iOS Contextual Navigation Toolbar

📘

Unlike Android devices iPhones and iPads do not have a built-in back button, which can make navigating your website from within your app challenging. This feature provides a native navigation toolbar that shows on the bottom of the device screen dependent on navigation history and page URL. By default, the toolbar will include a Back button but it can be customized to also show with Forward and Refresh buttons.

By default, the Contextual Navigation Toolbar will be displayed whenever there is a page in the webview history that can be returned to. This functionality makes it easier for users to navigate your app in a similar manner to your website.

Back Button Back, Refresh, and Forward buttons

Configuration

By default, the Contextual Navigation Toolbar will show a back button with a text label "< Back". You may edit the navigation configuration object in appConfig.json to:

  • Add a Forward button
  • Add a Refresh button
  • Change the toolbar visibility settings to show based on history
    • Only show when there is a page in history (default:) "visibilityByBackButton": "backButtonActive"
    • Always show regardless of history: "visibilityByBackButton": "always"
  • Change the toolbar visibility to only show on all pages or specific pages
    • Show on all pages displayed within the app: "visibilityByPages": "allPages"
    • Only show on specific pages based on regexes provided: "visibilityByPages": "specificPages"
  • Change the visibility of the buttons based on specific pages
  • Change the display of the Back and Forward buttons to show without a text label or with a custom test label

Examples

/* Default Toolbar */
"toolbarNavigation": {
  "enabled": true,
  "visibilityByPages": "allPages",
  "visibilityByBackButton": "backButtonActive",
  "regexes": [
    {
    "enabled": true,
    "regex": ".*"
    }
  ],
  "items": [
    {
      "system": "back",
      "titleType": "defaultText",
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [{ "enabled": true, "regex": ".*" }]
    },
    {
      "system": "refresh",
      "enabled": false,
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [{ "enabled": true, "regex": ".*" }]
    },
    {
      "system": "forward",
      "enabled": false,
      "titleType": "defaultText",
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [{ "enabled": true, "regex": ".*" }]
    }
  ]
}
/* All Options */
"toolbarNavigation": {
  "enabled": true,
  "visibilityByPages": "allPages" | "specificPages",
  "visibilityByBackButton": "backButtonActive" | "always",
  "regexes": [
    {
      "enabled": true | false,
      "regex": ".*"
    }
  ],
  "items": [
    {
      "system": "back",
      "title": "Back",
      "titleType": "noText" | "defaultText" | "customText",
      "visibility": "allPages" | "specificPages",
      "urlRegex": [
        { 
          "enabled": true | false, 
          "regex": ".*" 
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "system": "refresh",
      "enabled": false,
      "visibility": "allPages" | "specificPages",
      "urlRegex": [
        { 
          "enabled": true | false, 
          "regex": ".*" 
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "system": "forward",
      "enabled": false,
      "title": "Forward",
      "titleType": "noText" | "defaultText" | "customText",
      "visibility": "allPages" | "specificPages",
      "urlRegex": [
        { 
          "enabled": true | false, 
          "regex": ".*" 
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
/* Example: Custom Text Labels */
"toolbarNavigation": {
  "enabled": true,
  "visibilityByPages": "allPages",
  "visibilityByBackButton": "backButtonActive",
  "regexes": [
    {
      "enabled": true,
      "regex": ".*"
    }
  ],
  "items": [
    {
      "system": "back",
      "title": "背部",
      "titleType": "customText",
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [
        { 
          "enabled": true | false, 
          "regex": ".*" 
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "system": "refresh",
      "enabled": false,
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [
        { 
          "enabled": true | false, 
          "regex": ".*" 
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "system": "forward",
      "enabled": false,
      "title": "向前",
      "titleType": "customText",
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [
        { 
          "enabled": true | false, 
          "regex": ".*" 
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
/* Example: Visible Specific Pages */
/* Visibility based on the first matched regex */
/* Example: For the URLs matching the first regex (FAQ page),
	 the toolbar will be hidden (because "enabled": false), while for the URLs
   matching the second regex (all Median webpages), the toolbar will be 
   visible and so on.
*/
"toolbarNavigation": {
  "enabled": true,
  "visibilityByPages": "specificPages",
  "visibilityByBackButton": "always",
  "regexes": [
    {
      "regex": "https://median.co/faq.*",
      "enabled": false
    },
    {
      "regex": "https://median.co/.*",
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "regex": ".*",
      "enabled": false
    }
  ],
  "items": [
    {
      "system": "back",
      "titleType": "defaultText",
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [{ "enabled": true, "regex": ".*" }]
    },
    {
      "system": "refresh",
      "enabled": false,
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [{ "enabled": true, "regex": ".*" }]
    },
    {
      "system": "forward",
      "enabled": false,
      "titleType": "defaultText",
      "visibility": "allPages",
      "urlRegex": [{ "enabled": true, "regex": ".*" }]
    }
  ]
}

🚧

Android

This is an iOS-specific feature and is not supported on Android