I just developed a new game (called Ktalu: Planet of Terror) in iOS using COCOS2D. The game itself is done but I have to finalize a couple of things, one being the following. This game allows users to post their high scores on Facebook and/or Twitter, and everything works fine right now. The Facebook post shows up as expected and some of the text is linked to a URL of my choice. My question is what link should I use here? I can link to the website of the game (ktalu.com) but it is probably a better idea to link directly to the game in the App Store. This way, anyone who sees a post on Facebook when reading on an iPhone can click the link and be taken directly to App Store. But I am confused as to how to do this. The only link I have now is a link to the game in iTunes Connect. Remember, this game is not published yet. How can I get an App Store link for this game to put into Facebook posts and Tweets if the game is not yet in the App Store? And what exactly does this link look like? Is it http, https, or something else? And what happens if someone reads the post on a laptop or desktop and clicks that link?
The "View in App Store" link (Manage Apps, ) is exactly what you want. That URL will work once an app goes live, even if copied pre-launch because it doesn't change. When followed on a non-iOS computer, this link goes to the online store. When followed on iOS, this link goes to the App Store.
Protip: Use the URL scheme "itms://" instead of "http://" to link directly to your app in iTunes on the desktop/laptop. Both go directly to the App Store on iOS.
If you'd like to construct the URL yourself, follow my previous instructions:
In iTunes Connect you need to find the "Apple ID" for your app (it's a 9 digit number found in Manage Apps, Ktalu). Then simply find a link to any other app and replace the ID with yours.
For example, the Apple ID for Google Maps is 585027354 and its online URL is https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id585027354.
Related
I use Unity for my apps.
Browsing the App Store I saw some apps, such as "Google Chrome" that have the background above the icon in the store listing.
My question is, how do I put it for my apps? With Android it is easy, there is the image to insert on Play Console, but on Apple I have not found anything about it.
Should I enter it via Unity? Or how should I do?
There isn't an option for this on App Store Connect. Apple reaches out to developers for whom they promote on the store or whose apps are featured in Stories on the App Store.
Read over the page here about being featured on the App Store: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/getting-featured/
Side note: you'll notice that most apps with App Store banners are either (A) from large companies (like Google, as noted in your question) or (B) have been repeatedly featured on the App Store (like 1Password).
I've created an IOS app as a Facebook Developer. So my question:
Are people able to see the app when they go into their Facebook - like in the Browser? Or are Facebook IOS apps only something that you can see in the actual app on the iphone/iPad that I'm creating?
Depending on whether the Facebook developer configured a canvas facing site will show what the end user will see.
Any application made by a third party once set to public in app settings can be viewed by anyone.
If you app is made for iOS then either the user will see a misconfigured webpage or dialog asking whether the user wants to send to mobile. All of this of course depends on how the the developer of the application sets everything.
See the documentation for detailed information
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-login/v2.2
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)!)
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()
}
Possible duplicate:
How can i give app store link in my apps before approving another apps
linking to an app on the Itunes store
How to link to apps on the app store
Hi all,
I'm a littile bit confused. I need to provide the download link of my application (the iTunes link) inside my application. ie when the user would like to invite others via mail or some other means, have to provide the application link too with that.Is there any way to provide that before submitting the application to apple. Or i need to use the link as an update after getting my application approved by apple?
To be able to provide an iTunes URL, you should know the unique ID for your app and AFAIK, there's no way to get this ID before getting your app in the store first.
You can try and construct a search URL, but it doesn't always give the desired result. For example, I currently have only one app in the store, but there's another developer who uses the same developer name as me, so a search URL for my app produces two results. If this is your first app, and searching for your developer name produces no results, it could be safe for you to go with a search URL.
Even if you use a search URL, you will want to replace it with a proper iTunes URL in the first update.
Read this article by Bjango for more information on iTunes URLs and quirks of using search URLs: Dissecting iTunes links