Is it possible to register a http+domain-based URL

Question

I'd like to have iOS to open URLs from my domain (e.g. http://martijnthe.nl) with my app whenever the app is installed on the phone, and with Mobile Safari in case it is not.

I read it is possible to create a unique protocol suffix for this and register it in the Info.plist, but Mobile Safari will give an error in case the app is not installed.

What would be a workaround?

One idea:

1) Use http:// URLs that open in any desktop browser and render the service through the browser

2) 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

Not sure if this will work... suggestions? Thanks!

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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?)

Answer 3

window.location = appurl;// fb://method/call..
!window.document.webkitHidden && setTimeout(function () {
    setTimeout(function () {
    window.location = weburl; // http://itunes.apple.com/..
    }, 100);
}, 600);

document.webkitHidden is to detect if your app is already invoked and current safari tab to going to the background, this code is from www.baidu.com

Answer 4

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

1. Check if the user-agent is that of an iPhone/iPod Touch
2. Check for an appInstalled cookie
3. If the cookie exists and is set to true, set window.location to your-uri:// (or do the redirect server side)
4. 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://";

Answer 5

If you add an iframe on your web page with the src set to custom scheme for your App, iOS will automatically redirect to that location in the App. If the app is not installed, nothing will happen. This allows you to deep link into the App if it is installed, or redirect to the App Store if it is not installed.

For example, if you have the twitter app installed, and navigate to a webpage containing the following markup, you would be immediately directed to the app.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
    <title>iOS Automatic Deep Linking</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <iframe src="twitter://" width="0" height="0"></iframe>
        <p>Website content.</p>
    </body>
</html>

Here is a more thorough example that redirects to the App store if the App is not installed:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
    <title>iOS Automatic Deep Linking</title>
    <script src='//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.2.min.js'></script>
    <script src='//mobileesp.googlecode.com/svn/JavaScript/mdetect.js'></script>
    <script>
      (function ($, MobileEsp) {
        // On document ready, redirect to the App on the App store.
        $(function () {
          if (typeof MobileEsp.DetectIos !== 'undefined' && MobileEsp.DetectIos()) {
            // Add an iframe to twitter://, and then an iframe for the app store
            // link. If the first fails to redirect to the Twitter app, the
            // second will redirect to the app on the App Store. We use jQuery
            // to add this after the document is fully loaded, so if the user
            // comes back to the browser, they see the content they expect.
            $('body').append('<iframe class="twitter-detect" src="twitter://" />')
              .append('<iframe class="twitter-detect" src="itms-apps://itunes.com/apps/twitter" />');
          }
        });
      })(jQuery, MobileEsp);
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
      .twitter-detect {
        display: none;
      }
    </style>
    </head>
    <body>
    <p>Website content.</p>
    </body>
</html>

Answer 6

BUILDING Again on Nathan and JB's Answer:

How To Launch App From url w/o Extra Click If you prefer a solution that does not include the interim step of clicking a link, the following can be used. With this javascript, I was able to return a Httpresponse object from Django/Python that successfully launches an app if it is installed or alternatively launches the app store in the case of a time out. Note I also needed to adjust the timeout period from 500 to 100 in order for this to work on an iPhone 4S. Test and tweak to get it right for your situation.

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

<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";

var loadedAt = +new Date;
setTimeout(
  function(){
    if (+new Date - loadedAt < 2000){
      window.location = appstorefail;
    }
  }
,100);

function LaunchApp(){
  window.open("unknown://nowhere","_self");
};
LaunchApp()
</script>
</body>
</html>