Find the URL scheme of an app on my iPhone

Question

Apple maps can open routing apps when it can't provide a route:

I want to open a few of those apps from my app. I am aware that I have to whitelist each app that I want to open. This is not the problem.

How can I find out the url schemes of those Apps that are installed on my iPhone?

One idea is to make a backup via iTunes and at the info.plist of the app. In this plist, the url schemes should be defined with the cfbundleurlschemes key.

I think I found such an app in a backup, but I don't know how to extract the file to get the info.plist file. adding .zip and extracting doesn't work.

Other ways to get the URL scheme are also welcome, especially ways to get example parameters of the URL scheme of an app. So looking at Apple Maps how it opens a specific routing app would be nice.

Yes I know how to open Google Maps. I want to know how to open those where I can't find a documentation.

So how can I find out URL schemes of routing apps on my iPhone?

There is an answer that suggests to extract the .ipa file, but there aren't .ipa files with iOSA 11 any more.

Ardra

Duplicate of #37951462 ? – Hanan

I was/am aware of this question/answer. The answer was probably valid when there were .ipa files on iPhones that were basically .zip files. There are no .ipa files any more and the files that are there are not zip files. – Ardra

I really have no idea what you mean when you say "there are no .ipa files any more". The whole premise of your question seems wrong to me. Nothing has changed about how you spy into an app bundle. – Hanan

I don't get it from the referenced answer. I tried to look at the itunes backup, but that might be wrong. I am lost between "download" an "Right click and choose show in explorer or finder." Where do I right click? – Ardra

There are third-party applications that let you dig into the backup and pull out the individual apps. – Hanan

I tried one before writing this question but that one showed only the data written by the app but not the app itself. Any recommendations? – Ardra

Those same applications usually let you pull the app right off the device. Or you can use the "enterprise" version of iTunes and download the app as an .ipa directly (that is what I actually do). – Hanan

@Hanan What's the updated answer to this question? – Receptacle

@Receptacle Nothing about this has changed. Personally I use iMazing for this purpose. – Hanan

@Hanan Ok. That seems to be my best option at this time. Thank you. – Receptacle

Answer 1

Get yourself a copy of the "enterprise" version of iTunes that lets you download .ipa files direct from the App Store. (Mentioned, for example, here.) Now you can open the .ipa and examine its components.

Hanan

Sadly, this is no longer an option if you have installed Mojave as this "enterprise" iTunes version (or iTunes 12.6.3 as it is called officially) is not supported. – Updraft

@Updraft Is the "enterprise" version not available for pc, and will it do what you say for the pc version? – Receptacle

Answer 2

This article was incredibly helpful:

https://www.amerhukic.com/finding-the-custom-url-scheme-of-an-ios-app

Basically:

1. Download the app to your phone
2. Install the program iMazing on your mac
3. Connect your phone to your mac
4. Download the ipa file from your phone to your mac

Then

5. Make the ipa file a zip (rename) and extract
6. Show the package content from the .app file in the Payload folder
7. Search and open the Info.plist file
8. Search for CFBundleURLSchemes. Here are your url schemes.

Submergible

Answer 3

The way I do it. Download the app "Iconical". It's an app used to create other icons to access an app. Once installed, tap "Select App" then hit refresh and you get a list of urls of all the apps with a url Scheme set up.

If the app I want is not in the list. Than I open the iPhone console, go to the AppStore, find the app and open it from there. Then look for its bundle identifier in the iPhone console and use the last part as url scheme. Ex.: com.cie.appName. This always worked for me. Hope this helps.

UIApplication.shared.open("appName://", options: [:], completionHandler: nil)

Hundredpercenter

The Iconical app is not free, but it's not expensive either. It took a looooong time to scan for all of the 130,000 apps it knows, and my iPhone got quite warm because I didn't let it take any breaks! It found some of the desired apps early in the process. This method is quite hands free, suitable if you want the URLs for many popular apps, and you don't mind waiting for the scan to finish. For less well known apps, or to process only a few apps, I would recommend using Apple Configurator 2 instead. – Buskirk

This should be the top answer in 2020. Keep in mind that the app schemes provided by Iconical might not work on all iOS versions, and it's difficult to automate collection. – Powered

open the iPhone console what is that? – Raillery

@KevinLe-Khnle I'd like to hear the answer to this question. – Receptacle

does not work for me – Charqui

Answer 4

Try and see if you can find the app in AppStore on your Mac. It needs to be listed under "iPhone & iPad Apps". If it's there, download it and;

• Find it in your Applications folder
• Right click on the app you downloaded and click Show Package Content
• Find the .app file, probably hidden in a folder
• Right click the .app file and click Show Package Content
• Find the Info.plist file and open it
• Look for CFBundleURLSchemes and expand the key.
• The items value will tell you the url scheme for the app.

Darrickdarrill

Answer 5

You can find URL scheme of any app in device Console if you connect your device to your computer and open the app. SpringBoard logs a lot of actions to the console, showing URL scheme every time.

e.g.

URL scheme for Firefox: org.mozilla.ios.Firefox

default 15:34:38.460964 +0100   SpringBoard [org.mozilla.ios.Firefox] Setting badge to (null) [ old badge: (null) ]

Esculent

That's the app's bundle identifier, not its URL scheme. Only a few apps use their bundle identifier also as their URL scheme. – Dalia