whatsapp html link not working on iphone 8, chrome - html

I have a html whatsapp link for users to share a website link via their whatsapp application.
I have used the following links to share:
<a href="https://wa.me/?text=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com" target="_blank" data-action="share/whatsapp/share">
or
https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=&text=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com
*Note that the shared links are already encoded
I understand that this link will automatically launch the whatsapp app if it is detected on their device, otherwise it would just redirect them to the app store.
However, I am only having an issue with chrome on iPhone 8.
The links work fine on other browsers (Safari, Firefox, Opera)
IOS, Chrome & Whatsapp are all up to date.
Even though whatsapp is installed on the device, it still redirects me to the app store.
the App store has a button which opens whatsapp, but the send shared link message window is not present. it just opens whatsapp like normal.
Is there a fix for this?

I think, as a temporary fix at least, try making the link copy to the clipboard, then give the user an alert that it has happened. I'm not sure of how to fix it, as when I tested it it worked fine, but I'm using a slightly older version of iOS. Perhaps that means the new version made some changes about how this works?

First: Official Whatsapp Sharing Documentation. Try one of the following formats...
https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=YourShareTextHere
https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=YourShareTextHere&phone=123
These seem to work for me!
If you are interested in watching a project that keeps track of these URLs, then check us out!: https://github.com/bradvin/social-share-urls#whatsapp

Related

Apple App Store Badge Redirects to Shady advertisement on mobile but not desktop

I recently published an app to the app store and am trying to put a "Download on the app store" badge on my personal blog. I first used the badge generator tool at https://tools.applemediaservices.com but noticed when I click through the badge on an iOS device (my iPhone and my brother's iPhone), I am directed to a shady "Spin the Wheel!" or "You've won!" webpage. When I click through via desktop web browser, the link opens up the App Store just fine! I'm baffled. I reworked everything from scratch and same behavior persists.
Blog Link: https://keeganleary.com/flutter-app/ (The Badge is just below the web app)
Clicking with thumb on iPhone redirects to pages with goobly-gook addresses like (Don't Follow, I added some ... to hopefully keep anybody from following this link!): https://4i9...gx8uxvn13l...top/t/fe312738ec36/99fda6ec-568c...1=
If I long-press and copy link, then paste into browser on iPhone, it opens up the App Store like it should!
Functionality is same on Chrome and Safari, and two different iPhones.
My code
<figure>
<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/super-pace-calculator/id1548388283">
<img src="https://keeganleary.com/content/images/2021/01/Download_on_the_App_Store_Badge_US-UK_blk_092917.png">
</a>
<figcaption></figcaption>
</figure>
My best guess is my website or iPhone browser is hacked somehow but I have no idea. Tried clearing caches as well but same thing happens.
I analyzed your site and found no virus.
I noticed that you are using disqus on your site, I am almost sure that these ads came from the disqus that, unfortunately, inject ads without our permission, generally unwanted or deceptive low quality ads that can even hinder users' navigation.
Take the test, disable DISQUS from your site and see if the ads disappear.
unfortunately I have not found another way to disable these ads if not buying the subscription where you can disable the ads.

sms: and mailto: failure on iPhone Safari Mobile Browser

Problem:
Web page with sms: and mailto: links fail on ios mobile safari browser. A click on the link redirects you to:
Safari cannot open the page because it cannot redirect to locations
starting with "sms:"
or
Safari cannot open the page because it cannot redirect to locations
starting with "mailto:"
These used to work just fine up until around two or three months ago. Now these fail on Apple mobile devices using the Safari browser.
Background:
I create responsive web pages for activity based teams. One of the things we do is provide a team roster. The roster includes links for telephone numbers, SMS text pages and Email.
To keep things simple, we are using simple web pages.
Because of security and privacy concerns, this content is only served via ajax call via node.js server after login. We're using a single node.js Express server to host the website content and manage http/api calls.
Generally a click on the link pushes the mobile device into the appropriate native app for a phone call, SMS text message or email.
This has been working great for a couple of years, on all devices.
Lately we're seeing the problem on iPhones... but...
Here's the really weird part. I've got three teams using this technique.. The failure is only on TWO of the three teams. SMS link works just fine there.
The "tel:" link works fine on all devices.
The failures only occur on two of the three sites for sms: and mailto: on the iphone. Things still work just fine on Android devices, on Windows and on MacOS. The problem is Apple mobile devices.
The two sites that have the failures are Progressive Web Apps, with a manifest.json file and service_worker.js. The site that works fine has neither of those. When I remove the manifest, and turn off the service worker there is no improvement.
All three sites hosted via App engine at Google Cloud. The two sites that fail are only using web_app.appspot.com addressing. The site that functions well is using a real URL, pointing to the app engine location.
Typical Code:
<li>
<div class="userName">Jane Doe</div>
<div class="phoneNumber">321-555-1234</div>
<div class="sms"><img src="../images/crosstxt-icon.jpg"></div>
<div class="email"><img src="../images/email-icon.png"></div>
</li>
I wonder if this will show the issue, if you open this up in the browser of your Apple mobile device:
Click here to create a SMS message.
<br>
Click here to create an email message.
Apparently that's a fail. You don't even get to see the run snippet button on my mobile device.
Testing, more testing...
I just figured out... if I save the site to my mobile device homepage, such that an icon is added to home screen and in display mode, you can NOT see the top URL address bar, nor the Safari options bar on the bottom then the SMS: will fail. If you just open the address in Safari, but don't save the file, then it will work great.
Again, when I'm in Apple Web Application mode, the SMS link fails.
One hack... open the site via Safari mobile browser on the iphone. Save the site to Home Page. Verify the Icon is on the mobile phone. Go to Settings --> Safari --> Advanced --> Website Data, then Delete the site by sliding the content left. Cache storage is clean, but the Icon remains on the mobile screen. Use the Icon to aid in login, but don't save the site again. Note the URL line is visible. SMS will work.
Still testing here...
I tried to build a simple example to show the issue. I was totally unable to get the sample to fail with the error messages above. For reference the test site is here. The test source code is here.
I'm suspecting that the issue revolves around the fact that the two sites in question are both located at a subdomain site. (mywebapp.appspot.com) When the manifest includes all "valid" content the site does appear as a ios Apple Web app without visible URL line... but whenever I'm in that mode, SMS links are a total fail.
With that said, you can control the storage mode via <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes"> .
During my testing, I also noticed that whenever the manifest.json file contains // comment marks anywhere the file is ignored by Safari. Normally // comments are not allowed in a .json file, but according the MSN source, they are fine in a manifest.json file.
The choice is
a bit ugly and functional, or
pretty and non-functional
Currently I'm running <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="no">... I get the advantage of a custom icon on the home screen, even though the web app is still obviously inside a mobile browser with top/bottom info lines visible, sigh.

WeChat does not redirect to iTunes app store on iPhone

So I have a website with functional redirects to both the Google play store and the itunes store. Using the WeChat messaging application I can open an in-app browser to view the webpage and do everything I normally would.
The problem surfaces when using WeChat on an iPhone. I can see both links and click on either of them, but the itunes link does redirect as desired. Keep in mind that this is not a problem on Android, both links redirect properly inside the app on my Android phone.
The goal is to have the button open up the actual itunes store app, and not link to the itunes webpage but even using itms itms-apps the connection doesn't go through. On said iPhone in Safari and Chrome, these buttons link properly. It is only in WeChat that the itunes redirect button does not work.
I've tried adding an additional page that the button redirects to, which is
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; URL='http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/myapp/myappid'" /> but it just loads the blank the page and freezes because of the failure to redirect. In fact, simply trying to load http://itunes.apple.com in the app results in failure.
Perusing StackOverflow I found this post about linking to the app-store but none of the answers really helped.
So I'm hoping some one has some idea of what to do or has some experience with a workaround for a situation like this since WeChat is integral to my app's performance.
Update:
I still haven't found a solution to my problem, but I've managed to get a lead. The only link to iTunes that works in any way is http://mzstatic.com, but the problem is that I can't seem to find the proper parameters to link to an app. Everything that I've seen online seems to show using the link to grab images.
check this issue
Guiding your user to scan QR code , you can generate your QR code by using this service , adding your appsto url to the QR code (open App Store , find your app , click share , click copy link , you can get your app redirect url offered by Apple);
Register your mobile application on Tencent's Application Treasure,click the Micro Download to apply for you app , add your app store url to generate your Micro Download url which will redirect to app store , the offical document are here mobile application access
so , have a try , hope it helps.

Does mobile Google Chrome support browser extensions?

Can I create a plugin or an extension for Google Chrome MOBILE (Android Google Chrome)?
If not, can I create an extension for Google Chrome (desktop), which will add a button in Google Chrome bar. This button will open the page in another web browser (in my own web browser), so, this button should launch my own web browser.
Extensions are not supported, see: https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/faq .
Specifically:
Does Chrome for Android now support the embedded WebView for a hybrid native/web app?
A Chrome-based WebView is included in Android 4.4 (KitKat) and later. See the WebView overview for details.
Does Chrome for Android support apps and extensions?
Chrome apps and extensions are currently not supported on Chrome for
Android. We have no plans to announce at this time.
Can I write and deploy web apps on Chrome for Android?
Though Chrome apps are not currently supported, we would love to see great interactive web sites accessible by URL.
You can use bookmarklets (javascript code in a bookmark) - this also means they sync across devices.
I have loads - I prefix the name with zzz, so they are eazy to type in to the address bar and show in drop down predictions.
To get them to operate on a page you need to go to the page and then in the address bar type the bookmarklet name - this will cause the bookmarklet to execute in the context of the page.
edit
Just to highlight - for this to work, the bookmarklet name must be typed into the address bar while the page you want to operate in is being displayed - if you go off to select the bookmarklet in some other way the page context gets lost, and the bookmarklet operates on a new empty page.
I use
zzzpocket - send to pocket.
zzztwitter tweet this page
zzzmail email this page
zzzpressthis send this page to wordpress
zzztrello send this page to trello
and more...
and it works in chrome whatever platform I am currently logged on to.
Some extensions like blocksite use the accessibility service API to deploy extension like features to Chrome on Android. Might be worth a look through the play store. Otherwise, Firefox is your best bet, though many extensions don't work on mobile for some reason.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.blocksite&hl=en_US
Just use a different browser.
Follow the steps given below to install Chrome extensions on your Android device.
Step 1: Open Google Play Store and download Yandex Browser. Install the browser on your phone.
Step 2: In the URL box of your new browser, open 'chrome.google.com/webstore’ by entering the same in the URL address.
Step 3: Look for the Chrome extension that you want and once you have it, tap on 'Add to Chrome.’
The added Chrome extension will now be automatically added to the Yandex browser.
I imagine that there are not many browsers supporting extension. Indeed, I have been interested in this question for the last year and I only found Dolphin supporting add-ons and other cool features announced few days ago. I want to test it soon.

How do I create a shortcut for a HTML 5 app via chrome?

I have a HTML 5 app which works with offline storage. It only needs to work in Chrome at the moment. I want the user to be able to access the app both online and offline. At the moment I am asking the user to bookmark the page to come back to it when offline.
I would like to have a link: "Click here to create a desktop shortcut". Does anybody know if this is possible?
Thanks in advance.
I encourage you to get your app in the Chrome Web Store and it will be installed to the users Chrome. Any app that is created to work offline will work offline regardless of it having a desktop icon or not.
If the user is on Windows they can also create an application shortcut that will be placed on to the desktop.