

Introducing Opener - timonus
https://medium.com/ios-os-x-development/introducing-opener-497136c3e09c

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thom_nic
This is one of those things that Android got right early on, URLs can have
'open handlers' no matter whether they appear - in an email, on the web or a
link to google maps that opens the Maps app from another app.

Not only can an Android app register that it handles links for a given domain
or scheme, but _multiple apps_ can be available, if say, you've written a
better imgur or flickr viewer. But the UX to say "always open this type of
link in this app" is simple and unobtrusive as well.

Shame iOS hasn't yet followed along with this, but I suspect it might be one
of those things that would substantially affect legacy iOS apps.

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timonus
Totally agreed, Android does a way better job of this. Opener is a stopgap on
iOS, but it would be way better if Apple had a first party fix. Rumor has it
there's one coming soon.

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hobo_mark
> Why don’t links just open in apps?

I am not familiar with iOS but in Android they do, since day one, how is iOS
different in that regard?

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k-mcgrady
On iOS a URL scheme needs to be setup usually. (e.g. itms:// links open the
iTunes store app). I don't think there's a right way to do this really. Half
the time I'm frustrated a link didn't open in the app and the other half I'm
frustrated it didn't just open in the browser.

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timonus
You're correct, iOS apps can only handle schemes but now whole URLs. On
Android, the system can intercept any URL and pass it to the app
([http://instagram.com/blahblahblah](http://instagram.com/blahblahblah) goes
to the Instagram app, for example), which means web URLs can open in apps
instead. On iOS, you must use a dedicated scheme, which means links from the
web don't play nice with apps.

Opener attempts to fix this by mapping web links to app-specific links.

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tilt
How does it compare with [http://applinks.org/](http://applinks.org/)?

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timonus
App Links is an "open" solution from Facebook that's poorly adopted by
developers. Opener is a solution intended directly for end users that doesn't
rely on developer to adopt some standard. Developers usually won't adopt
something like App Links, but end users still want to open links in apps. I
wrote Opener to fill the gap :)

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ballpoint
This looked awesome, but I found it on the app store and you're charging. I
don't think this is a serious enough problem for me to pay you to fix it.

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svarrall
There's been a few products like this recently on iOS and Mac (by like this I
mean things that could improve my productivity, workflow etc.) that I would
like to try but aren't willing to pay for upfront. I won't know if they work
for me until I try them. I know it's not a lot of money, but it is if I only
use it once and find out it's not for me.

It's more hassle to implement but a free with iAP is surely a better
monetisation model for a 'utility' app like this?

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pionar
I'm not sure how Apple does this, but with the Play Store, you have 15 minutes
(I might be wrong on the time) to get a refund after purchase, so that you can
make sure it works on your device, that it is what it says on the box, etc.

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joshmarinacci
I will gladly pay 2$ for this. Thank you so much!

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timonus
No, thank you!!

