4 ms·

How easy would it be for apple to allow apps to register themselves with the ability to open certain files/handle certain situations and then present that in th

How easy would it be for apple to allow apps to register themselves with the ability to open certain files/handle certain situations and then present that in the system menu for those who want to tinker with that? default web browser > default music > etc.

jonknee 14y ago
That already exists: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/DocumentInteraction_TopicsForIOS/Articles/RegisteringtheFileTypesYourAppSupports.html http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/FileMa...
- RandallBrown 14y ago
  That's not what he meant. All mailto: links will open in the mail app. All http:// http:// links will open in Safari. You want to take a picture from your twitter app? You want to share to twitter from the camera app? You have to use Apple's implementation, you can't push it through your favorite twitter app.
  - jonknee 14y ago
    But it's sort of what you meant. I see "Open in Dropbox" and "Open in Camera+" quite frequently. Here's more on how that works: http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2012/01/tip-missing-apps-in-open-in-menu.html http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2012/01/tip-missing-apps-i... The URL style technique is supported as well, you can send data to another app by using it's URL scheme. It's not a perfect implementation (you can't change the defaults like mail://), but I believe that's intentional.
    - emehrkay 14y ago
      Looks like this is a run-time version of what I posted. Thanks
rpledge 14y ago
There is a difference between how easy it is and if Apple wants to allow it. The percentage of people who want to do this on a widely adopted consumer platform like iOS is small. I doubt Apple will ever allow this, it wouldn't significantly increase sales vs. support complexity/platform simplicity. Considering Apple is extracting the majority of the dollars from the smartphone market already I doubt they're too worried about losing the tweakers to Android.

jonknee 14y ago

That already exists: http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/DocumentInteraction_TopicsForIOS/Articles/RegisteringtheFileTypesYourAppSupports.html http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/FileMa...

RandallBrown 14y ago
That's not what he meant. All mailto: links will open in the mail app. All http:// http:// links will open in Safari. You want to take a picture from your twitter app? You want to share to twitter from the camera app? You have to use Apple's implementation, you can't push it through your favorite twitter app.
- jonknee 14y ago
  But it's sort of what you meant. I see "Open in Dropbox" and "Open in Camera+" quite frequently. Here's more on how that works: http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2012/01/tip-missing-apps-in-open-in-menu.html http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2012/01/tip-missing-apps-i... The URL style technique is supported as well, you can send data to another app by using it's URL scheme. It's not a perfect implementation (you can't change the defaults like mail://), but I believe that's intentional.
  - emehrkay 14y ago
    Looks like this is a run-time version of what I posted. Thanks

rpledge 14y ago

There is a difference between how easy it is and if Apple wants to allow it. The percentage of people who want to do this on a widely adopted consumer platform like iOS is small. I doubt Apple will ever allow this, it wouldn't significantly increase sales vs. support complexity/platform simplicity. Considering Apple is extracting the majority of the dollars from the smartphone market already I doubt they're too worried about losing the tweakers to Android.