IMPLEMENT API TO MAKE MRA PRIMARY NAV APP

Neil Bartlett

Apple has a API of some sort that allows App developers to have their Apps added to the list for selection as the Primary Nav App within iOS. Currently Apple Maps and Google Maps are the only navigation Apps in the list for selection by third party Apps when a user clicks on a link to an address.

It would be useful if we as users could make MRA Navigation APP as the "default App" for all Navigation Purposes. I want to use MRA for all Nav on my iPhone, which I use for work around the city on my motorcycle as well as for pleasure trips.

richtea999

@Neil-Bartlett As far as I know, currently you can only pick a different default app for email and browsing, and those two options are limited to iOS 14 and up.

Hubert Thoring

@Neil-Bartlett : super Idee, ich wäre auch dafür

richtea999

@Neil-Bartlett said in IMPLEMENT API TO MAKE MRA PRIMARY NAV APP:

...Apple Maps and Google Maps are the only navigation Apps in the list for selection by third party Apps when a user clicks on a link to an address.

Ah - having re-read that, do you mean addresses in web pages, like a hotel address which has a link?

If so, you can create a custom URL scheme that will open your app, but you do then have to convince the rest of the world to use it in their websites.

Here's are examples of custom links to open the Apple Maps, Google Maps and Maps.me apps:

Tap to open Apple Maps
Link text is:
http://maps.apple.com/?q=Mexican+Restaurant&sll=50.894967,4.341626&z=10&t=s

Tap to open Google Maps app (after prompt)
Link text is:
comgooglemaps://?center=40.765819,-73.975866&zoom=14&views=traffic

Tap to open Maps.me app (after prompt)
Link text is:
geo:124.028582,-29.201930

(Paste the link text into Safari if the MRA Community website doesn't offer them as links.)

Visit them on your iPhone and see the result.
You'll need Google Maps and Maps.me installed of course.

The most universal/open one is probably the last one, the 'geo:' URI, and also the least used, I suspect.

MRA could certainly register that it accepts links that start with 'geo:' and then the MRA app would be given as a choice when tapping a 'geo:' link. It may even be possible to register that it accepts 'comgooglemaps:' but I can't test that easily without coding it.

The one you can't override is the maps.apple.com one. Its a closed shop on that one.

Neil Bartlett

@richtea999 Sorry that is not what I meant.
The company I work for has an on line APP for allocating jobs for deliveries amongst the drivers. When we click on the link in the App for the Address the link takes us to the default Mapping tool the individual driver has selected in their phone. At present, we can select either Google Maps or Apple Maps as the Navigation tool. This works for Android or Apple phones. I was suggesting that MRA investigates if they can arrange to be included in this list to be selected as the default App by a phone user. Below is an image from the Preferences from our APP.

richtea999

@Neil-Bartlett Yup, that's clever. Not sure how it's done, but probably via Google Chrome underneath - like this.

It's definitely not standard Apple - they're very keen not to allow other mapping solutions, which is a shame.

There might be some mileage in pursuing an anti-competitive angle in the EU (i.e. Apple is operating a closed shop from a navigation links point of view), but that would be a very very long-winded process, and would need resources thrown at it - not something MRA is likely to want to tackle.

Drabslab

@richtea999 said in IMPLEMENT API TO MAKE MRA PRIMARY NAV APP:

and would need resources thrown at it

and may not be the most interesting move for small MRA to upset slightly bigger Apple

Corjan Meijerink

So I just checked!

We already support this on Android. If you highlight / select an address, the MyRoute-app will pop up as suggestion.
On iOS this works very differently (if at all) and thus it isn't possible yet.

Corjan Meijerink

@richtea999 we'll look into the geo scheme next week
Might be fruitful.

Con Hennekens

@Corjan-Meijerink said in IMPLEMENT API TO MAKE MRA PRIMARY NAV APP:

We already support this on Android. If you highlight / select an address, the MyRoute-app will pop up as suggestion.

Wow, did not know, nice! It works from the selection context menu. Pitiful not from the Route button in a google search result (but that I knew).