NativeScript Open App plugin

A NativeScript plugin for opening other applications on the device (with app store fallback)

Installation

Run the following command from the root of your project:

tns plugin add nativescript-open-app

Usage

Android

To open an app, you need its id (for example "com.facebook.katana" for Facebook and "com.twitter.android" for Twitter). You can easily find it in app's URL on https://play.google.com.

Examples

Open Facebook app if it is installed on the device (open Facebook app's entry in Play Store otherwise):

var openApp = require("nativescript-open-app").openApp;

var installed = openApp("com.facebook.katana");
console.log("Is it installed? " + installed);

Open Facebook app if it is installed on the device (do nothing otherwise):

var openApp = require("nativescript-open-app").openApp;

var installed = openApp("com.facebook.katana", false);
console.log("Is it installed? " + installed);

Open Facebook app if it is installed on the device (open facebook.com otherwise):

var openApp = require("nativescript-open-app").openApp;
var utils = require("utils/utils");

var installed = openApp("com.facebook.katana", false);
if (!installed) {
    utils.openUrl("https://facebook.com");
}

Simple TypeScript example:

import { openApp } from "nativescript-open-app";

openApp("com.facebook.katana");

iOS

To open an app on iOS you need a schema registered by the app. Additionally you are required to whitelist the schemas for all apps you want to be able to open. Add them to your app/App_Resources/iOS/Info.plist (and additionally include "itms-apps" schema used by the App Store):

  <key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
  <array>
    <string>itms-apps</string>
    <string>twitter</string>
  </array>

Examples

Open Facebook app if it is installed on the device (do nothing otherwise):

var openApp = require("nativescript-open-app").openApp;

var installed = openApp("fb://");
console.log("Is it installed? " + installed);

Open Facebook app if it is installed on the device (open Facebook app's entry in App Store otherwise). The third argument to openApp is the app's id in App Store (you can easily find it in app's URL on https://itunes.apple.com):

var openApp = require("nativescript-open-app").openApp;

var installed = openApp("fb://", true, "284882215");
console.log("Is it installed? " + installed);

Open Facebook app if it is installed on the device (open facebook.com otherwise):

var openApp = require("nativescript-open-app").openApp;
var utils = require("utils/utils");

var installed = openApp("fb://", false);
if (!installed) {
    utils.openUrl("https://facebook.com");
}

Simple TypeScript example:

import { openApp } from "nativescript-open-app";

openApp("fb://");