How to launch external app from an ionic4 app

Question

My app is under Ionic 4 for android and I have to open/run/launch external app (for exemple com.google.android.youtube or com.sygic.truck) -> for instance, any installed app.

I tested many options without any success :

InAppBrowserModule (using application://my.package.name).

Cordova plugin lampaa (I didn't find any ways to use it under angular/ts app type).

I tried also webIntent using package option and action option calling the main Activity.

For InAppBrowserModule, i'm stuck with the http:// protocole appended before my app url.

For Lampaa, i'm stuck with the undefined startApp (even after following other threads suggestions).

And for webIntent, I don't think that it's relevent for my issue.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance !

[EDIT]

I finally make it works !

You can use one of those 2 lines :

 this.iab.create('android-app://com.google.android.youtube',"_system"); window.open('android-app://com.google.android.youtube',"_system");

You can replace com.google.android.youtube by any application package name !

Works well in the ionic / cordova app, but in the Web Browser (PWA) it goes directly to the Play store. Where are the docs about this "android-app" scheme? I searched but I can't find. — lucianojs
– lucianojs, Commented May 6, 2020 at 21:25

Alejandro Silva · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-25 18:43:28Z

You can check if the user is on Android, have the app installed and later open it as follow:

constructor( private platform: Platform, // from 'ionic-angular' private appAvailability: AppAvailability, // from '@ionic-native/app-availability' private iab: InAppBrowser, // from '@ionic-native/in-app-browser' ) {} openYoutube() { const package = "com.google.android.youtube" if(this.platform.is('android')) { this.appAvailability.check(package) .then(()=> { this.iab.create('android-app://'+package, '_system', 'location=yes') }) .catch(()=> { // not installed ) } else { // not on Android } }

Atul · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-08 16:03:42Z

1

For ionic 4 we can use

ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-app-launcher npm install @ionic-native/app-launcher

answered May 8, 2019 at 16:03

Atul

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2 Comments

exequielc Over a year ago

can you add a video code param to open youtube with the video ?

Mitesh Shah Over a year ago

It doesn't start the app. It just checks whether app can launch?

Tek choudhary · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-25 08:53:53Z

You can use the following cordova plugin to check if other apps are installed and launch them.

ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-app-launcher

npm install @ionic-native/app-launcher

Simple Cordova plugin to see if other apps are installed and launch them.

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