I am currently making an app that recommends other apps to download on the apple app store. I assumed that the only way for users to download these linked apps was to call the iTunes URL of the particular app -> the apple app store would then open pushing the original calling app into the background -> then the user would press the download button here as per normal.
Then I was playing with the app "App Hero" and they do something I thought wasn't possible. You can actually download another app to your device without ever leaving the "App Hero" application. I thought this was impossible due to sandboxing. They have a modal segue to what appears to be an embedded app store where you can commence installation of another app. This "embedded" app store doesn't have the usual UITabBar running along the bottom but everything else is basically the same.
Does anyone have any idea how they would have achieved this? It doesn't appear to be a UIWebView, perhaps I am wrong. And is this against any of the apple regulations?
*This is no way an advertisement for "App Hero". I am genuinely impressed/confused how they are able to do this and would love this functionality in my own app if it is allowed.
The class you are looking for is called SKStoreProductViewController. Docs here.
Related
Push notifications have been left out of tvOS (understandably so) but the docs seem to contradict themselves in alerting users to the fact that there is something new available in your tvOS app.
Here it seems to say that you can add an app badge: https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/tvos/documentation/NetworkingInternet/Conceptual/RemoteNotificationsPG/Chapters/WhatAreRemoteNotif.html
Here it says they've been removed from UIKit: https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/tvos/releasenotes/General/tvOS90APIDiffs/Objective-C/UIKit.html
Removed UIApplication.applicationIconBadgeNumber
Assuming the badge approach is not supported in this release, does anyone know the best practice for alerting a user that there is new content in your app without the user taking an explicit action? ie focusing on the app and showing them something in TopShelf?
I encountered the same problem and dived into this. Probably your best way is to update the topshelf with latest items, which is my way to solve this for now. You can use network calls to update the topshelf with content from your backend.
This depends on the type of application. E.g. showing the latest top movies for a movies app.
You can trigger an update of the topshelf after your network call completed using the following code:
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().postNotificationName(TVTopShelfItemsDidChangeNotification, object: nil)
Make sure to implement the TVTopShelfProvider which should be clear using the following documentation:
This protocol is adopted by the principal class of an app’s TV Services extension. Apps that implement this extension can provide dynamic content to the Top Shelf element rather than having the system use the static image submitted with the app. The topShelfStyle property specifies the interface style you want, and the topShelfItems property specifies the content items to display. Whenever you change the content provided by the extension, post a TVTopShelfItemsDidChangeNotification notification to prompt the system to reload your content.
Icon badges are removed for app icons, push notifications as well (except for silent push notifications).
I want to add a link from my app to another of my apps on the appstore.
Question How to link to apps on the app store showed that the itunes.apple.com link was,until recently, the normal way to go. I've tried this and everything is fine. The problem begins when I disgard this and use Apple's new recommendation of using appstore.com. I use the following line of code:
[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#http://appstore.com/myappname"]];
The first time I call this from my app it works well. You see it jump through Safari and move onto the appstore where it displays my app.
At this point if you look back into Safari you will notice a new blank tab labelled Favourites has been created.
If I go back to my app and perform the same action to link to the appstore again I'm prompted with one of the two popup boxes:
"Open this page in "App Store"? [Cancel] or [Open].
or
"Cannot Open Page. Safari cannot open the page because the address is invalid" [OK]
I've found that manually deleting the blank tab in Safari will allow the link to work properly but this behaviour isn't what I want my users to see- and I wouldn't be expecting them to delete the blank tabs from Safari.
Any advice on stopping this behaviour whilst following Apple's new rules greatly appreciated.
A simple and clean solution is to present an instance of SKStoreProductViewController inside your app (modally) to display information on the products you are interested in. The user can interact with it as a small view on the App Store and you can simply dismiss it when done.
I am currently trying to find the most efficient way to continue a method in the background of my app.
I am probably adding location/gps to my app soon, so I was considering using that flag to keep the app Active in the background. However, I do not want to add that flag yet because I want to post an App Update before I add the location functionality.
I know the exceptions;
Apps that play audible content to the user while in the background, such as a music player app
Apps that keep users informed of their location at all times, such as a navigation app
Apps that support Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
Newsstand apps that need to download and process new content
Apps that receive regular updates from external accessories
Besides asking for a more generic idea then these ^, can someone explain the "external accessory" flag please? I am recording video from an outside device. However, I do not know what constitutes an "external accessory".
I also see that iOS7 has introduced new Multi-tasking functionality but I haven't seen any examples that I understand can someone also explain that? Maybe that is a viable solution?
Thanks in advance!
When a user first opens my app, I need to download and install some content from a server before they can begin using the app. The problem is that this takes around 5 minutes on wifi, during which time the app goes into the background and the download is suspended.
Is there any way to either:
prevent an iOS app from entering the background whilst I perform my download
or continue peforming the task in the background (i.e. perform the task irrespective of whether the app is in the foreground or background)
Thanks
It really doesn't matter, if the user presses the home button it will go to background. Although you can do two things to mitigate the problem:
Use beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler, to give you a bit more time to download. Which you can read here.
Don't allow the device to become iddle, with [UIApplication sharedApplication].idleTimerDisabled = YES;. You can read more about that here.
Either way, the best thing you can do is to tell the user, that is an important download and he shouldn't quit the application.
Can't you include some or all of the content in your app bundle instead, and just download changes on first run?
I can't imagine this is a good first user experience, and it may not pass App Store review like this.
The only third party apps that are allowed to download in the background are newsstand apps loading issue content, and Apple are pretty strict about what they allow as newsstand apps.
You can't do what you want, in this situation. One way, and I think the best and only, is to resume your download when you app becomes active (returns to foreground state). Also, don't forget to register for connectivity notifications (Reachability class can be used for this purpose from this Apple sample app http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#samplecode/Reachability/Introduction/Intro.html). Good Luck!
I want to develop a screensaver-like app where the only way of getting back to the springboard is entering a code. Therefore I would need the Home Button action to be ignored, that is that when the user presses the button nothing happens..or something custom...instead of going back to the springboard and terminating the app.
Is this possible? does anybody know if apple will approve/reject this kind of app?
The answer to your question is, yes.
The answer to the question you meant to ask--can I ship an app through the iPhone store that has the home button disabled--is no.
If you are only publishing your app to jailbroken phones you can do it, but it will piss everyone off.
Edit 7 years later:
This is actually extremely possible now--there is a standard feature in the iPhone called "Guided Access". It's hidden under that "Accessibility" Link (With some other fairly cool stuff like flashing the LED whenever you get a call and allowing a Bluetooth keyboard to tab between controls)
It's called "Guided Access". You set a passcode, launch the app then triple-click the home button to start guided access.
It disables exit and allows you to designate regions of the screen you can't touch. You can also set a time limit (For kids playing which seems to be the reason a lot of people look up this question).
Tempted to edit the "Accepted answer" and throw this info in there, but that seems rude so I'll just hope people find this answer.
Annoyingly you also seem to be unable to shut off the phone--I suppose this is perfect for people who want their kids to play a game, but might not hit the original asker's problem of restricting access to a single app (I mean it WILL do that but it'll also prevent it from doing ANYTHING else).
Not with public APIS (and hopefully, not with private ones). Even if you manage it somehow, Apple will reject it for breaking UI guidelines. Moreover, even if they didn't, people could always use the iPhone's "Force Quit" equivalent to hard terminate your app.
Apple is not going to approve this type of app, they state pretty explicitly that you're app needs to respond appropriately to springboard telling the app to terminate both when things like phone calls come in and when memory warnings come in.
This is not possible with the current SDK, nor do I suspect it will ever be.
You might be able to get this behaviour via jailbreaking, but you won't be able to sell your app through iTunes, nor will Apple ever approve such an application.
You can do it like this
Install the following mobileconfig file
This will disable the home button once you launch the app
Download
Found the link Here
Apple won't allow it.
What if something emergency happens and you wan to dial an emergency phone number. You are putting the user at risk. The trade-off isn't worth it.