Direct "rate in iTunes" link in my app?

Question

I've seen posts here on Stackoverflow that describe how to allow users to be directed to apps on the app store.

Is there a way to link directly to the rating and comments form in the App Store?

Answer 1

This IS possible using the technique described on this blog:

http://www.memention.com/blog/2009/09/03/Open-Reviews.html

basically you call UIApplication openURL with the following:

NSString* url = [NSString stringWithFormat: @"itms-apps://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?type=Purple+Software&id=%@", myAppID];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: url]];

To get your app ID before your app is available in the app store, use iTunesConnect to define your new app - give it a name, description, icon, screenshots, etc. Once defined, you can get the Apple ID from the Identifiers section for the app.

EDIT:

Here is a secondary url/method that works:

NSString* url = [NSString stringWithFormat:  @"http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=%@&pageNumber=0&sortOrdering=1&type=Purple+Software&mt=8", appid];

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: url ]];

I believe the difference between the two is that the first technique (itms-apps://) will launch the App Store app directly while the second one (http://) will launch it indirectly via a redirect resulting from the http web URL. This would have to be confirmed; this is only my recollection.