custom URL scheme does not work when app is not running in background

Question

I am calling a custom URL from safari to launch an app. It works fine if the app is running in background. But when the app is not running in background , but is already installed on the device, the app does not launch. I have implemented both of the following methods:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application handleOpenURL:(NSURL *)url

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation

but none of them is called when app is not running in background.

Also I have googled and found that we can launch the app using the following code when app is not running in background

if ( [launchOptions objectForKey:UIApplicationLaunchOptionsURLKey] != nil ) {
    NSURL *url =(NSURL *)[launchOptions valueForKey:UIApplicationLaunchOptionsURLKey];
    [self application:application handleOpenURL:url];
}

in

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions 

But unfortunately , didFinishLaunchingWithOptions is also not triggered. Does some one has any pointers?

P.S : This problem occurs only in iPad.It works fine on iPhone.

Answer 1

i was facing the same problem.

Seems that our code was running too fast.

Inserting a delay to run your custom code will resolve the issue.

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation
{
    [NSTimer scheduledTimerWithTimeInterval:0.5f target:self selector:@selector(yourCustomActions) userInfo:nil repeats:NO];

    return YES;
}

Hope it helps

Answer 2

Got to your info.plist and perform the necessary changes

1. Add new row --> URL types
2. expand it
3. in item 0 add new row ---> URL Schemes
4. expand it

5. In Item 0 under it, add the custom url you want to use

6. add one row under item 0 of urlTypes --> URL identifier

7. provide the bundle id of your app there

eg: anubhab://stackoverflow.com/

for the above custom url you would set the URL Scheme item 0 as: anubhab

see the image attached for detail

I have followed these link. Hope it helps. It works fine for me even if I kill the app from background.