iOS Check if app is installed, and if so open it?

[Danneman101]

Is it possible to check if another app is installed, and if so open it. And if not, go to iTunes to get it?

How would I go about doing that?

At the moment I know how to open Safari from my obj-c code using:

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString: @"http://www.mysite.com"]];

 

[fishkorp]

You can't have your app know which other apps are installed with the SDK (you can if you Jailbreak).

If an app has a registered URL Scheme, then you can launch an app that way, TwitterFon does this, TeeShot I believe does this. But I'm not sure what happens if you try to launch via an app URL Scheme if the app is not installed.

 

[Danneman101]

Sorry to be unclear: Actually, Im not trying to find any other program. I have a series of apps that should open one after another. And if the iphone recognises that the app isnt installed, it should go to itunes to get it/check it out. So I should be able to define which program Im looking for in advance.

Is it more feasible that way?

 

[robbieduncan]

The only way to open another app is if that app has registered a URL schema. If that app is not installed (so the schema for that app is not registered) then when you use openURL: it should fail (I hope). This will tell you the other app is not installed.

 

[Danneman101]

Ok, so the key term is URL Scheme. Thanks a lot - found a tutorial on the subject that seems spot on:
http://iphonedevelopertips.com/cocoa/launching-your-own-application-via-a-custom-url-scheme.html

 

[drivefast]

as of 3.0, you have the .canOpenURL property of the UIApplication, which tells you upfront whether your openURL attempt will be successful or not. this way you can keep your application alive.

 

[Danneman101]

Will probably be a welcome addition. However, it was pretty easy getting it working with URL Schemes - very easy, in fact