Support url for app submission in appstore - ios

Is support url necessary for app submission in the Appstore? I am registered as an individual developer and i don't have a web page for support url. What can i do?

The support url is now required. You can make a free account at a site like:
http://www.wordpress.com/
or similar.

I would create a free page at github pages. Simple and straight forward. If you need something simple it is the perfect choice.

Apple provides a bit more info in their help docs:
The support website you plan to provide for users who have questions
regarding the app. The support URL must lead to actual contact
information so that users can reach you regarding app issues, general
feedback, and feature enhancement requests. Specify entire URL,
including the protocol, as in http://support.example.com.
Only customers who purchase the app can see the Support URL on the App
Store.
This property is required and can be localized.
https://help.apple.com/app-store-connect/#/devf29afbb74

I think you will be fine, I had the same problem like this. I have submitted the app without the link and it got accepted and after that i have edited the URL.

Related

How do I implement deferred deep linking in an iOS app?

I want to implement deferred deep linking in my iOS app as a means of tracking referrals. When a user of my app wants to refer a friend, I'll generate a URL that has a unique referral code. When the other person receives the link and opens it, I want it to take them to my app's page in the App Store. Then if they install my app, when it first opens, I need a way for it to read the referral code from the original URL.
I've found may pages about deferred deep linking on the web but none that really explain how to do it. Instead, these pages all end up telling you to install some third-party code or use some commercial service. This isn't what I'm after. I want to learn how to do this myself.
There are lots of old pages out there that recommend convoluted and error-prone solutions, like tracking the user's IP address, putting the referral code into the clipboard, or somehow obtaining it from a cookie in a web view. I don't think these are the correct solutions to be using in 2022.
If anyone can recommend the appropriate resource, I'd appreciate it.
If it is the case that Apple simply doesn't want us to do this and doesn't provide any support for it, then I'd like to know that too. I was under the impression that they did, but maybe I'm wrong.
Thanks,
Frank
Apple's Universal Links allow for this (would understand the difference between the typical URL Scheme and Universal Links as threshold). This assumes you're willing to do some lifting server-side along with other hurdles on the iOS side, largely administrative.
A benefit of Universal Links and the server-side work is that you're provided a fallback webpage if a user does not have the app installed. Since the app should open if downloaded, you could typically just redirect to the app store from this URL. In this case, though, before any redirects, you could execute an operation to decode the unique params passed in the URL and persist it in a remote data store. The data encoded needs to be required and verifiably unique during your registration -- email seems ideal.
If that's feasible, your standard registration flow could require email verification with a link to the app as a mandatory entry point (think slack magic link). When the user submits his/her email to verify, you could first check that email against your data store to see if it maps to any previously decoded referrals saved from the flow above. If so, you could generate a unique link for this email to your app with params that will direct the deferred/deep link.
The good news is, I found a solution. I could construct a web page that redirects the user to the app store, but before doing so, copies some text into their clipboard (without telling them or asking them to do anything). Then later if they install my app I can get the text by pasting from the clipboard. I tested this idea and it works.
The bad news is, starting with iOS 16, Apple now asks you for permission to paste. So if you try to do this, your user will launch your app and immediately get promoted with a message asking them to allow a paste from Safari. I expect most users will deny the request and just the fact that they saw it will erode their trust in the app (I know I wouldn't trust an app that tried consume my clipboard without a direct command from me).

How to create a deep link to the Apple Wallet app from my website?

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.

Does deeplinking in iOS need something to do on server side?

I am trying to implement deeplinking in iOS.
After a little research i came to know the if we need to navigate to our app(if installed) on click of a link, we need to work on server side also.
Is there anyway to work out this without server side dependency?
The old-fashioned approach to deep linking used custom URI schemes, which didn't require any server-side implementation. These don't work well anymore. Apple introduced Universal Links in iOS 9, which do require a server-side update.
If you don't want to deal with all the implementation details, check out Branch.io (full disclosure: I'm on the Branch team). It's a free service that takes care of all this without any server requirements from you.
There are two ways to link to your app:
Make iOS redirect URLs of your website to your app (Universal Links)
For example http://maps.apple.com/?q=1+Infinite+Loop opens the Maps App and YouTube-Links redirect to the YouTube-App, if it is installed.
This requires some server-side configuration.
I have not worked with Universal Links yet, so I can just propose you to read this document by Apple about this topic.
Use a custom URL scheme
If you don't want to do anything on your server, you need to use a custom URL-scheme like myapp://this/is/a/url

IOS App Support Page URL

I have a simple question. while we submit our app to IOS App store, iTunesConnect has a section for Application Support URL. Is it must to create a URL page ( page must exist?) as now I just pointed the url to a directory under my website such as http://example.com/directory (this is just an example of url)
What if there is no content in that page? Will Apple reject my app? Should I create an html page about my application?
Thanks a lot for your time.
Yes, you have to provide a URL as it complains that the field is required if you leave it empty.
I do not think they will reject it but for the users' sake I would create a simple website maybe containing your email address so they can actually use the Application Support feature.
Hope that helps :)

feedback form in iOS app - allowed?

Would anyone one know if Apple has restrictions on providing a user feedback/bug report form within an app? I've searched around but haven't found anything very clear. Might seem a dumb question but I don't want to waste time on it if it is not allowed.
Also, assuming it is allowed - I guess I would do it through a server-based php script, rather than trying to wire it up through the user's email. I am not trying to capture the user's email or anything like that - just feedback/bug responses.
Cheers!
I believe companies like Uservoice and GetSatisfaction have mobile sdks for submitting feedback about apps.
Uservoice lets people submit anonymously, GetSatisfaction requires an account.
You can do this however you would like, lots of apps support emailing feedback but if you prefer to put in the work you could also do custom fields and have it simply send the response back through your own server.
Yes, it's allowed, and there's nothing to stop you doing it through email either - what is the difference between emailing a bug report using MFMailComposeViewController and emailing anything else?

Resources