Appstore as modal view in iOS6

Question

I noticed that when the user taps an app store link in the iOS6 mail app, mail opens a modal view representing the app store instead of switching to the App Store app as it did in previous versions.

Does Apple provide access to this capability, or it is exclusive to their integrated programs?

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Note: If you have iOS 6 and want test it, just open appstore and email app to yourself.

Answer 1

I added this method as a category to UIViewController, but you can repurpose it for your own needs. The app store ID is the big number in the app store URL. Make sure you import the StoreKit framework and header file!

@import StoreKit;

- (void)presentAppStoreForID:(NSNumber *)appStoreID withDelegate:(id<SKStoreProductViewControllerDelegate>)delegate
{
    if(NSClassFromString(@"SKStoreProductViewController")) { // Checks for iOS 6 feature.

        SKStoreProductViewController *storeController = [[SKStoreProductViewController alloc] init];
        storeController.delegate = delegate; // productViewControllerDidFinish

        // Example App Store ID (e.g. for Words With Friends)
        // @322852954

        [storeController loadProductWithParameters:@{ SKStoreProductParameterITunesItemIdentifier: appStoreID }
                                   completionBlock:^(BOOL result, NSError *error) {
            if (result) {
                [self presentViewController:storeController animated:YES completion:nil];
            } else {
                [[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Uh oh!" message:@"There was a problem opening the app store" delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok" otherButtonTitles: nil] show];
            }
        }];

    } else { // Before iOS 6, we can only open the App Store URL
        [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://itunes.apple.com/app/id%@",appStoreID]]];
    }
}

Answer 2

Looks like this is introduced in IOS 6 as StoreKit, specifically SKITunesProductViewController which allows you to present iTunes contents (apps, music, books etc.) inside your app for user to purchase directly.

Answer 3

There is a plugin for handling affiliate links here: https://github.com/adeven/AEProductController

Or you could roll your own by first opening the affiliate link in-app (just as you would before opening the iTunes Store app directly), following the Apple Technical Q&A QA1629:

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa2008/qa1629.html

and then opening the SKStoreProductViewController as MaxGabriel noted above.

[Edit] I completed this in my app (a music app) but whether I have an active AVAudioSession or I completely disable all playback (for testing), song samples in the modal iTunes Store play but have no sound. If you don't have this issue or you find a resolution, let me know. It may be a bug that should be reported to https://bugreport.apple.com/ .