iTunes app link not opening iTunes

Question

I just released an iPhone app and am updating its support site. I've used the iTunes Link Maker to create a link like below. One time, it opened iTunes, the rest of the times, it has not. I've tried closing iTunes, accessing the link from both Safari and Chrome, but each time I only see the iTunes preview in the browser.

Example:

<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/app-name/id123456789?mt=8&uo=4" target="itunes_store">My App on the App Store</a>

---

ANSWER: (see discussion below)

Pulling the href from the "View in App Store" link in iTunes Connect:

<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/app-name/idAPPIDHERE?ls=1&mt=8" target="itunes_store">My App on the App Store</a>

---

NOTE: Trailing params might be different in your own case.

SEE ALSO: http://www.apple.com/itunes/affiliates/resources/documentation/linking-to-the-itunes-music-store.html

Answer 1

Just use iTunes Link Maker and remove the country code (i.e. "us") out of the link and it would always work open iTunes always and not a browser on the way (if there is iTunes installed on the target system).

You can also remove the app_name you don't really need it (if your app name would be changed nothing happen, actually the name is ignored).

Answer 2

I usually grab the link from the apps' detail page in iTunes Connect. There's a link named View in App Store that has worked for my so far. Just make sure to replace the locale identifier (defaults to us) in the link if your app is available in multiple stores.