DZone
Java Zone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
  • Refcardz
  • Trend Reports
  • Webinars
  • Zones
  • |
    • Agile
    • AI
    • Big Data
    • Cloud
    • Database
    • DevOps
    • Integration
    • IoT
    • Java
    • Microservices
    • Open Source
    • Performance
    • Security
    • Web Dev
DZone > Java Zone > External Actions: Choosy for iOS

External Actions: Choosy for iOS

Alex Curylo user avatar by
Alex Curylo
·
May. 16, 14 · Java Zone · Interview
Like (0)
Save
Tweet
3.48K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

One of the mildly frustrating things about iOS programming is that none of the various URL scheme handling schemes have managed to get enough traction to be all that widely useful. But here’s a new one that’s certainly the best put together we’ve seen yet, and we’d strongly encourage everyone to get on board with:

Choosy

People will love your app even more if it helps them use their other favorite apps. We’re essentially solving the iOS’ lack of default app selection mechanism.

Once Choosy is widely implemented, end users will be able to traverse the iOS ecosystem using just the apps they love, be they built-in ones or not…

Screen Shot 2014-05-04 at 7.01.55 AM.png

Thanks to UIApplication’s canOpenURL method and iOS forcing unique url schemes. Basically, we store a list of URL schemes for each app on the server, and categorize apps. Choosy downloads that info as needed.

Choosy caches network data, so the traffic footprint is small. It also instantly knows when a new app from same category is installed, or the default app is deleted, and lets user re-select the default app. Choosy is non-intrusive – if there’s no connection and the default app hasn’t been selected yet, it just opens the default iOS app…

Looks like a big whack of user-pleasing functionality for no particularly large effort. Check it out on github today!

app

Published at DZone with permission of Alex Curylo, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • Java Microservices: Code Examples, Tutorials, and More
  • How to Build Microservices With Node.js
  • To Shift Right, You Need Observability
  • Automation Testing vs. Manual Testing: What's the Difference?

Comments

Java Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • MVB Program
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends:

DZone.com is powered by 

AnswerHub logo