how to prevent iOS safari alert when trying to open non-installed native app?

Question

I've been looking for a way to open a native iOS app from the browser. I found a decent solution here: Is it possible to register a http+domain-based URL Scheme for iPhone apps, like YouTube and Maps?

This solution works great when you have the app installed. but when a user doesn't have this app installed - safari fires an error message which says "Safari cannot open the page because the address is invalid."

Is there a way to prevent this behaviour and instead to prompt the user to download the app?

Answer 1

Here is a solution that works for me:

var timeout;  function preventPopup() {     clearTimeout(timeout);     timeout = null;     window.removeEventListener('pagehide', preventPopup); }  function openApp() {         $('<iframe />')     .attr('src', appurl)     .attr('style', 'display:none;')     .appendTo('body');      timeout = setTimeout(function() {             document.location = appstore;     }, 500);     window.addEventListener('pagehide', preventPopup); }