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Is it possible to register a http+domain-based URL Scheme for iPhone apps, like YouTube and Maps?

Answer 1

+1 A:

You can't, as far as I know, make the entire OS understand an http:+domain URL. You can only register new schemes (I use x-darkslide: in my app). If the app is installed, Mobile Safari will launch the app correctly.

However, you would have to handle the case where the app isn't installed with a "Still here? Click this link to download the app from iTunes." in your web page.

Fraser Speirs 2009-07-10 11:18:55

Answer 2

A:

Check the User-Agent and in case it's Mobile Safari, open a myprotocol:// URL to (attempt) to open the iPhone app and have it open Mobile iTunes to the download of the app in case the attempt fails

This sounds a reasonable approach to me, but I don't think you'll be able to get it to open mobile itunes as a second resort. I think you'll have to pick one or the other - either redirect to your app or to itunes.

i.e. if you redirect to myprotocol://, and the app isn't on the phone, you won't get a second chance to redirect to itunes.

You could perhaps first redirect to an (iphone optimised) landing page and give the user the option to click through to your app, or to itunes to get the app if they don't have it? But, you'll be relying on the user to do the right thing there. (Edit: though you could set a cookie so that is a first-time thing only?)

frankodwyer 2009-07-10 11:25:51

Thats wrong. If an error is shown that the page cannot be opened (App not installed), JS is still executed. Thats why you can can redirect to another fallback solution then.

Heinrich 2010-04-21 07:26:55

Answer 3

+11 A:

I think the least intrusive way of doing this is as follows:

Check if the user-agent is that of an iPhone/iPod Touch
Check for an appInstalled cookie
If the cookie exists and is set to true, set window.location to your-uri:// (or do the redirect server side)
If the cookie doesn't exist, open a "Did you know Your Site Name has an iPhone application?" modal with a "Yep, I've already got it", "Nope, but I'd love to try it", and "Leave me alone" button.
1. The "Yep" button sets the cookie to true and redirects to your-uri://
2. The "Nope" button redirects to "http://itunes.com/apps/yourappname" which will open the App Store on the device
3. The "Leave me alone" button sets the cookie to false and closes the modal

The other option I've played with but found a little clunky was to do the following in Javascript:

setTimeout(function() {
  window.location = "http://itunes.com/apps/yourappname";
}, 25);

// If "custom-uri://" is registered the app will launch immediately and your
// timer won't fire. If it's not set, you'll get an ugly "Cannot Open Page"
// dialogue prior to the App Store application launching
window.location = "custom-uri://";

Nathan de Vries 2009-07-10 12:18:40

I tried both ideas both obviously work, and the best solution would be to combine them. The dialogue / cookie for first-timers and the timer to catch the case where the app has been deinstalled. (Perhaps trigger a new dialogue: "I see Your App Name has disappeared from your iPhone. Would you like to download it again?")On my own 3GS the alert doesn't show when the timer is shorter than 100msec.I also tried loading the AppStore URL after the app:// URK with two meta refresh tags, but that didn't work.

Martijn Thé 2009-07-24 09:39:20

Great solution. If your fallback is to another application, it will load _IMMEDIATELY_ without displaying the error. So instead of falling back to http://itunes.com... use itms://phobos.apple.com/... to avoid the popup error!

jb 2010-03-06 00:20:52

Answer 4

+2 A:

It's quite possible to do this JavaScript as long as your fallback is another applink. Building on Nathan's suggestion:

<html>
  <head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
  </head>
  <body>

    <h2><a id="applink1" href="fb://profile/116201417">open facebook with fallback to appstore</a></h2>
    <h2><a id="applink2" href="unknown://nowhere">open unknown with fallback to appstore</a></h2>
    <p><i>Only works on iPhone!</i></p>    

  <script type="text/javascript">

// To avoid the "protocol not supported" alert, fail must open another app.
var appstorefail = "itms://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook/id284882215?mt=8&uo=6";

function applink(fail){
    return function(){
        var clickedAt = +new Date;
        // During tests on 3g/3gs this timeout fires immediately if less than 500ms.
        setTimeout(function(){
            // To avoid failing on return to MobileSafari, ensure freshness!
            if (+new Date - clickedAt < 2000){
                window.location = fail;
            }
        }, 500);    
    };
}

document.getElementById("applink1").onclick = applink(appstorefail);
document.getElementById("applink2").onclick = applink(appstorefail);

</script>
</body>
</html>

Checkout a live demo here: http://bit.ly/93pIS1

jb 2010-03-06 01:41:49

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Is it possible to register a http+domain-based URL Scheme for iPhone apps, like YouTube and Maps?

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