Add a file association with tiff files on iOS

Question

I'd like to create a file associate with tiff files in my iOS app (i.e. so that my app appears as a target for opening tiff files from Mail or Safari). Adding the following to my Info.plist file doesn't seem to work:

<key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key>
<array>
  <dict>
    <key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
    <string>tiff</string>
    <key>LSItemContentTypes</key>
    <array>
      <string>public.tiff</string>
    </array>
    <key>LSHandlerRank</key>
    <string>Alternate</string>
  </dict>
</array>

I have an app that I associate with PDFs in the same way and it works fine. I believe that it is not possible to associate an app with the tiff file type on iOS, but I can't find any documentation stating that.

Has anyone else had luck getting this to work or finding a definitive "no, you can't do that"?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 15 '11 at 20:10

3

I burned an Apple TSI on this (I never seem to end up using them anyway) and the official answer is: no, you can't do that.

I've logged an enhancement request on Apple's bug reporting site: http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/ and I suggest you do too if this issue is a problem for you.

answered Mar 15 '11 at 20:10

Josh Knauer

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You are the only one with actual information on this, sir. I salute you. It's still an issue, in case others might wonder. Nothing inheriting from public.image will get your app into the sharing screen. – Heiberg Mar 07 '14 at 11:07
I believe I have observed another clue to this. When the system gets an error on the TIFF image preview, it will allow apps which registered the mime type to open it. I have a wide range of TIFF images to test my code and many won't load using Apple's built-in code, so these can be opened by my app's file association. – BitBank Jan 19 '15 at 08:42

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 08 '11 at 06:08

0

Acorn declares file associations for TIFFs, which seems to work fine.

The only differences I could see between Acorn's implementation and yours is that Gus omits CFBundleTypeName and adds LSIsAppleDefaultForType (set to true). You might want to give that a try.

LSIsAppleDefaultForType is undocumented. There's a reference to it here: http://lists.apple.com/archives/cocoa-dev/2006/Jun/msg00747.html

answered Mar 08 '11 at 06:08

skue

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Thanks for the tip, but unfortunately adding the LSIsAppleDefaultForType didn't make a difference for me. – Josh Knauer Mar 09 '11 at 17:07
Just checking, the Acorn that you're referring to is the OS X app, http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/, not an iOS app? – Josh Knauer Mar 10 '11 at 15:24
No worries ... it was definately worth a try :) – Josh Knauer Mar 11 '11 at 14:50
In Xcode 11.4 adding the `LSIsAppleDefaultForType` key results in an "unable to read property list from file" build error. – Rivera Apr 13 '20 at 20:34

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 11 '14 at 14:30

-1

An general note - the Mail and Safari apps indeed does not allow you to "open with .." tiff files (still true in iOS8);
Nevertheless, a lot of other apps, such as Dropbox, GDrive, etc, does allow you to do that.

answered Nov 11 '14 at 14:30

Morse

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Should be a comment, not an answer. – Rivera Apr 13 '20 at 20:34

Add a file association with tiff files on iOS

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