Creating App-Specific Pages

Creating app-specific pages is a great way to offer an exclusive experience that engages users and drives conversions. This guide will walk you through creating pages that are only visible in your app and setting up conditionals to make sure the links to these pages only show up for app users.

Importance of Creating an Exclusive App Experience

Offering content that is only accessible in your app encourages users to download and engage with your mobile app. It can enhance user experience, build loyalty, and increase conversions. By tailoring the experience specifically for app users, you can keep them engaged with features or content that’s not available on your website.

Benefits of App-Specific Content:

• Increased Engagement: Exclusive in-app content encourages users to spend more time in your app.
• Higher Conversion Rates: Offering app-only promotions or features can motivate users to take action.
• Improved User Experience: Tailoring content for app users can make your app more valuable than just browsing your website.

Creating Pages for Your App

First, you’ll need to create the pages that will only be accessible within the app. These pages should exist on your website but be hidden from your website’s main navigation to ensure they aren’t visible to regular visitors.

Here’s a simple approach:

1. Create a new page in your website’s CMS.
2. Add any app-specific content you want—whether it’s special promotions, app features, or exclusive articles.
3. Add the link to the newly created page to your menu using conditionals, so it only shows to app users.

Once you’ve created the app-specific pages, it’s time to ensure they’re only accessible from within the app.

Adding Conditional Links for App Users

To make sure these app-specific pages only appear for users who are browsing your website within the app, you can use conditionals to hide or show links based on the user agent string. If the user agent contains "canvas", it means the user is in the app.

Here’s how you can implement this using JavaScript and PHP.

JavaScript Example

You can dynamically add a link to the app-specific page using JavaScript, which will only show up if the user is accessing the site from the app.‍


<script>
  if (navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().includes('canvas')) {    
    var appLink = document.createElement('a');    
    appLink.href = '/app-specific-page';    
    appLink.innerText = 'Exclusive App Content';   
    document.body.appendChild(appLink);
  }
</script>

This code checks if the user is in the app by inspecting the user agent. If they are, it creates a link to your app-specific page and adds it to the bottom of the page. You can modify the placement by appending the link to different elements on your site.

PHP Example

If you’re using PHP, you can add a conditional statement to check if the user is in the app before displaying the link.‍

if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']), 'canvas') !== false) {   
	echo '<a href="/app-specific-page">Exclusive App Content</a>';
}

‍This will output the link only if the user agent contains "canvas", ensuring that regular visitors to your website don’t see it.

Conclusion

By creating app-specific pages and using conditionals to display links only in the app, you can offer an exclusive, engaging experience for your mobile app users. This approach not only boosts engagement but also helps differentiate your app from your website, adding value for your most dedicated users.

For more detailed guidance on customizing your app and optimizing your website’s performance in the app, be sure to check out our other guides:

• Customizing Your Canvas App Experience
• How to Optimize Your Website to Work Like an App
• Hiding Elements in Your App

These resources will help you fine-tune the app experience for your users and make the most of your mobile presence.

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