Links within an iPhone app

Question

Imagine an iPhone app with a tab bar (5 items) and a link to the user's profile in the header.

Now let's say that you're somewhere in tab 5 and you'd like to make a link to a screen within the user's profile.

I feel like this is not a good practice. An app isn't quite like a website and there aren't usually links from a tab to another.

Do you know a way around this? Or do you have any explanation on why this is not a good practice within an app?

The one solution I can think about is to bring up the screen in a modal view but this doesn't really work for me here.

Answer 1

Usually, the app account data is different and separate from the app content. So you should make it clear in the app what section the user is viewing or editing. You can think of the profile page as another tab if you want. Just highlight "where" the user is. But it's fine to have a link back to your profile. For example, if you see something in the app content that you want to add to your profile page, such as a picture, then you would click a link that would let you add it to your profile. Like Facebook lets you share or post to your own wall. Modal dialogs are useful for quick edits. For more detailed edits, you might make a whole page dedicated to performing it.