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
Related
I have a requirement that a client wants to be able to allow users to download apps from within an app (which I will call the main app), based on a user's score (when a user achieves a certain score, they can have an app). We would like to do this without linking to the app store directly, so that users of the main app can be granted access to another app.
So, is there a way to interface to the app store while hiding the official app store from the user? I have seen similar functionality in Passbook, but not exactly what we are looking for. Any ideas? Thanks! Viv
Possible duplicate
How to link to apps on the app store
If your app is in Apple appstore, you can use itms:// service to install apps directly. Check the above link that tells awesome stuff about the apple app store itms services.
I am new to iphone development .I am in to project where application iTunes should be able to share on Facebook,twitter.I want to know how to obtain the iTunes link of the application.
Thanks in advance
No you can't. You should give the link manually to the app or you should program the app to get the link from your own web server using web service. Here also you should update the link in you web server
The iTunes link needs your app id from iTunes connect. There is no way for your application to actually know that number. However the app does not need to be released already to get the link, only to be created in iTunes Connect. That way you can still implement sharing functionality within your app using the link, and only then upload your binary.
As everyone suggested, you need to create your app within iTunes Connect to get the App ID.
Once you have this, you can hardcode it into your app. An alternate way is to query your own server and have this information ready at the time the app is launched.
I would really suggest going for the hardcode method since the App ID doesn't ever change once it is assigned to your app.
Here's an example of how I usually embed the URL for my apps with its App ID: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=APP_ID&mt=8&partnerId=30
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.
I want to search Apps in App Store by a keyword. Lets say if i type in "poker" and press enter then,
it should open all the apps in App Store having the string "poker" in there name or in description. i looked for Search API of apple but i am not able to find the specific term to search apps in App Store instead of itunes there. Examples out here are also only for itunes not for the apps in App Store.
Any help on this will be highly appreciated.
the AppStore is a part of iTunes.
if you use &entity=software in the search API, you'll be searching the AppStore.
a search for the example you proposed: http://itunes.apple.com/search?term=poker&entity=software
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)!)