How to intercept click on link in UITextView?

Update: From ios10,

- (BOOL)textView:(UITextView *)textView shouldInteractWithURL:(NSURL *)URL inRange:(NSRange)characterRange interaction:(UITextItemInteraction)interaction;

From ios7 and Later UITextView has the delegate method:

- (BOOL)textView:(UITextView *)textView shouldInteractWithURL:(NSURL *)URL inRange:(NSRange)characterRange *NS_DEPRECATED_IOS(7_0, 10_0, "Use textView:shouldInteractWithURL:inRange:forInteractionType: instead");*

to intercept the clicks to links. And this is the best way to do it.

For ios6 and earlier a nice way to do this is to by subclassing UIApplication and overwriting the -(BOOL)openURL:(NSURL *)url

@interface MyApplication : UIApplication {}@end@implementation MyApplication-(BOOL)openURL:(NSURL *)url{    if  ([self.delegate openURL:url])         return YES;    else         return [super openURL:url];}@end

You will need to implement openURL: in your delegate.

Now, to have the application start with your new subclass of UIApplication, locate the file main.m in your project. In this small file that bootstraps your app, there is usually this line:

int retVal = UIApplicationMain(argc, argv, nil, nil);

The third parameter is the class name for your application. So, replacing this line for:

int retVal = UIApplicationMain(argc, argv, @"MyApplication", nil);

This did the trick for me.

In iOS 7 or Later

You can use the following UITextView delegate Method:

- (BOOL)textView:(UITextView *)textView shouldInteractWithURL:(NSURL *)URL inRange:(NSRange)characterRange

The text view calls this method if the user taps or long-presses the URL link. Implementation of this method is optional. By default, the text view opens the application responsible for handling the URL type and passes it the URL. You can use this method to trigger an alternative action, such as displaying the web content at the URL in a web view within the current application.

Important:

Links in text views are interactive only if the text view is selectable but noneditable. That is, if the value of the UITextView the selectable property is YES and the isEditable property is NO.

For Swift 3

textView.delegate = selfextension MyTextView: UITextViewDelegate {    func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith URL: URL, in characterRange: NSRange) -> Bool {        GCITracking.sharedInstance.track(externalLink: URL)        return true    }}

or if target is >= IOS 10

func textView(_ textView: UITextView, shouldInteractWith URL: URL, in characterRange: NSRange, interaction: UITextItemInteraction) -> Bool