In iOS 6 or 7, the app exit to the home screen when I call UIApplication openUrl with a url of itms-services://XXXX to install a new version of my app (using enterprise deployment with ipa files).
In iOS 8, this is no longer the case. Now the app continue running just as nothing has happened, but if I go the home screen, I can see my app icon grayed out, with a downloading pie chart about 66% completed and the text "Downloading..." below. If I now wait for a while (less than a minute), the application is installed correctly and I can start my app again.
Has anyone else experienced this behavior? Have anyone seen any documentation regarding this? I can accept behavioral changes as long as it is documented, but I haven't seen any documentation regarding this.
Yes, you also get the same behaviour when clicking a download link in safari now on iOS8.
I'm not sure why they introduced this change but there isn't really a way around it (unless you force your app to crash with something like exit(0);)
Also, the itms-services url scheme is undocumented and is technically a private api. From experience, you're not allowed to submit apps to the App Store that use it.
While forcing the app to crash will technically work, a much better solution (allowing the user to retain the state of the application) would be to simply background the app launching the itms-services link by executing the following.
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] performSelector:@selector(suspend)];
We use this in an app used for distributing test builds to our testers and it works very well, and eliminates the confusion of a tester trying to install an app and having the app stay in front. It also allows them to return to our distribution app and have it pick up where they were.
I have experienced a similar thing. I have a web page for our internal app store and when I tap on the link I do get a prompt asking if I want to install and when I say yes safari just sits there. The app is downloading on the home screen but under IOS 7 safari would be pushed to the background and you could see where your app is being downloaded to and its progress. Now it appears like nothing is happening. I would love to correct this. Perhaps something has changed in the .plist files the itms-services protocol uses. This protocol is not private it is just reserved for enterprise deployments.
