iNotify doesn't accept URL like itms-apps://

[mkll]

In order to redirect user to the Rate & Review page of iTunes Store I tried to use an URL like this:

itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=XXXXXXXX

with absolutely no success. No errors, nothing. Silence. Any ideas?

[nicklockwood]

I think the issue may be that that URL doesn't work any more under iOS6. This one should work:

itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=

Although it can be hit and miss with the new app store app.

It' also worth bearing in mind that the itms-apps: url scheme is not supported on the simulator and fails silently (there's no app store app to open).

[nicklockwood]

PS, any reason you're using iNotify to send people to the reviews page instead of iRate, which was designed for the purpose?

[mkll]

This one should work:

I inaccurately formulated the problem. The problem is not that the link goes to the wrong place of App Store. The problem is that the transition does not occur at all. Alert is not displaying to the user while the URL begins with itms-apps. If we replace itms-apps with http, the alert is fired and transition is executed normally.

Thus, the problem is more general, since it is impossible to use URLs others than http.

any reason you're using iNotify to send people to the reviews page instead of iRate

iRate is a perfect solution, but I decided that the functionality of the iRate exceeds my needs. I do not plan to regularly remind users about the desirability of writing reviews in App Store. I'm going to do it just 1-2 times in the next six months, so it makes no sense to use the iRate.

[nicklockwood]

Fair enough. I don't currently have an explanation for this. iNotify opens the URL using [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:...] which is the same mechanism that iRate uses.

I'll look into when I have more time, but perhaps you can investigate in the meantime. Setting a breakpoint on that line and logging the value of the actionURL is probably a good place to start.

[mkll]

I believe the problem is in some other place before the openURL invocation. Ok, I'll look too, thank you.

[mkll]

Just discovered that the problem is gone. Don't know why, but it works fine.

[nicklockwood]

Ok. Thanks for letting me know.