IPhone launch application with home button - iphone

do you know in which ways is it possible to launch an application?
I know that it is possible by clicking on the icon, and it is possible by clicking an url with a cistom protocol,
Anyone know if there ae more ways?
For example is it possible to make an application be launched when the users touch 3 times the home button?
or when the user start a call?
thank you
Paolo

The only ways that it is possible to launch an application are the ways you describe:
Clicking the application's icon
Via a custom URL scheme
The above applies to non-jailbroken iPhones. I would imagine it is techinically possible to hack a jail-broken iPhone to launch apps in other ways, but naturally such functionality would not be permitted on the App Store

Jailbroken phones can use libactivator. It has a set of predefined touch and physical button events that can start an application. Of course it is not viable if you plan to publish your app in the store.

Related

Can an iPhone app hide/launch other apps?

I am asking this question mainly to know if what I want to do is possible. I don't think there is an app that does it and I've been meaning to learn objective C, but it may not be possible.
I want an app that serves as the ONLY way (at least, the only easy way) to launch another app. So in an ideal world, you have MyApp, which lists app A, B, and C. A B and C are not visible on the normal browser, but can be launched from within my app.
Possible? Not?
Not possible. And its most likely that such a functionality will never make it into the official SDK.
What you're trying to do isn't really possible. It isn't possible (with the official development kit) to create iOS applications that don't appear on the home screen.
It is possible to launch other applications, though -- one common approach is to set them as URL handlers for private URL schemes. This can be used to pass information between applications. (However, trying to use this as access control won't work, because Apple will likely reject an application which can only be opened "correctly" by another app.)
Depends on your definition of App.
You can just have a master app which creates the illusion of being an app launcher by "opening" subroutines. Imagine like the old facebook iphone app for example
NO
Well... This has been done for years on the Cydia store with some custom menus but we wont get into that here...
Using the official SDK I think there are protocols to allow you to open an another application but pressing the home button for example will always go back to the default screen. I think ever if you were able to get it working, there is no chance it would be accepted into the App Store on grounds of it not doing anything the phone already does.
By all means look up jailbreaking and using the custom tool chain but you won't be able to sell this through Apple unfortunatley.

can you install an iphone app with an invisible icon?

So I am working on a bundle of applications for my company for the iPad and am trying to figure out if it is possible to install an app but hide the icon. It will not need to be launched from the desktop directly. Instead, I have created a launch desktop that controls login and the launch of the actual apps via custom URL schemes. We decided to do this so we can have many people developing different apps at the time time that quickly and easily connect to a single login and launch desktop. We are trying to make all of the services we offer interconnected.
Does anyone know if this is possible? Or am I going to have to redirect to the login app if the user launches any of the individual apps. That is what we were trying to avoid. It would be incredibly annoying and clunky for the user. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
No is the short answer, you can't install an app and hide the icon.
Even if you could, your architecture sounds pretty clunky. If your services are interconnected, then would it not be better to have everything in the same app? There are plenty of ways to share coding between many developers without everyone having their own, separate app.
Maybe.
There used to be a trick where if you installed so many apps that you filled up every page, any apps installed after that would not have a visible icon (but you could run them via a Spotlight search).
If this behavior still exists, then fill up your iPad's launcher/springboard with apps (download 100's of free games, etc.), then install the apps that you want to be invisible, then delete all the games, and your chosen app might remain with an "invisible" icon.

Launch iPhone setting screen from Application?

I am developing an application where i want that upon a press of button iPhone settings screen should open.
Is there any restriction from apple to access it?
Is it possible or not,If yes then how?
No you can't do that. However as an alternative you can use This Framework to mimmick the settings app, so that you can set your settings from the official settings app, or from a in app settings page.
No, it's not possible using public API's.
However there exists a number of frameworks that allows you to access the settings bundle directly from within your application. Take a look at this SO question for more information.

Implementing "Add to Home Screen", ala Safari

Safari on iPhone has a feature that lets you create a shortcut on your home screen for a web page. Is it possible for other apps to implement similar functionality? I'd like to give my users a quick way to jump to a specific item in my iPhone application.
There is no officially sanctioned way to do this. Third-party apps on the iPhone have very limited scope for interaction with other parts of the system. They can look into the address book and the photo library and they can invoke other applications with certain arguments but they can't do anything with the home screen.
Not sure.. but there is application like 'One Tap Dial' that is doing it tho
I spent few hours to find ways to this - seems only safari has this capability
'One Tap Dial' eventually uses Safari to get this done

Is the list of Apps on my iphone available for reuse in a different display?

I have an idea to use the apps on my iphone as a list for a different way to launch the program. But I have no idea if I can see the apps in something I can display? Is this possible? If it is possible, can I launch the listed app from my app? What do I need to access to get this done?
There is no way using the official SDK to enumerate the list of applications the user has installed.
Unofficially, with a jailbroken phone you can check the contents of the applications folder.
It is true there is no specific way to do this with the normal SDK. However if specific apps you had used URL schemes you can invoke them programatically. Google maps, mail, safari, sms have it. Any application can choose to implement their own custom one. This obviously doesn't help with any random app but if you have specific apps your targeting you might be able to integrate that way.