Detect an app on home screen of iphone

13
votes

You know how its possible to add a web app to the home screen of an iPhone... well now how do i detect if my app has been added to the home screen of a user's iPhone.

And if it has been added, how do i launch the app stored on the user's home screen rather than in Safari.

NOTE : its a web app simply bookmarked on the home screen of an iPhone - it is NOT a native app.

Any Ideas ?

1
iphoneiphone-web-apphomescreeniphone-standalone-web-app
I don't get it. Web apps only run in Safari. – dasdom
yes you are right, but i want it to run in full screen without the header address bar and the footer icons which are default in safari. is that possible ? – smoizs

1 Answers

30
votes

According to Safari Web Content Guide, you have to set <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" /> in your webpage to present your content in full-screen mode.

You can also set a startup image to make it look like a native app by setting <link rel="apple-touch-startup-image" href="/startup.png">

Edit (Detect if run in full-screen mode)

You can add some JS-Code to your webpage to detect if it is run in full-screen mode:

<script type="text/javascript">
if ('standalone' in navigator && !navigator.standalone && (/iphone|ipod|ipad/gi).test(navigator.platform) && (/Safari/i).test(navigator.appVersion)) {
    __do something here__
}

For more information on this, this project could be of interest.