We discovered that the most successful app developer "Tapbots" has a special kind of link to the App Store.
First, the link looks like this: It is a clever affiliate link:
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=Fu2a2g8N61Q&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewSoftware%253Fid%253D308928075%2526mt%253D8%2526partnerId%253D30
And then it gets redirected to this:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/convertbot-amazing-unit-converter/id308928075?mt=8
After redirection iTunes starts on my mac. On the iPad the App Store app launches. We tried to modify this last link to match our app. But when clicking on it it shows this iTunes web page only and never launches iTunes.
The iTunes web page says "Open iTunes to buy and download apps". Sounds like "do it yourself" and nothing happens.
Does this only happen with affiliate links? I found no documentation from Apple which explains how to make a link that launches iTunes automatically.
It appears that you have to link to itms:// instead of http://
You can do this with the iTunes linkmaker. If you need help with it there is a pretty good FAQ here.
There are two ways to guarantee that on the desktop that the iTunes Stpre loads and you don't stop on the iTunes Preview page.
1.) It's an affiliate link.
2.) The link includes "&ls=1"
I would encourage you to go after #1 as there is absolutely no reason to link to iTunes and not affiliate it.
Related
After looking at a dozen or more posts on here about how to create a link to open your application in the App Store, none of them have worked (most are from '09-'10).
Many of those posts even say it should work before submitting your app, as long as you have made the app in iTunesConnect, and copy the app id there.
When I try the "View in App Store" link in ITC it says: "The item you've requested is not currently available in the U.S. store."
My app binary has not been submitted yet, is it possible to test this link at this point?
You cannot view apps in the iTunes store that have not been approved yet. That means the links won't work until the app has gone through the review process. The URL for the app store link should look like this:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/YOUR-APP-NAME/idNUMBEROFYOURAPPHERE?ls=1&mt=8
You can get the app number in the "Manage Applications" link of iTunes connect. This technique hasn't failed for me yet.
Hope this helps!
I am in the middle of finalizing my website getting ready for the releasing of my iPhone app, now I am wondering if it's possible to get the link for iTunes installation earlier, even before it's officially approved by AppStore. Anyone tried that?
Absolutely.
Create the app in iTunes if you haven't already.
Go to the app page in iTunes.
On the main page for your app copy the link from "View in App Store"
Once it is approved that will be its URL.
Login into iTunes Connect and go to Manage Your Apps
then click on the app you had uploaded and right click on View in App Store and go to Open Link in New tab...
By doing this you will get iTunes Link for your application..
I just released an iPhone app and am updating its support site. I've used the iTunes Link Maker to create a link like below. One time, it opened iTunes, the rest of the times, it has not. I've tried closing iTunes, accessing the link from both Safari and Chrome, but each time I only see the iTunes preview in the browser.
Example:
My App on the App Store
ANSWER: (see discussion below)
Pulling the href from the "View in App Store" link in iTunes Connect:
My App on the App Store
NOTE: Trailing params might be different in your own case.
SEE ALSO:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentation/linking-to-the-itunes-music-store.html
I usually grab the link from the apps' detail page in iTunes Connect. There's a link named View in App Store that has worked for my so far. Just make sure to replace the locale identifier (defaults to us) in the link if your app is available in multiple stores.
Just use iTunes Link Maker and remove the country code (i.e. "us") out of the link and it would always work open iTunes always and not a browser on the way (if there is iTunes installed on the target system).
You can also remove the app_name you don't really need it (if your app name would be changed nothing happen, actually the name is ignored).
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()
}