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It seems like Info.plist file has an ability to declare different roles for the same application bundle through the UIRoleInfo key. SpringBoard can recognize these roles after installing an app and may display separate icons for each application role.

For instance, iPhone shows MobileSlideShow.app as 2 different programs: Photos and Camera.

Unfortunately, there is no official Apple documentation about the subject at the moment. Would anybody advise how to organize the same behavior in a custom app?

This feature is going to be used in the Enterprise product for ad hoc distribution.

JAL
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Vadim
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2 Answers2

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This isn't a supported feature, so if you do this you might have a hard time getting your app through the approval process. I wouldn't recommend using it.

Eric Albert
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  • Thanks Eric! It's very useful information. What about the case when this feature is going to be used in Enterprise app? Just added this explanation to the description. – Vadim Oct 21 '08 at 00:22
  • If you use this in ad hoc distribution, it might work, but because it isn't supported Apple could break your app at any time by changing how this works. That's a choice you can make, of course; it's just a bit risky. – Eric Albert Oct 21 '08 at 04:11
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Have you tried it to see if it works? If it doesn't work, you could create a second app that does nothing but launch the first one, with a custom URL scheme. The first app can recognize when it is being launched with that URL. This is not ideal as you will see the second app launch & quit (though it should be really fast).

Chris Lundie
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  • The main goal to be reached is to share the same data and user defaults. So this solution is not a case. – Vadim Oct 21 '08 at 10:23
  • First: You can share user defaults data between apps. Secondly, this answer suggests using only one app primarily, and just launching it from the second app. So all your data would be in the single app. – livingtech Aug 29 '11 at 21:26