I recently implemented universal links in iOS. It works fine in iOS version 12.1 and below but fails to redirect back to the app in iOS 12.2 and 12.3.
Issue in 12.2 and higher:
The browser doesn’t redirects back to the app but I do get a banner(with an ‘OPEN’ button) in the browser to open the content in the app.
Even when I copy the link in Notes and long press it, it shows me the option to open the link in my app.
I read in some article that there is a possibility that universal links get disabled and by choosing the option to ‘Open in {myApp}’ re-enables it. But this is not the case.
Despite trying the above method, universal links still doesn’t works the way it should.
Pre-Checks:
AASA link is verified through Branch.io validator
Applink is registered in entitlements.plist file
Proper handling of redirected url is performed (Note that I do get a banner in the browser to open the url in my app and upon clicking
on it, the app functions as it needs to)
Is there any change from 12.2 that I am missing?
I went through the release notes and was unable to find anything about universal links.
Any help is appreciated.
I am trying to integrate Firebase dynamic link into IOS app but the problem is that even if the app is installed the dynamic link is taking me to app store page to download the App from app store.
Did anybody face the same problem and have solution for the same.
Edited the link through firebase console. With the 'Skip the app preview page' enabled and 'Use a custom scheme when universal links aren't supported' disabled I was always redirected to the app store.
The solution for me was to enable both universal links and a custom
scheme.
Can't say why, but maybe it will help someone.
After spending my whole one day, I am able to figure it out finally. It is working if your app is live, just set App ID & TeamID in Firebase App settings.
Issue comes up when app is not live and we are setting another App ID. Just add following line, it will work like a charm:
FirebaseApp.configure()
FirebaseOptions.defaultOptions()?.deepLinkURLScheme = Bundle.main.bundleIdentifier
Setting deepLinkURLScheme with your bundle id.
TL;DR: To make it work, you must also set up the Firebase Dynamic Link as a universal link in your app settings. To do so, see below.
My dynamic link worked with the preview page, but then I added "&efr=1" to skip the preview page and redirect directly to either the App Store or my app. It worked with the preview page because it called the universal link that was already set up with the app.
Example: My app is named Spontit. Preview page worked because the "Open" button redirected to spontit.com, which is linked to my app. But the dynamic link is spontit.page.link - a different domain name - and therefore, if you skip the preview page, it opens spontit.page.link and not spontit.com in Safari and so not my app, and subsequently redirected to the App Store always.
You must set up the custom dynamic link (e.g. spontit.page.link) as a universal link. Follow these steps to do so.
Source: https://firebase.google.com/docs/dynamic-links/ios/receive
I faced the exact same problem.
To work around this, I give up href attribute and use onclick on <a/>
<a onclick="location.href=https://somedynamiclink.url">Dynamic Link</a>
Please note, no href attribute on a tag.
In my one of the apps I have implemented branch.io.
I have read each and everything and settled my account accordingly.
Now what I want from branch.io
1) If app is present in device it should open on the click of
marketing url.
2) If app is not present in device then it should redirect to app
store application page.**
What is not working
1> Though app is present but it is not opening my app. From same url
schema I can open my app from safari browser "appname://" but not able
to open from link of branch.io. It always opens app store page.
Please help me.
Thank you
Alex from Branch.io here. What you want from Branch is exactly what we do, so let's figure out what is going wrong!
This sounds like a Universal Links configuration issue. If you did not get Universal Links set up fully, then Branch links will redirect to the App Store. If you haven't yet set up Universal Links, go ahead and complete this guide to get started. If you have set up Universal Links, we have a troubleshooting guide you can run through to catch most issues.
I have developed & installed an iOS app locally on my device.
And have set custom scheme in the info.plist as mydlink
Set associated domains as weel: applinks:<myapp>.app.goo.gl
Created dynamic link on firebase as:
https://<myapp>.app.goo.gl/?link=http://<mysite.com>/&ibi=<app bundle id>&ius=mydlink&ifl=https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id%3D<app store id>%26mt%3D8&pt=<app store id>
When I open or click on dynamic link, it opens app page in the "App Store" app and not opening app itself though its installed.
What am I missing here?
sometimes we make a mistake in Associated Domains entitlements. There have to be no spaces
applinks:mydomain.page.link
If you are on iOS 9, universal links will be used. Universal links don't work in a lot of cases, like:
If you use a simulator
If you try to open the link directly in safari on a device (typing it into the address field in the browser)
I spent a lot of time trying this and could never get it to work on a simulator in a reliable way. What I end up doing is emailing the link to me and opening it from Inbox. Then it works every time!
I had an issue using iOS 14, running on device in debug mode.
Link has always redirected me to the AppStore app not to my app.
The solution was to enable "Associated Domains Development" on iPhone Settings>Developer>Associated Domains Development
(found it here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/63939770/6689321 ).
I'm sorry for the late reply - I hope your issue has been resolved and that this is helpful to others who may be experiencing the same problem.
There could actually be one or more issues here for iOS 9+; Dynamic Links relies on Apple's Universal Links to open the app on iOS 9+ and these suggestions are aimed at resolving issues with Universal Links and Firebase and have nothing to do with the SDK directly.
Verify that the assoc file is correct at https://app_id.app.goo.gl/apple-app-site-association - it should look similar to https://maps.app.goo.gl/apple-app-site-association but with only one element in "details."
As pointed out by another answer, verify that your team ID is properly set in the Firebase console.
If you've long-pressed the link and then clicked "Open in Safari" or you have clicked the "goo.gl>" button on the status bar of your app after the app opens via a Universal Link, then iOS defaults to opening Universal Links in Safari. This can be fixed by pulling down on the paged opened in Safari and clicking "Open in App" (or similar) on the smart banner.
The "ibi" parameter is not involved in opening the app in a post-install click on iOS 9+, but is in prior versions when the "ius" param is not set.
Regarding iOS 8, can you try running the app and then clicking a link after the app is installed? On versions prior to iOS 9, you can test by copy/pasting the link into safari.
https://firebase.google.com/docs/dynamic-links/ios
Just in case there is still someone out there having this issue, please note the following
Dynamic links now opens on simulator, please copy your link and paste on safari in your emulator.
Chrome and safari opens dynamic differently, safari uses only universal linking while chrome uses both url scheme and universal linking to open dynamic link. Ultimately you should try to get dynamic linking opening via universal link in your app.
If your dynamic link routes to App Store instead of opening your app. there is an issue with your universal link. You can temporarily test using chrome.
To set up opening dynamic link via universal link, please check the following
Ensure your Team id is correctly set In firebase console, get your team id from your membership detail in https://developer.apple.com
Ensure your domain is listed in your associated domain as shown below, no space between the domain
Ensure Associated domain is turned on in your apple developer account
if you are using a custom domain, ensure you add it to the info.plist as shown below.
I make a mistake that not setup Associated Domains for DEBUG, so make sure you setup Associated Domains all both DEBUG & RELEASE
I experienced same problem. Interestingly if you open the dynamic link in Chrome, app starts directly and successfully. But in Safari always it tries to open AppStore although the app is installed. I have no idea why Safari doesn't work in this case.
If none of the above workarounds work for you, please check if you have added activitycontinuation in associated domains or not.
Firebase dynamic links were not working for us (on iOS9 where they use universal links) due to a problem in Firebase's assumptions during setup. Here's how we fixed the problem on our app:
Firebase asks for your "Team ID" when adding your iOS app to Firebase Console Project Settings, and it assumes that your unique app ID will be in the format TeamID.com.foo.bar
However, in our case, that was NOT our unique app ID. When I looked at our provisioning profile (on developer.apple.com I found our provisioning profile and clicked "edit"), I saw that our unique app ID was actually SomethingElse.com.foo.bar
I had to go into Firebase Console and enter that "SomethingElse" in the spot where it asked for Team ID, even though that was NOT our team ID. Once I made that change, Firebase Dynamic Links started working correctly.
It appears Firebase is making an assumption that your unique app ID will always start with your Team ID, which is apparently not always the case.
Note that changing your Team ID can take a significant amount of time to take effect. You can see that the change has happened by checking the appropriate link for your app_id (https://app_id.app.goo.gl/apple-app-site-association).
After integrating Firebase Dynamic links, the sample link started working immediately on a device with iOS 8. For iOS 9 devices Universal links mechanism is used, as mentioned by other answers. This means Apple needs to update the entitlement data used to verify deep link dual authentication. This may take 48 hours, according to Apple's App Search API Validation Tool.
There are more Universal links troubleshooting tips here.
Experienced the same problem.
The solution for me was to use the
Identifiers -> App IDs -> 'my.app.ID' -> Prefix
You can find it on: https://developer.apple.com/account/ios/identifier/bundle
Instead of the 'DevelopmentTeam' number from the .pbxproj which I used and add it to the Team ID for my iOS app in the Firebase console.
And don't forget to download and add a new .plist to the project.
i had same issue with latest flutter sdk and firebase dynamic links plugin.
Tried all solutions the only fix was to manually insert com.apple.developer.associated-domains key to ios/Runner/Running.entitlements file
<key>com.apple.developer.associated-domains</key>
<array>
<string>applinks:abc.page.link</string>
</array>
I have great news.
I always hear that it's IMPOSSIBLE to test a dynamic link on simulator.
But now WE CAN test firebase dynamic link on simulator
https://stackoverflow.com/a/56385506/6273003
When link is open in safari, It shows a "open (project name)"button. If this button is pressed for 2-3 second, It asks for opening that into different apps for first time.It also shows your app name. If you select your app, It opens your app. After doing that if you again open this link and press button in safari, it always work fine.
This fixed the problem for me.
After completing the setup in Firebase and in the Xcode project.
Add below code inside SceneDelegate instead AppDelegate.
func scene(_ scene: UIScene, continue userActivity: NSUserActivity) {
if let incomingURL = userActivity.webpageURL {
print("Incoming URL is \(incomingURL)")
let linkHandled = DynamicLinks.dynamicLinks().handleUniversalLink(incomingURL) { (dynamicLink, error) in
guard error == nil else{
print("Found an error! \(error!.localizedDescription)")
return
}
if let dynamicLink = dynamicLink {
self.handleIncomingDynamicLink(dynamicLink)
}
}
}
Set on your Xcode project the correct form to declare Associated Domain, you must to include applinks:
Make sure you have a Team Id set in the firebase console for you app. (you will then need to download and import the .plist file).
This fixed the problem for me.
We had a similar problem. The issue in our case was that the software that generated the emails with the links generated a new link that had a 304-redirect to our deep link. This did not work in Safari (but in Chrome).
Check that your deep link is actually the first link opened when you click the link in the email.
i had same case and it fixed with after defined ios app on deeplink url;
Dynamic Links -> choose your link -> Edit
make sure that you have defined ios app;
I had the problem, that the AASA file was different at the locations
[domain]/.well-known/apple-app-site-association
[domain]/apple-app-site-association
The validator from branch always checks the file on the non well known path. It was confusing because it always said it was all fine even though is was not.
For Firebase, check your hosting and search in the public dir for a .well-known folder. In my case, I could just delete it, run firebase deploy --only hosting and let Firebase generate all AASA files for me.
https://branch.io/resources/aasa-validator/
If you are sure all your dynamic links config in xcode is correct, link is good, but it still opens Appstore you can try this trick:
Copy the link and paste it into the notes app
Long press on the link in notes to see context menu
If you see button "Open in YourAppName" - try pressing it.
please check associated domains as well: applinks:.app.goo.gl is correct or not? and Dynamic link is easily work on iOS Simulater , I don't get any issues.
I have added my URL scheme to my .plist.
I have manually tested the scheme in Safari and confirmed that it launches my app just fine.
I have generated a hosted app links link that uses the scheme.
Nothing except my own URL was entered when creating the hosted app link.
When I tap the link on my phone (with my app installed) it takes me to a page with the text You have reached an implementation detail. It's pretty obvious that Facebook didn't even try to use the URL that I had provided when creating this hosted app link.
I should add that I have successfully created other hosted app links moments before that managed to redirect to webpages and to appstore, so there's nothing wrong with mobile Safari.
Where to go from here?
Edit: My app is, of course, in development.
I was having the same issue until i updated my app settings in the facebook developer site.
In the image for #1 you enter the prefix (even though it says suffix...) for your url scheme (ex: if you use myapp://testing/here, then enter "myapp" into the field)
make sure #2 is flipped to yes
Facebook iOS Settings
This is an old thread, but after spending some time on this I realized that the https://fb.me/... links only open from within the Facebook app on the device. They will not (and are not intended) to open from a web browser. After posting the link in a Facebook group I was able to successfully open my app with it.