The default link I got for my iOS app from iTunes Connect looks like this:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/name/id1234566789?ls=1&mt=8
Does the /us/ part mean that link will always show the US AppStore or will it automatically redirect to the AppStore of the users country? Should I remove that part from the link?
Yes.
This will bring up the US store every time, ignoring the user's location.
What you can do is to delete us/. That will always show the app store with user-location-based region.
Hope that helps :)
Related
User downloads my iPhone app from the appStore link I provide from invite email. Is it possible to persist/cache the user-data say email Address and pre-fill when the app launched.
Thank you.
You can get all the data that Apple allows you to get, which is absolutely none - you can't get the user's email, you can't get his phone number, you can't get his UDID. No way to identify him. If you want anything from the user, he needs to enter it manually. If you think about it - it's actually a good thing. All your iphone information is completely secure and protected.
No, this can't be done. Your special link might take the user to the app store, but then that's it. The act of installing the app has nothing to do with your link anymore and no data can be passed to the freshly installed app.
Of course once the app is installed, if the user taps on a special link you provide, it could force your app to run and provide data to it.
Maybe you could provide a QR code the use can scan with your app the first time they run it. The QR code can contain the data you want. Of course the user may choose to not scan the code. Then again, the user can install your app without using your link to begin with.
How do I obtain the iTunes Store app description from within my iPhone app? I need it to make a "help" screen in my app.
I don't know if this is possible, but I know there are special link to make the user go to reviews of apps and so maybe it's also possibile to get the app description?
You should be able to use the iTunes search APIs:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentation/itunes-store-web-service-search-api.html
Or you can load the description from a remote site and store it localy. This way you are able to update the information without updating the whole app. You could load an HTML file, store it to the Documents directory and show it within your app with a UIWebView.
Here's what I'm trying to do: I have a button on the settings page in my app - I want this to direct users to the review/rate page on the app store.
I know this is possible using [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: .... ]; but my app is unreleased as of yet, so I don't have a URL to use.
Is it possible to implement this functionality for an unreleased app, or would I have to wait and include it as an update?
Thanks :)
The URL below is what you're looking for.
Just replace the 368754825 after id= with your app's Apple ID from iTunes Connect. This will take you right to the review page and won't have all the redirects like a normal link. Your App's Apple ID will not change between now and when it's on the store.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=368754825&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=1&type=Purple+Software&mt=8
Update:
I tested the link I posted more than a year ago. It still works. The idea is that it won't work until your app is live. I know there's some concern about putting this link in and shipping before actually verifying it works, but it's the best option for having a review link in a 1.0. You can alternatively submit a 1.0.1 update (with link) right after 1.0 (without link) is approved which means you're only missing out on about a week's worth of reviews.
This is newest format for creating review form links on iOS (only works for iOS devices) [tested on 4.2]
itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=412843648
Replace the final string of 9 numbers with your app's application ID from iTunes connect or your iTunes url. This link when launched from an iOS device takes you directly to the reviews
Yes you can add a link.
What I did for one of my apps that wasnt released yet was point to a certain URL, like: http://www.wrightscs.com/ios/myapp/review.html which just contained an http redirect.
Once my app was released and I had the iTunes Store link, I just updated the review.html page with my apps URL.
So now my app opens the review.html link, but in return gets redirected to my app in the app store.
First of all you have all the data about your app when creating it on iTunes connect. The thing you need here is the "Apple ID" (you can find it on iTunes connect under the app information).
After taken this number you can use it inside your app (even hard-coded) asking users to rate it or any other thing you want to do with it.
You can use this code for doing so, This method would open the rate page for your app on the App Store without opening safari on the way like other methods here (I've put all code which seems easier to understand sometimes):
static NSString *const iOSAppStoreURLFormat=#"itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=%u";
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:iOSAppStoreURLFormat, (unsigned int)YOUR_applicationID]]];
Where YOUR_applicationID is the one you took from the app store (Apple ID).
I suggest you test that with a working app (active on the app store, even not your, You can use this one for example: 474785950) and change it afterwards. Pay attention to download the app you are rating to your device/account (You can always know the Apple ID of working apps from the link itself : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/i-ruler/id474785950?ls=1&mt=8 it's the number just after the "id").
Moreover, For this topic I have some other things that should be considered:
1. Apple can reject your app if you are asking users to rate your app with 5 stars, Many developers does that and don't get rejected but I've been rejected couple of times just for that. Beware!
2. Asking users for just a rating mostly doesn't have a good effect, Great feedback comes only after the user used the app and really enjoyed that (users are really used to popups asking them to rate and just skip it). Also if user want to skip this process for now you want to try asking him later, And most importantly you want to ask the user to rate your app after an update (that is super important because rating is for each version!). To solve this case I suggest using iRate (or build something custom using that as starting point) which is very easy to integrate and it can ask for rating only after several days/opening times etc. and remembers to do that for each version. Can download it from: https://github.com/nicklockwood/iRate/tree/master/iRate
I think that the direct link to 'write the review' is undocumented. It is better to give link to the app and it will be up to user to write the review.
You can get the link to your app from your account in iTunes Connect.
You will get the link once you add a new application (not necessarily upload and make it live). That link will open your app regardless of the platform (iPhone, Mac, PC).
That link will not work un till the app is live.
This method worked for me!
Swift 2 version this code works for iOS 9:
let appId = "12345678"
let url = "itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=\(appId)"
UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(NSURL(string: url)!)
I am having an app. I am going to submit it to the store. In that app I am having a button that should go to iTunes page of the very same app. I guess there should be a way to do that using app bundle or plist or something..
If I can do it, How I can do it?
Is it possible to get the link of an app in itunes store even before it is submitted to the store?
Thank you..
http://itunes.com/apps/myappname
Where "myappname" is your app name minus spaces and all lowercase.
Working examples:
http://itunes.com/apps/amazon
http://itunes.com/apps/thevoid
http://itunes.com/apps/huluplus
The iTunes store URL is something like this.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=your_app_id&mt=8
You can get the your_app_id after creating the app in iTunes. That means you just need to create the app to get the URL. No need to submit the app just to get the ID.
After getting the ID, open that URL from the button handler.
You could use the easy-to-read link feature as outlined in this Technical Q&A. Just be aware that this link takes a few minutes to become active after your application has changed state to "Available For Sale".
I answered this two years ago, here: How can I link to my app in the App Store (iTunes)?
What's the URL to launch in order to bring the iTunes App Store to the front, and open it to show the Reviews page of an app?
I want to send my users to the "Write a Review" page.
Some other SO answers provided URLs like the one below, but it doesn't seem to work:
itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=12345678&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=1
Any suggestions for a URL that'll work on iPhone and iPad?
Update: iOS 4.2 seems to have fixed this and links now open the App Store app directly rather than the review page.
This article Dissecting iTunes links explains everything.
Heading straight to a review form
It’s also possible to send someone
straight to the review form for an
app.
https://userpub.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZUserPublishing.woa/wa/addUserReview?id=337064413&type=Purple+Software
Simply replace the ID with your app’s
ID to create a URL for your app.
On a desktop or laptop, this will take
you directly to the review form in
iTunes for the app or item. On an
iPhone or iPod touch, this will open
MobileSafari, then open iTunes or the
App Store app on the reviews page,
leaving the user only one tap away
from writing a review.
To find out an item’s ID, right (Mac &
PC) or control-click (Mac) on a link
to the item in iTunes and select Copy
Link. The result will look something
like this.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/dig-your-own-hole/id19605549
http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/consume-mobile-isp-packages/id337064413?mt=8
The ID is the number in the URL after
“id’.
It might be worth noting that this URL
was created using iTunes 8. I don't
think there’s a way to create review
links in iTunes 9, so maybe this URL
is being phased out. Use with caution.
Update: #mareMtl has provided an
alternative review link for apps.
Please note that it only works on
iPhone OS devices.
itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=337064413
I tried a bunch of different links, this is only one working for me on iPhone AND iPad consistently:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=1&type=Purple+Software&mt=8&id=YOUR_APP
Check out Appirater - http://arashpayan.com/blog/index.php/2009/09/07/presenting-appirater/
Every time the user launches your app, Appirater will see if they’ve used the app for 30 days and launched it at least 15 times. If they have, they’ll be asked to rate the app, and then be taken to your app’s review page in the App Store.
this works for me:
itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=584691809
Am using Appirater for Rating my App
These links in AppiRater
// for ios6 or earlier
NSString *templateReviewURL = #"itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=APP_ID";
// for ios7
NSString *templateReviewURLiOS7 = #"itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/idAPP_ID";
These links works fine .
But takes me to "Details" page of the app .
But it should go to "Ratings and Reviews" page..
suggest me any idea
Thanks
iTunes has a link maker you can use to get the URL. Tested on my app. It works.
For Requesting for rate and review to user after iOS 10.3+
The SKStoreReviewController allows users to rate an app directly from within the app through a dialog box. The only downsite is that you can only request StoreKit to display the dialog, but can't be sure if it will.
import StoreKit
func requestToRate() {
SKStoreReviewController.requestReview()
}