New Developer Tools in Readability for iOS

Readability 1.2.2 for iOS is available now. Along with minor bug fixes, it introduces new developer tools to easily invoke actions from third-party apps. Using one of the options below, you can launch the Readability app and prompt the user to add an article to their reading list.

Option 1: URL Scheme

Readability now includes the readability:// URL scheme, which can launch the app from a browser link or using the UIApplication:openURL: method. Use it without parameters to simply launch the app, or use the following format with a URL string to prompt the user to add an article to their reading list:

readability://add/{url}


Option 2: iOS 6 UIActivity

iOS 6 introduced the “share sheet”—a simple native interface to launch actions. We’ve created a custom UIActivity that you can integrate into your app. Simply import the ReadabilityActivity class and icons to your project and wire it up:

// init Readability activity
ReadabilityActivity *rdb = [[ReadabilityActivity alloc] init];


// set up activity item / action. url is a NSURL
NSArray *activityItems = @[ReadabilityActivityAdd, url];



// init share sheet with app-specific activity
UIActivityViewController *shareSheet = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:activityItems applicationActivities:@[rdb]];



// present the view controller, animated.
[self presentViewController:shareSheet
animated:YES
completion:^{
}];


The ReadabilityActivity class also includes an easy way to check that Readability is installed on a device. This method returns YES if the user is running Readability 1.2.2 or newer:

[ReadabilityActivity canPerformActivity]


A more comfortable developer experience

The Readability API has been integrated by thousands of developers into their projects. Now it’s even easier to add Readability actions to your iOS app. Enjoy!