Investigate Newsstand Feature in iOS5

[ffranke]

Investigate Newsstand-Feature in iOS5 and wether it can be implemented.

[claudiob]

Three steps are required to use NewsstandKit:

• include the Newsstandkit framework in the application
• include the UINewsstandApp key in Info.plist to indicate that it supports Newsstand
• include the UIBackgroundModes key with the newsstand-content value in Info.plist for the application to be launched in the background so that it can start downloading the latest issue

All of this works, but I couldn't find out how to make the application appear inside the news stand rather than as its own independent app. Does anyone know how to get this?

[sethrubenstein]

I think another issue we need to investigate is how does this handle downloading the latest issue, will we need to resubmit the app with the latest issue all over, can we just upload the latest issue somewhere else... etc...

[sethrubenstein]

So theres some steps to make it appear in the Newsstand folder.

One you need to set a new item called UINewsstandApp, boolean set to YES. Then you need to use the new icons item schema...

In this example you have your CFBundleIconFiles array under CFBundlePrimaryIcons with your standard App Icon. Then you have your UINewsstandIcon with a CFBundle in there as well this is where you can set your newspaper for magazine cover as well as the binding type which give it its shape and its binding edge.

What we need now is for someone to post a working example of a Multiple Issues Laker app as well as how we're going to tell the app 1. theres a new issue, and 2. to download it and update the Newsstand icon.

[funktionaer]

Telling the app that there is a new issue available is handled with new push notification that informs the app when it is suspended or even not running (if so the app starts in the background) and downloads the new issue and updates the icon when it is finished. The question is how to deal with older issues?