ITunes review URL and iOS 7 (ask user to rate our app) AppStore show a blank page

Question

Does anybody knows if the technique used to ask the user to rate our app and open for him the App Store directly on the rating page is still working on iOS 7 ?

I used to open this url from my app :

itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=353372460&onlyLatestVersion=true&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=1&type=Purple+Software

But it looks like it's not working anymore (AppStore show a blank page). I have also tried this url wihout luck:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=1&type=Purple+Software&mt=8&id=353372460

Answer 1

Starting with iOS7 the URL has changed and cannot direct for the review page but only to the app

itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/idAPP_ID

Where APP_ID need to be replaced with your Application ID. Based on the App ID from the question it would be the following

itms-apps://itunes.apple.com/app/id353372460

Notice the id in front of the number ... that string is is id353372460, not just 353372460

For anything pre iOS7 the 'old' URL needs to be used, only those could get you straight to the review page. You should also take note that these calls will only work on devices. Running them in the simulator will do nothing since the simulator does not have the App Store app installed.

---

Have a look at for instance Appirater for an implementation. https://github.com/arashpayan/appirater

Can't help you with phonegap specifics (never used it). But it basically comes down to checking the iOS version your user is running and then either use the old URL or then new iOS7 URL.