Xamarin iOS - cant able to send an email other than Mail App.

Question

Xamarin iOS - cant able to send an email other than Mail App.

Uragonda, Rajesh 31

await Launcher.OpenAsync(new Uri("mailto:" + email));

Using the above snippet on ios, by default it opens the Mail app, if mail app is not installed it shows a pop up to download Mail app from playstore.

My requirement is to send an email with any email app such as Gmail, outlook or any other application installed on phone.

On Android it shows all the installed email applications as expected.

Is there any solution for ios to allow the user to send an email using any email application?

1 answer

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Answer 1

Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,436 Microsoft External Staff

Hello,

Xamarin.Essentials.Launcher enables your app to open a URI by system. From the source code, we can see that it uses UIApplication.CanOpenUrl(NSUrl) method in iOS. Your uri is "mailto:" + email, it starts with mailto:, it means that your app only could open Mail in your iOS device by system. If Mail is not installed, a prompt box will pop up asking whether to download Mail, which is a system behavior.

My required is to send an email with any email app such as Gmail, outlook or any other application installed on phone.

If you want to open other apps, you need to specify LSApplicationQueriesSchemes in your Info.plist file. Scheme name of Microsoft Outlook is ms-outlook, and you can open Outlook by await Launcher.OpenAsync(new Uri("ms-outlook://XXXXXX"));. But if you haven't installed this app, it won't pop up the prompt to download automatically, you need to open the download page in App Store : await Launcher.OpenAsync(new Uri("itms-apps://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-outlook/id951937596"));
Refer to

 bool canopen = await Launcher.CanOpenAsync(new Uri("ms-outlook://XXX"));  
            if (canopen)  
            {  
                await Launcher.OpenAsync(new Uri("ms-outlook://XXX"));  
                 
            }  
            else {  
                await Launcher.OpenAsync(new Uri("itms-apps://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-outlook/id951937596"));  
            }

You can also open other apps if you have set the scheme name and customize the URI, please search for the URLs you're interested in to LSApplicationQueriesSchemes.

Best Regards,
Wenyan Zhang

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Uragonda, Rajesh 31 Reputation points

2022-05-05T06:02:42.617+00:00

Hi Wenyan Zhang,

Thanks for the quick response.
Is there any way that we open the Default Mail App on iOS to send email?
Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,436 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-05-05T09:46:46.363+00:00

Open Mail in your iPhone, config the Email account, then debug your app on this iPhone, await Launcher.OpenAsync(new Uri("mailto:******@xxx.com?subject=XXX&body=XXX)); will open Mail and fill in the subject and body, you could check the content and sent this email.
Uragonda, Rajesh 31 Reputation points

2022-05-06T15:03:45.777+00:00
Hi Wenyan Zhang,

Below is the scenario where I can see the "Restore Mail?" popup when Mail App is uninstalled.

Pre-Requisites:
Install Mail app, Gmail and Outlook apps and signin.

Scenario :

Go to Settings > Mail App >Tap on Default Mail App option and choose Mail

Execute the below code snippet.

Observe that Mail app opens (as expected).

Uninstall Mail app.

Go to Settings > Gmail > Observe that Gmail/Outlook is automatically set as Default Mail Option. (Do not change anything in this step)

Execute the below code snippet again.

Observe that "Restore Mail?" popup is shown. (expecting the email app (gmail/outlook) which was automatically set up after step 4 to show up)

Now again go to Settings > Gmail > Tap on Default Mail App option and choose Gmail.

Run the code snippet.

Observe that the Gmail app opens as it is manually set as default email app in step 7.

Observed behavior:
When the Mail App is uninstalled, other email app is automatically set as default mail app.
And when the code snippet is executed it shows the "Restore Mail?" popup.

Expected Behaviour :
When the Mail App is uninstalled, as other email app is automatically set as default mail app, it should be opened when we run the code snippet.

Is this a bug with iOS? of default iOS behavior?

Code snippet :

await Launcher.OpenAsync(new Uri("mailto:" + email));
Wenyan Zhang (Shanghai Wicresoft Co,.Ltd.) 36,436 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-05-09T06:15:53.04+00:00

I test this function, the behavior is same as yours, whether I'm using Xamarin.iOS or native iOS. When I uninstall Mail, the default app in Settings will be changed, but the app still considers Mail to be the default. As far as I know, our apps can't set default mail application via codes, we have to prompt the user to go into Settings and set other app as the default app manually.
You may need the further support by Apple, try to create an issue at https://developer.apple.com/forums/ , or see https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/

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Xamarin iOS - cant able to send an email other than Mail App.

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