How to check if a specific application is installed or not?

Question

I have two applications ABC and XYZ. I need to show the download prompt for XYZ app in my ABC application. However the condition is, if the XYZ is pre-installed the prompt should not be shown.

The twist here is that i do not have code access of XYZ application (since it is developed by some other team of same client) so i cannot use URI schemes here.

I have also tried this approach but is of no good use.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks :)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5746289/determine-if-an-app-exists-and-launch-that-app-on-ios this can help you — swiftBoy, May 09 '16 at 08:13
[canOpenURL](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UIKit/Reference/UIApplication_Class/#//apple_ref/occ/instm/UIApplication/canOpenURL) — Marek R, May 09 '16 at 08:24
@RDC i referred the link earlier it mainly focuses on url-schemes (my pain point) — Ashwin, May 09 '16 at 09:44
@AminNegm-Awad +bundleWithIdentifier: works for my application's bundle i suppose. How will it detect another application? — Ashwin, May 09 '16 at 09:46
You simply pass the others application bundle identifier as argument. (This is stored in the info.plist file. Usually it has the form appname.companyname.com.) I do not know, whether iOS restricts the access for `+bundleWithIdentifier:` for security reasons, but if not, this would be the intended way. — Amin Negm-Awad, May 09 '16 at 09:57
@AminNegm-Awad `+bundleWithIdentifier:` dosent work for third applications. Works only for self. — Ashwin, May 09 '16 at 10:29
getting url scheme was the only approach i suppose. got that finally :) — Ashwin, May 10 '16 at 06:51
Please check with http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3808691/detecting-programmatically-whether-an-app-is-installed-on-iphone — Pravin S., Feb 15 '17 at 11:29
Thanks @PraWin.S but we still need the url scheme of required application. There is no way around i suppose. — Ashwin, Feb 17 '17 at 07:40

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered May 09 '16 at 08:24

4

if you are the owner of both applications you can use URL-schema technique. even if you are not, but you know the URL-schema of XYZ app, you can check with canOpenUrl: method wheter XYZ is istalled or not

answered May 09 '16 at 08:24

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thats where the problem lies. I dont know the url scheme if it is there. – Ashwin May 09 '16 at 09:42

How to check if a specific application is installed or not?

1 Answers1