How to check programatically if an App is installed?

Question

I am developing an iPhone application which will install few third party applications in an enterprise. I have the information about the bundle IDs. Is there a way to check if the application is already installed, using some system APIs? Currently the application gets installed again, overwriting the current installation. I need to prevent this some how. (Apple's AppStore application disables the installation option if the app is already installed.)

Answer 1

I think this is not possible directly, but if the apps register uri schemes you could test for that.

A URI scheme is for example fb:// for the facebook app. You can register that in the info.plist of your app. [UIApplication canOpenUrl:url] will tell you if a certain url will or will not open. So testing if fb:// will open, will indicate that there is an app installed which registered fb:// - which is a good hint for the facebook app.

Answer 2

You can find here some app custom URL

http://applookup.com/2010/07/iphone-apps-with-special-url-shortcuts/