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I am working with my web developers that are stuck on a problem with a Web-app we are creating.

The webapp works great, you add the website to your home screen on the ipad, open it and use the website within the webapp interface outside of safari.

The issue is that we have one function that doesnt work, where when clicking a URL link within mobile safari, it calls an external app (Optiscan- a qr code reader), and then when scanning the code, then returns you to Mobile safari.

The question is - is there a way to call a URL that will open an external app, from within a webapp? Similar to how it would work from mobile safari?

If so - i am then wondering if an app can be written that calls the webapp to open. For example if i needed the QR code reader to then re-open the web app and pass it the QR code.

-Dana

Dana Grossman
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  • I ran into this same issue myself, and never found a workaround. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10237031/how-to-open-a-native-ios-app-from-a-web-app EDIT: wait are you asking if a native app can open a saved web app? My issue is that my web app wouldn't open a native app. – Carl Veazey Aug 27 '12 at 19:28

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In iOS, native Apps can define Custom URL Schemes. If you know the scheme of an App, you can simply open it by clicking on a link like <a href="fb://">Launch Facebook App</a>. This should launch the Facebook App for iOS if installed.

There was a crowd-sourced list of known URL schemes on akosma.com but they seem to have some problems and the list is not available as of writing this. If the URL scheme of the App you need to open is not public, try contacting the developer and ask for it. I'm sure if you ask kindly, he will help you ;-)

Edit: Almost forgot to say, opening Apps like this won't return to your Web-App magically. That's something the developer of said App would have to implement.

Edit 2: I found another website that has many custom URL schemes in it's database: http://handleopenurl.com. It does not have a URL scheme for Optiscan but for other QR Readers, maybe this will help you.

Björn Kaiser
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  • Thanks Bjorn however i was asking specifically about Web Apps or Standalone mode of a website - running from the home screen. Do you know if it is possible to call a native app from those? It looks like you could in theory have it open Mobile Safari, which then opens the native app, however then the question becomes - is it possible to open a Standalone/Mode/Webapp - from the Safari Browser? i cant find anything out there about this. i.e. can you open a webapp that has a link on the home screen, from the safari web browser. – Dana Grossman Aug 27 '12 at 20:23
  • Ahhh, now I get what you want :-) You want to open a Web-App that is saved on the Homescreen via a link or something, right? If yes there is no way I know to do this. – Björn Kaiser Aug 27 '12 at 20:39