“This item cannot be shared. Please select a different item.” WhatsApp iOS share extension failure message

Question

This bug is fixed by WhatsApp team on 23rd May, 2016 (build no. 2.16.4).

Unable to share NSString object using UIActivityViewController to WhatsApp.

I tried to share using below code. But once contact is selected from the list, it shows an alert displaying "This item cannot be shared. Please select a different item."

CODE

NSString *shareText = @"Temp text to share";
NSArray *itemsToShare = @[shareText];

UIActivityViewController *activityVC = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:itemsToShare applicationActivities:nil];

I am facing this problem after updating WhatsApp to version 2.16.2

Answer 1

Received a response from WhatsApp team

- WhatsApp Support -

Hi,

Sorry for the delay! We have received many emails recently, and we do our best to answer them all. Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for informing us about the issue; it will be fixed in a future version of WhatsApp. Unfortunately, we cannot comment on any future timelines, sorry. Thank you for your continued patience and support of WhatsApp.

Cheers, Hans

So, they acknowledge the bug and will fix this in the next release.

Possible Workarounds =>

• Till then one can use UrlSchemes to share plaintext+url. Follow Spydy's answer.
  OR
• One can create subclass of UIActivity with activityCategory as UIActivityCategoryShare with whatsapp icon. Then when user selects it, will use urlschemes to share text. For this use JBWhatsAppActivity
  OR
• Just share NSUrl object for sharing url. Once the fix is done you can revert to sharing plain text and url.

Answer 2

have faced same issue after updating whatsapp. Even you press "cancel" on whatsapp still completion block shows success. i have resolved it by using "WFActivitySpecificItemProvider" and "WFActivitySpecificItemProvider"when sharing on whatsapp then dissmiss activityViewController and share via ur. You can pull WFActivitySpecificItemProvider, activityViewController classes from https://github.com/wileywimberly/WFActivitySpecificItemProvider

here is my code

- (void)share{

NSString *defaultMessage = @"your message may contain url";

// Use a dictionary
WFActivitySpecificItemProvider *provider1 =
[[WFActivitySpecificItemProvider alloc]
 initWithPlaceholderItem:@""
 items:@{
         WFActivitySpecificItemProviderTypeDefault : defaultMessage,
         UIActivityTypePostToFacebook : defaultMessage,
         UIActivityTypeMail : defaultMessage,
         UIActivityTypeMessage : defaultMessage,
         @"com.linkedin.LinkedIn.ShareExtension":defaultMessage,
         UIActivityTypePostToTwitter : defaultMessage

         }];


// Use a block
WFActivitySpecificItemProvider *provider2 =
[[WFActivitySpecificItemProvider alloc]
 initWithPlaceholderItem:@""
 block:^(NSString *activityType){

     if ([activityType isEqualToString:@"net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.ShareExtension"]) {


         [avc dismissViewControllerAnimated:NO completion:nil];

         dispatch_after(dispatch_time(DISPATCH_TIME_NOW, 1 * NSEC_PER_SEC), dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{



             NSString *string = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"whatsapp://send?text=%@",defaultMessage];
             NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[string stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
             [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: url];


         });
     }

     return defaultMessage;
 }];


avc = [[UIActivityViewController alloc]
       initWithActivityItems:@[provider1, provider2]
       applicationActivities:nil];

[avc dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
[avc setValue:sharingHeader forKey:@"subject"];

[avc setCompletionHandler:^(NSString *activityType, BOOL completed) {

    if (activityType) {


        NSLog(@"activity: %@ completed: %@",activityType,completed ? @"YES" : @"NO");


    } else {


        NSLog(@"No activity was selected. (Cancel)");
    }

}];

[self presentViewController:avc animated:YES completion:nil];
}

Answer 3

You might wanna try sharing the local URL of the item you're trying to share. For example, if you'd like to share a pdf, don't try to share it's NSData or Data object, WhatsApp still does show that error for that. Instead, if you share the local URL of it, WhatsApp recognizes it and shares it well.

I must note that many apps including native Mail, Gmail, Slack, GDrive etc. do recognize the pdf if you try to share the Data object.

For example:

After downloading a PDF, bind its URL into a variable called fileURL:

var fileURL = URL(string: url)
    let destination: DownloadRequest.DownloadFileDestination = { _, _ in
        let documentsURL = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask)[0]
        fileURL = documentsURL.appendingPathComponent("AWESOME_PDF.pdf")
        return (fileURL!, [.removePreviousFile, .createIntermediateDirectories])
    }

Then you can simply share the fileURL instead:

let activityViewController = UIActivityViewController(            
      activityItems: [fileURL!],
      applicationActivities: nil
)

WhatsApp will recognize the PDF.

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

WhatsApp has fixed this bug in the their update dated 23rd May, 2016 (build no. 2.16.4).

It hasn't been reported by official sources, but I have tested it in my code - works fine.

Answer 5

With the latest version of whatsapp, Now we can not share both text and URL at the same time.

I tried the below code

NSArray *activityItems= @[someText,[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://www.google.com"]];

With this code i am able to share only the URL link, the whatsApp filtered out the "someText" text.

but the other share apps(SMS etc) able to share both text and url.

hope WhatsApp fixes this issue soon.

Answer 6

Ran into this problem with a custom UIActivityItemSource where I was passing back kUTTypeData that most providers understand for the dataTypeIdentifierForActivityType delegate method instead of kUTTypeText. Simple case overrides fixed the issue in my case. Just another reason the error above could be popping if anyone sees it.

open func activityViewController(_ activityViewController: UIActivityViewController, dataTypeIdentifierForActivityType activityType: UIActivityType?) -> String {
    switch activityType {
    case UIActivityType(rawValue: "net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.ShareExtension"):
        return kUTTypeText as String
    default:
        return kUTTypeData as String
    }
}

Answer 7

I'm not sure about your question... Do you want just send text by whatsapp? If yes, you don't need use UIActivityViewController. Just use urlschemes.

Something like that:

NSString *string = @"whatsapp://send?text=<YOUR MESSAGE>";
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[string stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: ];

You also can check if the user have whatsapp installed

if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL: url]) {
   // wahtsapp installed
} else {
   // whatsapp not installed
}

Look this question: Share image/text through WhatsApp in an iOS app