How do I detect, via javascript in Safari Mobile, if my iPhone application is installed?

Question

As you probably know, iPhone applications can register a custom URL scheme handler, ala "myapp:" and these can be used for links in a page viewed in Safari.

I'd like to automatically launch my application from a specific page if the visitor has the app installed. If the app's not installed, I'll just show them the current mobile-optimized view of the page.

How can I do this detection? Google searches have been fruitless. Also, to be tricky, I've tried doing something like this to no avail:

var image = new Image();
image.onerror = function(e){
  alert("bummer");
}
image.onload = function(e){
  alert('success!');
}
image.src = 'myapp://something=meaningful';

Has anyone come across a way to do application detection?

Answer 1

The solution I've presented on another Stack Overflow question is about as close as you're going to get.