Sunday, July 6, 2014

iOS 8 Share Extensions

Rene Ritchie:

With iOS 8 and Extensibility, gone are the days when Apple had to make a deal with social networks and laboriously integrate them one and a time into iOS. Now, any app you download from the App Store can hook into the Share Sheets and give you the option to share or upload your content with other members and to the service.

[…]

Because of custom sharing extensions, you also get the ability to customize your sharing options. Scroll all the way to the right on a Share Sheet and you’ll see a special “More” icon. Tap it and you’re taken to the Activities panel where you can toggle on or off all the sharing options (with the exception of Messages and Mail), and move all of them around into any order you like.

[…]

System defaults are both quick to implement and offer a lot of functionality, like image preview, text entry, audience picker, etc. “for free”. They also help maintain continuity of experience. Custom sheets are more work but can leverage code from the existing app and better show off a service’s branding. That can be useful in continuously, visually reminding someone which service they’re sharing to throughout the process.

[…]

Both web URL and web pages are supported. The first is all about sharing a link. The second is all about pulling the data from the web page itself. Developers can, via JavaScript, determine which parts of a webpage their extension wants.

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