How to exclude Notes and Reminders apps from the UIActivityViewController?

Question

I am creating a UIActivityViewController and pass String and URL to it. This, obviously, configures the UIActivityViewController to use some items which I want to exclude (my objective is to share the info about my app).

I have managed to exclude lots of system provided activities (like 'Add to Reading list') by setting the appropriate excludedActivityTypes.

However, I am unable to exclude Reminders and Notes apps. Can someone suggest a way of doing it? These apps appear 3rd and 4th on the list and therefore make Twitter and Facebook not visible unless user scrolls.

Daniel Storm · Answer 1 · 2018-12-29T21:15:23.113

57

If you don't want to subclass UIActivityViewController you can include them in your .excludedActivityTypes when creating your UIActivityViewController.

Objective C:

UIActivityViewController *activityController = [[UIActivityViewController alloc]initWithActivityItems:sharingItems applicationActivities:nil];
activityController.excludedActivityTypes = @[
    UIActivityTypeAssignToContact,
    UIActivityTypePrint,
    UIActivityTypeAddToReadingList,
    UIActivityTypeSaveToCameraRoll,
    UIActivityTypeOpenInIBooks,
    @"com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension",
    @"com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension"
];
[self presentViewController:activityController animated:YES completion:nil];

Swift 4.2:

let activityController = UIActivityViewController(activityItems: sharingItems, applicationActivities: nil)
activityController.excludedActivityTypes = [
    UIActivity.ActivityType.assignToContact,
    UIActivity.ActivityType.print,
    UIActivity.ActivityType.addToReadingList,
    UIActivity.ActivityType.saveToCameraRoll,
    UIActivity.ActivityType.openInIBooks,
    UIActivity.ActivityType(rawValue: "com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension"),
    UIActivity.ActivityType(rawValue: "com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension")]
present(activityController, animated: true, completion: nil)

edited Dec 29 '18 at 21:15

answered Sep 26 '16 at 19:31

Daniel Storm

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9
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1

Alas, does not work in Swift 3, Xcode 8.1, iOS 9.3. The Reminders activity still appears in the sharing sheet. – Womble Nov 30 '16 at 04:10
I could exclude Notes app by this method with iOS 10.3, but as @Womble says it does not work on iOS 9.3. – Jonny Jun 21 '17 at 07:10
4

Works great for me on iOS 10.3. – allocate Jun 30 '17 at 21:20
4

Works in ios 11. This should be the accepted answer now. – Siegfoult Nov 02 '17 at 21:44
Any idea for the reverse-domain to use to exclude "Create Watch Face"? – Nicolas Miari Oct 03 '18 at 03:38
This doesn't appear to work in iOS 13. @NicolasMiari `com.apple.NanoTimeKitCompanion.CreateWatchFace`, you can check the value for any item you tap in the `completionWithItemsHandler` of `UIActivityViewController` – iwasrobbed Feb 05 '20 at 21:39
2

For iOS 13 use `.init(rawValue: "com.apple.reminders.sharingextension")` – James Sep 10 '20 at 11:13
```.init(rawValue: "com.apple.reminders.sharingextension")``` also doesn't seem to work for me. – Rob Sawyer Oct 14 '20 at 00:47
This does not seem to work any longer. At least with Xcode 13 and iOS 14 – letsbondiway Jul 14 '22 at 14:28

score 35 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 03 '16 at 17:03

35

Swift 2.2 version. Tested in iOS9.3. Works.

UPDATE and got approved by App Store Review.

import UIKit

class ActivityViewController: UIActivityViewController {

    func _shouldExcludeActivityType(activity: UIActivity) -> Bool {
        let activityTypesToExclude = [
            "com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension",
            "com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension",
            UIActivityTypeOpenInIBooks,
            UIActivityTypePrint,
            UIActivityTypeAssignToContact,
            "com.google.Drive.ShareExtension"
        ]

        if let actType = activity.activityType() {
            if activityTypesToExclude.contains(actType) {
                return true
            }
            else if super.excludedActivityTypes != nil {
                return super.excludedActivityTypes!.contains(actType)
            }
        }
        return false
    }

}

Also useful

 "com.apple.mobileslideshow.StreamShareService"

gets rid of the "cloud" one.

edited Aug 03 '16 at 17:03

Fattie

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answered May 13 '16 at 19:13

guido

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did you manage to get the app using this code approved by Apple? :) – Andriy Gordiychuk May 13 '16 at 19:14
Don't know yet. Gonna submit in about a week. Have a bit of hope as it seems that danielbmarques got his approved using the objC version (see comments in top answer). – guido May 13 '16 at 19:16
2

Apple Review just approved my app with this in it – guido May 27 '16 at 19:54
Really superb and useful answer - thanks so much. Sending bounty. – Fattie Aug 03 '16 at 16:57
I am curious, how did you find what string type refers to what app button? For example, how to find what dropbox string type is? Also, is there a way to get a list of all activities registered in a DEVICE? – GeneCode Sep 28 '16 at 03:31
2

Don't remember honestly, but I imagine of you print out actType to the console it would give you all the strings for the apps that appear. – guido Sep 28 '16 at 03:39

score 21 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 28 '19 at 09:50

There is a way, but involves private API.

Sometimes Apple makes exceptions, especially if you fix a bug.

Let's dive into details...

UIActivityViewController has got a private method called "_availableActivitiesForItems:", which returns an array of UISocialActivity objects.

UISocialActivity has got an interesting property, called "activityType", which returns a domain-formatted activity type.

After some tests, I managed to discover the Reminder and Notes activity types:

com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension
com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension

Unfortunately, passing those two types into ".excludedActivityTypes" didn't make any difference.

"_availableActivitiesForItems:" to the rescue!

OLD WAY:

Update: I've found a better way to do it.

The first solution I've posted doesn't work in some cases, thus shouldn't be considered stable.

~~Header:~~

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface UISocialActivity : NSObject

- (id)activityType;

@end

@interface UIActivityViewController (Private)

- (id)_availableActivitiesForItems:(id)arg1;

@end

@interface ActivityViewController : UIActivityViewController

@end

Implementation:

@implementation ActivityViewController

- (id)_availableActivitiesForItems:(id)arg1
{
    id activities = [super _availableActivitiesForItems:arg1];
    NSMutableArray *filteredActivities = [NSMutableArray array];

    [activities enumerateObjectsUsingBlock:^(UISocialActivity*  _Nonnull obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL * _Nonnull stop) {

        if (![[obj activityType] isEqualToString:@"com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension"] &&
            ![[obj activityType] isEqualToString:@"com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension"]) {
            [filteredActivities addObject:obj];
        }

    }];

    return [NSArray arrayWithArray:filteredActivities];
    }
    @end

NEW WAY:

Header:

@interface UIActivityViewController (Private)

- (BOOL)_shouldExcludeActivityType:(UIActivity*)activity;

@end

@interface ActivityViewController : UIActivityViewController

@end

Implementation:

@implementation ActivityViewController

- (BOOL)_shouldExcludeActivityType:(UIActivity *)activity
{
    if ([[activity activityType] isEqualToString:@"com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension"] ||
        [[activity activityType] isEqualToString:@"com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension"]) {
        return YES;
    }
    return [super _shouldExcludeActivityType:activity];
}

@end

"Illegal", but it works.

It would be great to know if it actually passes Apple validation.

Thanks a lot! I will give it a try and will let you know if it passes validation! — Andriy Gordiychuk, Oct 23 '15 at 01:05
@AndriyGordiychuk I was wondering if you have already the answer whether it passes Apple's validation or not. :) — Paulo Miguel Almeida, Jan 06 '16 at 13:45
@dbmrq: What do you mean by Swift 3 broke it? If you please clarify. :) — iPeter, May 11 '17 at 09:34
@MatteoPacini Thanks for the great work. worked for me, i home App Store won't reject my app. thanx again saved me hours. — Pratik Jamariya, May 31 '17 at 13:23
Yes, `_shouldExcludeActivityType` does nothing/is not called when using Swift 3. — Jonny, Jun 21 '17 at 07:41
It’s not Swift 3, it’s iOS 11. I’m seeing this too (in ObjC), looks like Apple changed how the private API works. — Tim Johnsen, Sep 07 '17 at 06:12

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 03 '19 at 07:16

9

Anybody stumbling in this post in 2019. The key for the Reminders extension changed with iOS 13 and is now:

(rawValue: "com.apple.reminders.sharingextension")

answered Dec 03 '19 at 07:16

TimLR

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score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 27 '16 at 12:52

6

You can not exclude these since Notes and Reminders are not declared as UIActivities in the Apple Documentation. Only a problem as of iOS9 and hopefully Apple will provide this option. The declared UIActivities until this moment are:

UIActivityTypePostToFacebook, 
UIActivityTypePostToTwitter, 
UIActivityTypePostToWeibo, 
UIActivityTypeMessage, 
UIActivityTypeMail, 
UIActivityTypePrint, 
UIActivityTypeCopyToPasteboard, 
UIActivityTypeAssignToContact,
UIActivityTypeSaveToCameraRoll,
UIActivityTypeAddToReadingList,
UIActivityTypePostToFlickr,
UIActivityTypePostToVimeo,
UIActivityTypePostToTencentWeibo,
UIActivityTypeAirDrop

edited Jan 27 '16 at 12:52

Sushil Sharma

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answered Sep 22 '15 at 14:24

scbojer

144
4

1) Of course they are declared as UIActivities. The problem is that the corresponding UIActivityType is not included 2) quite pointless to suggest that question which was asked 1 month ago is a duplicate of question which was asked TODAY :) I know that in the meantime it is not possible to exclude these items using standard methods. However, there might be some hack that someone knows. If not, Apple will fix this at some point and the question will get answered (and those who favourited it will get notification) :) – Andriy Gordiychuk Sep 22 '15 at 14:33

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 26 '16 at 20:45

2

Thank you for this! On xcode 8.1, swift 3, I was able to use to get:

UIActivityType(rawValue: "com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension"), UIActivityType(rawValue: "com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension"),

answered Nov 26 '16 at 20:45

test ing

31
2

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 05 '17 at 08:22

For Swift3+, there is no need for any Private API hacks. Simply use the public "excludedTypes" array on the UIActivityViewController. As there is still no UIActivityType for these (as they're Apple's built extensions), you need to refer to it via String. You could use this format for any third-party sharing extensions too.

e.g.

let avc = UIActivityViewController(activityItems: ["my item"], applicationActivities: nil)
avc.excludedActivityTypes = [ .copyToPasteboard, 
    UIActivityType(rawValue: "com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension"),
    UIActivityType(rawValue: "com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension") ]

avc.completionWithItemsHandler = { (activity, success, items, error) in
        print("AVC finished \(success) \(activity as Optional) \(items as Optional) \(error as Optional)")
    }
present(avc, animated: true, completion: nil)

This is helpful and works for some sharing extensions, but seems not to for others: see @eranmarom's answer at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32522977/uiactivityviewcontroller-exclude-non-apple-sharing-extensions — CKP78, Oct 11 '17 at 14:05

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 07 '15 at 18:01

Only way I have found is to create your own custom activities, pass parameters to them directly (not through the activity sheet) and then pass some random variable (not String, URL, Image) through the activity sheet.

MyCustomPinterestShareActivity* pinterest = [[MyCustomPinterestShareActivity alloc] init];
MyCustomFacebookGroupsActivity* facebook = [[MyCustomFacebookGroupsActivity alloc] init];
MyCustomInstagramActivity* instagram = [[MyCustomInstagramActivity alloc] init];

NSArray *activities = @[facebook,instagram,pinterest];

NSArray *activityItems = @[someVarThatCanBeWhateverTypeJustNotStringURLOrImg];

UIActivityViewController *activityView = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:activityItems
                                                                           applicationActivities:activities];

But then again, why would you want to use the ActivityViewController in the first place if you can't use any of the functionality... Hopefully there will be a better solution soon

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 23 '15 at 13:23

I could not send _shouldExcludeActivityType to Super as recommended by Matteo Pacini, but this is how I could come around this:

@interface CustomActivityViewController()

- (BOOL)_shouldExcludeActivityType:(UIActivity *)activity;

@end

@implementation CustomActivityViewController

(...)

- (BOOL)_shouldExcludeActivityType:(UIActivity *)activity{

    if([[activity activityType]   isEqualToString:@"com.apple.reminders.RemindersEditorExtension"] || [[activity activityType] isEqualToString:@"com.apple.mobilenotes.SharingExtension"]){

    return YES;
}

    return [[super excludedActivityTypes]containsObject:activity.activityType];

 }

Is there any way to do this in Swift? – user3561494 Feb 01 '16 at 14:53 — user3561494, Feb 01 '16 at 14:53

How to exclude Notes and Reminders apps from the UIActivityViewController?

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