This weekend, I spent some time digging into iOS 10 iMessage app extensions.<\/p>\n
Creating an iMessage app or sticker pack is relatively easy. Here are a couple of resources for getting started: tutsplus<\/a> and medium<\/a>. Apple also\u00a0has their own example iMessage app<\/a>.<\/p>\n For a\u00a0new iMessage only app, you can choose File > New > Project<\/em> and either ‘Sticker Pack Application’ or ‘iMessage Application’ in Xcode. To add an iMessage extension to your existing containing phone app, you can use File > New > Target<\/em> and either ‘Sticker Pack Extension’ or ‘iMessage Extension’.<\/p>\n I wanted to understand the current state of user workflow between the iOS (main\/phone) app and the iMessage extension app. Apple has it’s work cut out for them. The iMessage App store is an awkward modal triggered from an individual iMessage conversation. Users seem to have\u00a0trouble locating the store and managing iMessage apps, so apps are getting bad reviews.<\/p>\n The good news is that you can launch your phone app from the iMessage app.<\/p>\n From the iMessage extension app, you can use this (with your own AppName<\/em>):<\/p>\n Calling the above code will open the phone app. One issue I ran into (under the extension scheme) is that the phone app will crash in the simulator when opened this way. Xcode shows\u00a0a SIGKILL since the iMessage app connected to Xcode is quit while the phone app is being opened. This appears to only be a simulator issue.<\/p>\n You can access the URL params in your phone app’s App Delegate:<\/p>\n The bad news is that you cannot launch your iMessage app from your phone app. Apple must have been short on time, as their usual modus operandi is to launch headline\u00a0features that are incomplete and hopefully iterate later if their business still cares. Radar(s) have been filed<\/a>.<\/p>\nguard let url: URL = URL(string: \"AppName:\/\/?myParam=myValue\") else { return }\r\n\r\nself.extensionContext?.open(url, completionHandler: { (success: Bool) in\r\n \r\n })<\/pre>\n\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/span>func<\/span> application(<\/span>_<\/span> app: <\/span>UIApplication<\/span>, open url: <\/span>URL<\/span>, options: [<\/span>UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey<\/span> : <\/span>Any<\/span>] = [:]) -> <\/span>Bool<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/span>return<\/span> true<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>}<\/span><\/pre>\n