iOS: start custom app from a bookmark on home-screen

Goal:

Create a link/bookmark on the iOS home-screen that launches an app with a custom URL scheme. The contents of the URL specify the behavior of my app. I will have 6-8 of these bookmarks on the home-screen.

I hope that anyone has some suggestions on how to make this possible. Thanks!

Background:

My apps use a large database of user data (client records: 50000+) that is synced continuously while there is a wifi connection. I have not found a way to share a Core Data contents between apps so this leaves me with either:

1. A large app that requires the 开发者_开发百科user to start that app always, then select the task to perform. Downside: users cannot use the home button to bring them back to the home-screen. I want the home button to bring me to a central place from where I can always start the app that does the one task I want to do next.

2. Have many apps, each for its own task. Downside is that I need to download and sync the user data in all of these apps. Since it is a lot of data I can not be 100% sure in each app if all user data will be downloaded and synced completely.

3. Make bogus apps that directly launch my main app with a URL scheme that specifies its behavior. This main app is the only one that contains and manages the user data. Downside is that the user sees both apps starting directly after one another which might be confusing..

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I want the home button to bring me to a central place from where I can always start the app that does the one task I want to do next.

That violates the Human Interface Guidelines. User will expect that hitting the home button exits the app.

You could do what you want with a custom URL scheme but I don't think that any app except safari can add links to the home screen. To get around that, I think you would have to open a webpage in Safari and then configure it to save a home screen link with the custom url scheme. I'm not sure how Apple would feel about that.

I believe you are over thinking this. Creating elaborate, non-standard UIs rarely pays off. No end user is going to understand how all the components fit together without explanation and that in itself is a big warning flag indicating a bad interface design. You app will behave differently from all others and they will have to stop and think every time they go to use it.

Mobile users are always in a hurry. Don't make them have to stop and think.