How can I send mail from an iPhone application

Question

I want to send an email from my iPhone application. I have heard that the iOS SDK doesn't have an email API. I don't want to use the following code because it will exit my application:

NSString *url = [NSString stringWithString: @"mailto:[e-mail]?cc=[e-mail]&subject=Greetings%20from%20Cupertino!&body=Wish%20you%20were%20here!"];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: url]];

So how can I send an email from my app?

Answer 1

Heres a Swift version:

import MessageUI

class YourVC: UIViewController {
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        if MFMailComposeViewController.canSendMail() {
            var emailTitle = "Vea Software Feedback"
            var messageBody = "Vea Software! :) "
            var toRecipents = ["[e-mail]"]
            var mc:MFMailComposeViewController = MFMailComposeViewController()
            mc.mailComposeDelegate = self
            mc.setSubject(emailTitle)
            mc.setMessageBody(messageBody, isHTML: false)
            mc.setToRecipients(toRecipents)
            self.presentViewController(mc, animated: true, completion: nil)
        } else {
            println("No email account found")
        }
    }
}

extension YourVC: MFMailComposeViewControllerDelegate {
    func mailComposeController(controller: MFMailComposeViewController!, didFinishWithResult result: MFMailComposeResult, error: NSError!) {
        switch result.value {
        case MFMailComposeResultCancelled.value:
            println("Mail Cancelled")
        case MFMailComposeResultSaved.value:
            println("Mail Saved")
        case MFMailComposeResultSent.value:
            println("Mail Sent")
        case MFMailComposeResultFailed.value:
            println("Mail Failed")
        default:
            break
        }
        self.dismissViewControllerAnimated(false, completion: nil)
    }
}

Source

Answer 2

If you want to send email from your application, the above code is the only way to do it unless you code your own mail client (SMTP) inside your app, or have a server send the mail for you.

For example, you could code your app to invoke a URL on your server which would send the mail for you. Then you simply call the URL from your code.

Note that with the above code you can't attach anything to the email, which the SMTP client method would allow you to do, as well as the server-side method.

Answer 3

I wrote a simple wrapper called KRNSendEmail that simplify sending email to one method call.

The KRNSendEmail is well documented and added to CocoaPods.

https://github.com/ulian-onua/KRNSendEmail

Answer 4

On iOS 3.0 and later you should use the MFMailComposeViewController class, and the MFMailComposeViewControllerDelegate protocol, that is tucked away in the MessageUI framework.

First add the framework and import:

#import <MessageUI/MFMailComposeViewController.h>

Then, to send a message:

MFMailComposeViewController* controller = [[MFMailComposeViewController alloc] init];
controller.mailComposeDelegate = self;
[controller setSubject:@"My Subject"];
[controller setMessageBody:@"Hello there." isHTML:NO]; 
if (controller) [self presentModalViewController:controller animated:YES];
[controller release];

Then the user does the work and you get the delegate callback in time:

- (void)mailComposeController:(MFMailComposeViewController*)controller  
          didFinishWithResult:(MFMailComposeResult)result 
                        error:(NSError*)error;
{
  if (result == MFMailComposeResultSent) {
    NSLog(@"It's away!");
  }
  [self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
}

Remember to check if the device is configured for sending email:

if ([MFMailComposeViewController canSendMail]) {
  // Show the composer
} else {
  // Handle the error
}

Answer 5

MFMailComposeViewController is the way to go after the release of iPhone OS 3.0 software. You can look at the sample code or the tutorial I wrote.