Yelp for Developers

Yelp iPhone

Overview

The Yelp iPhone application registers URL schemes that can be used to open the Yelp application and perform searches, open check-ins or view business information.

Registered Schemes

Scheme Supported
yelp Yelp iPhone application >= 2.0.0
yelp4 Yelp iPhone application >= 4.0.0

To check if Yelp is installed and the scheme is supported, you can use UIApplication#canOpenURL:

- (BOOL)isYelpInstalled { return [[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"yelp:"]]; }

To check if a minimum Yelp version is installed, for example, 4.0.0:

- (BOOL)isYelpInstalled { return [[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"yelp4:"]]; }

To open Yelp and perform an action, you can use UIApplication#openURL. For example, to perform a search for burritos nearby:

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"yelp:///search?term=burritos"]];

You can also direct your users to the Yelp iPhone app if installed, or our mobile site if not installed. This helps users have the best experience possible. For example:

// Replace biz/the-sentinel-san-francisco with whatever page you are directing the user to. - (BOOL)isYelpInstalled { return [[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"yelp5.3:"]]; } - (void)maybeDoSomethingWithYelp { if ([self isYelpInstalled]) { // Call into the Yelp app [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"yelp5.3:///biz/the-sentinel-san-francisco"]]; } else { // Use the Yelp touch site [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"http://yelp.com/biz/the-sentinel-san-francisco"]]; } }

Methods


Method Minimum Scheme Description
/search yelp Search with term, category and location (or current location).
Name Data Type Require Supported Description
terms string optional yelp Search terms. Specifying no term will search for everything.
category string optional yelp4 Search category alias.
location string optional yelp Search location (address). Specifying no location will use current location.

Examples

yelp:///search?terms=bars&location=sf yelp:///search?terms=vegetarian+burritos yelp4:///search?terms=jukebox&category=bars&location=435%20Hayes%20St,%20SF yelp4:///search?category=bars yelp4:///search?category=restaurants&location=435%20Hayes%20St,%20SF

Note: In versions of Yelp < 3.0, if you specify more than 2 URL query params on search, it will fail to open.


Business

Method Minimum Scheme Description
/biz/{id} yelp Open business with identifier (or alias).

Examples

yelp:///biz/the-sentinel-san-francisco

Check In Nearby

Method Minimum Scheme Description
/check_in/nearby yelp4 Open list of businesses nearby to check into.

Examples

yelp4:///check_in/nearby

Check-Ins

Method Minimum Scheme Description
/check_ins yelp4 Open main check-ins view.

Examples

yelp4:///check_ins

Check-In Rankings

Method Minimum Scheme Description
/check_in/rankings yelp4 Open check-ins rankings.

Examples

yelp4:///check_in/rankings