iOS URI link to an app in App Store (itms-apps)

Question

I can only find secondary sources of information about itms-apps scheme from Stackoverflow and HandleOpenUrl.

Is there any official documentation saying how to use itms-apps or who maintains it?

There is no official documentation about the `itms-apps` URL scheme. My [answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/21213833/368085) below gives you the best unofficial information available. — mluisbrown, Jan 20 '14 at 10:00
Here is the answer - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/433907/how-to-link-to-apps-on-the-app-store — Sea Coast of Tibet, Aug 31 '14 at 15:11

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 19 '14 at 06:16

From the source from Nick Lockwood's iRate project:

iOS6 (and earlier):

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

iOS7:

itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/id

You have to just append the app ID to the strings above to complete the URL.

AFAIK there is no official source of this information, it has probably been reverse engineered.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 11 '15 at 17:36

2

I just tried this and it works on iOS9:

itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/idID_OF_YOUR_APP and it will open the app directly in the store.

answered Nov 11 '15 at 17:36

Oriol Gual

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Ethan Fang · Answer 3 · 2014-01-19T06:31:01.877

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This link has the answer from apple Technical Q&A. Creating easy-to-read short links to the App Store for your apps and company and Launching the App Store from an iPhone application

The second link comes from the page of the first link. I think it completes your request.

In a nutshell,

NSString *iTunesLink = @"http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id{your app id}?mt=8";

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:iTunesLink]];

edited Jan 19 '14 at 06:31

answered Jan 19 '14 at 06:07

Ethan Fang

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sorry but this does not answer the question. no where in the document does it mention the scheme itms-apps – platypus Jan 19 '14 at 06:10
Please read through the documents, they are all linked together. – Ethan Fang Jan 19 '14 at 06:21
Also itms-apps seems not working with IOS7 anymore. Please check carefully. – Ethan Fang Jan 19 '14 at 06:25
Nowhere in the documentation you linked to (and nowhere I can find in any Apple Docs) mentions the `itms-apps` URL scheme, so you haven't answer the question. Also, `itms-apps` **does** work with iOS7, all though the URL format has changed. All this information is in my [answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/21213833/368085) to this question. – mluisbrown Jan 20 '14 at 09:55
To tell you the truth, my application used iRate in the last release and it stopped working somehow now, that is why I suspected it is because of itms-apps. I tried to give official answer to avoid second hand source problem. It does not have to be itms-apps. – Ethan Fang Jan 20 '14 at 10:37
@Ethan I'm using iRate in one of my apps which is iOS7 only and it's working fine. It is odd that the itms-apps scheme is not officially documented. – mluisbrown Jan 21 '14 at 10:20

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 19 '14 at 06:18

handleOpenURL has been deprecated. Use the application:openURL:sourceApplication:annotation: method instead. Reference: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/uikit/reference/UIApplicationDelegate_Protocol/Reference/Reference.html

Then this following link tells about how to launch the App Store from an iPhone application: Launching the App Store from an iPhone application

iOS URI link to an app in App Store (itms-apps)

4 Answers4