly monitors your activity and displays suggestions at the bottom of the App Switcher based on your usage patterns. In your case iOS saw that you usually open Uber app when you arrive at home, so it showed you a suggestion.
There doesn't seem to be a way for your app to influence this behaviour because Apple doesn't provide an API for that.
iOS Suggested App feature will show app icon on left bottom corner in iPhone lock screen.
Which delegate method will be called (on UIApplication or I don't know)
when clicking on the bottom left app icon ?
The Suggested Apps feature is a list of apps that are popular/relevant to specific locations, managed entirely by Apple.One can request to be added to that list for a specific app.
You can read more about it in this answer to a similar question, where an Apple Tech Support explains it: https://stackoverflow.com/a/26676020/2242359
Sliding up the icon from there will either open the AppStore page of the app or simply launch the app.
The other way to get you app icon to the corner of the lock screen is by using iBeacon - in that way the app must already be installed on the users device and the icon will appear when getting close to the iBeacon device.
I have developed an app in iOS which plays around iBeacon technology.
However i want my app to be shown as suggested app if user is nearby to any location. I read that for app having iBeacon implementation, the device must have app installed so that it would be displayed at left bottom corner in iOS8 as soon as beacon is detected.
But if user has not installed my app and if he comes near to specific location, i want my app to be suggested on left bottom corner.
How can it be achieved ?
Thanks
This is not possible. iOS listens to beacons and only reasons for which it knows to listen for.
Since there can be unlimited number a beacons to listen to the device is restricted to only listen to those beacons that apps have requested it to listen for. And this is what makes you app appear in the lower left corner in the lock screen.
I am not certain what OS made this capability available but I noticed that on my iPhone 5 (which is running the beta iOS8), when the phone is locked a "W" icon was appearing at the bottom-left. It shows "Slide to Unlock", the camera icon on the right, the "bar" that lets me access the control center in the middle - and a "W" on the left. Sliding this "W" up launches the Walgreen's iPhone app. I do not think this is a normal UINotification, nothing in Passbook, and when I go into the Notification Center settings, turning all notifications off for the Walgreen app, the icon still shows.
Is this a notification? Is this a plist parameter? Bug?
Thanks.
This is a new ios 8 feature that displays an app (purchased or not) that is relevant to your location. You must have been near a Walgreens at the time. As far as I know, there is no way to choose that app or submit an app for that. Apple decides what displays there.
You can turn this off by going to settings > General > Handoff and Suggested Apps. Then turn off Installed Apps. According to the description, these Apps are suggested based on usage and location.