Excluding activity types for UIActivityViewController: some are still present

Question

I try to exclude some activities from UIActivity.

It works as expected when exclusion is done directly with the activity, as with:

UIActivity.ActivityType.message,
UIActivity.ActivityType.airDrop

but not when activity is declared with an init as with:

UIActivity.ActivityType(rawValue: "net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.ShareExtension"),
UIActivity.ActivityType(rawValue: "com.ifttt.ifttt.share"),

So, with the following code:

        let excludedActivityTypes = [
                    UIActivity.ActivityType.message,
                    UIActivity.ActivityType.airDrop,
                    UIActivity.ActivityType(rawValue: "net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.ShareExtension"),
                    UIActivity.ActivityType(rawValue: "com.ifttt.ifttt.share")
                ]
        let activityVC = UIActivityViewController(activityItems: [modifiedPdfURL], applicationActivities: nil) 
        activityVC.excludedActivityTypes = excludedActivityTypes

message and airDrop do not show, but WhatsApp and IFTTT still show.

I have tested with

        activityVC.completionWithItemsHandler = { (activity, success, modifiedItems, error) in
            print("activity: \(activity), success: \(success), items: \(modifiedItems), error: \(error)")
        }

that WhatsApp and IFTTT services are effectively the ones listed here.

When selecting WhatsApp, print above gives:

activity: Optional(__C.UIActivityType(_rawValue: net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.ShareExtension)), success: false, items: nil, error: nil

1.6k

Posted by

Claude31

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Answer 1

Apps can only exclude the built-in system activity types (the constants listed in the UIActivity.ActivityType struct), and are not allowed to exclude extension activities that come from other apps.

Posted by

Frameworks Engineer

Thanks for the answer. It would be useful to have this mentioned in documentation.

—
Claude31

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Answer 2

Apps can only exclude the built-in system activity types (the constants listed in the UIActivity.ActivityType struct), and are not allowed to exclude extension activities that come from other apps.

Posted by

Frameworks Engineer

Thanks for the answer. It would be useful to have this mentioned in documentation.

—
Claude31

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Answer 3

Except that's not 100% accurate. That is the behavior in iOS. However, you can exclude 3rd party extension activities when you build for macOS (built for iPad) or Catalyst.

Posted by

joefromdoylestown

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Answer 4

I am excluding .postToWeibo but still I can see Weibo in the options. My code is

var activityViewController = UIActivityViewController(activityItems: [documentId+".pdf", pDfdata], applicationActivities: nil)   

activityViewController.excludedActivityTypes = [.postToTwitter, .postToFacebook, .postToFlickr, .postToTencentWeibo, .postToVimeo, .postToWeibo]

present(activityViewController, animated: true)

Can you please let me know what is the reason for this?

Posted by

DivyaACN

I think it was possible when Weibo was integrated in iOS (like Twitter and Facebook) but since those integrations have been removed from iOS and are now managed through Share Extension I think the accepted answer is the answer to your question.

—
Tibimac

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Answer 5

@DivuaACN read the correct answer ; Apps can only exclude the built-in system activity types (the constants listed in the UIActivity.ActivityType struct), and are not allowed to exclude extension activities that come from other apps.

Posted by

Claude31

@Claude31 I am using built in system activity types .postToWeibo. but still I can see Weibo in the shared apps options.

—
DivyaACN

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Excluding activity types for UIActivityViewController: some are still present

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