I implemented universal link to my iOS app. It directs user to application if url has this "www.websiteurl.com/suburl/*.com" pattern.
I want this work only if user click this url from google search result. If user is already in website I want to open url in website either not open the application. How can I prevent it?
edit: I implemented Support Universal Links documentation.
Yes, this is possible, but I don't recommend it. If the user has the app installed, it seems like you should want to open the app as soon as possible since it is a much better experience. Anyways, here's my solution.
Option 1
Short answer: Wrap your website links in javascript
Why? according to the Apple standards of Universal Links, a link must be clicked on by a user to trigger the Universal Link, therefore if you set up all of your links on your website to be handled by javascript, the app will never open from inside your website.
Therefore, change
Link
Into a javascript call
Link
And open the link from javascript
function clickLink(link) {
window.open(link);
}
Option 2 (Better option)
Use a third-party like Branch links for all of your deep linking so that you can pass more context from web to app allowing the user to continue the same experience on mobile that they were just having on the web. Native is a much better experience 99.9% of the time and it converts users at a much higher rate than web.
Related
Is there any better solution for using deep links in iOS which has 100% success rate.
We started using Universal links in my projects. The problem with universal links is, sometimes they stop working (like redirecting to browser etc.) So every time when a user faces this issue our customer support team needs to help the users by making them to try few workarounds like:
1) Enabling the universal links again by copy paste on Notes, iMessage etc.
My requirement is when user clicks on a link from his email, I need to open my app and based on the context/meta-data passed form that deep link, I will handle the situation in my code. If we cannot deal this, what would be the suggested fallbacks when it redirects to browser ??
I need to open my particular UIViewController when the following link is clicked on the Safari browser:
http://my.sampledomain.com/en/customer/account/resetpassword/?id=24&token=8fbf662617d14c10f4a11f716c1b2285
When this link is clicked on the browser, I need to open my application on a particular screen and retrieve the data from this url. For example:
id = 24
token = 8fbf662617d14c10f4a11f716c1b2285
...and pass it to that particular UIViewController.
How can i do that?
What you are describing is called Deep Linking. It's a very common app feature to implement — most apps have it — and conceptually, it seems like an easy thing to build. However, it's complicated to get right, and there are a lot of edge cases.
You basically need to accomplish two things:
If the app is installed: open the app and route users to the correct content inside it.
If the app is NOT installed: forward users to the App Store so they can download it. Ideally, also route users to the correct content inside the app after downloading (this is known as 'deferred deep linking').
While not required, you'll also probably want to track all of this activity so you can see what is working.
If the app is installed
Your existing custom URI scheme fits into this category. However, Apple has decided that custom URI schemes are not a good technology, and deprecated them with iOS 9 in favor of Universal Links.
Apple is right about this. Custom URI schemes have a number of problems, but these are the biggest:
There is no fallback if the app isn't installed. In fact, you get an error.
They often aren't recognized as links the user can click.
To work around these, it used to be possible to use a regular http:// link, and then insert a redirect on the destination page to forward the user to your custom URI scheme, thereby opening the app. If that redirect failed, you could then redirect users to the App Store instead, seamlessly. This is the part Apple broke in iOS 9 to drive adoption of Universal Links.
Universal Links are a better user experience, because they are http:// links by default and avoid nasty errors. However, they are hard to set up and still don't work everywhere.
To ensure your users end up inside the app when they have it installed, you need to support both Universal Links and a custom URI scheme, and even then there are a lot of edge cases like Facebook and Twitter which require special handling.
If the app is NOT installed
In this case, the user will end up on your http:// fallback URL. At this point, you have two options:
Immediately forward the user directly to the App Store.
Send the user to your mobile website (and then use something like a smart banner to give them the option of going to the App Store).
Most large brands prefer the second option. Smaller apps often go with the first approach, especially if they don't have a website.
To forward the user to the App Store, you can use a Javascript redirect like this:
<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = function() {
window.location = "https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1121012049";
};
</script>
Until recently, it was possible to use a HTTP redirect for better speed, but Apple changed some behavior in Safari with iOS 10.3, so this no longer works as well.
Deferred deep linking
Unfortunately there's no native way to accomplish this last piece on either iOS or Android. To make this work, you need a remote server to close the loop. You can build this yourself, but you really shouldn't for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being you have more important things to do.
Bottom line
Deep linking is very complicated. Most apps today don't attempt to set it up by building an in-house system. Free hosted deep link services like Branch.io (full disclosure: they're so awesome I work with them) and Firebase Dynamic Links can handle all of this for you, and ensure you are always up to date with the latest standards and edge cases.
See here for a video overview an employee at Branch made of everything you need to know about this.
I have Universal Linking setup in my app.
Now when browsing my website in Safari and visiting a UL registered link, it opens in safari and asks me if I want to open in my App.
Is there a way that it always opens in the app? No prompt to open in app, just open when it is installed, else continue in safari.
There are two different issues here:
1. In Safari, the URL of a Universal Link needs to be on a different domain/subdomain than the page on which it appears
Apple is very conservative with where Universal Links are allowed to work. One of the limitations in Safari is not allowing the app to open if the user is already browsing the same site (this sort of pages sense — if the user made the effort to open a site in Safari instead of the app, it could be annoying if every single link on that site tried to open the app, especially if the app isn't properly configured for deep link routing).
The workaround is to use a separate domain/subdomain for links you want to open the app. For example, if your site is on example.com, point any link you want to open the app to link.example.com and then redirect users without the app back to the main website or onward to the App Store. This is actually the system we built at Branch.io (which you could consider using instead of re-building it yourself!)
2. What you have described is not Universal Links behavior
Universal Links do not ask the user for confirmation before opening the app, even the first time. They always open the app immediately without even requesting the web page, until/unless the user explicitly disables them (which is actually rather easy to do). What you're describing is the behavior of custom URI schemes, so I suspect you may have a some sort of automatic redirect to the app's URI scheme on the page the Universal Link points to. This is actually not the best idea in most cases, since users without the app will see a nasty error message.
I am trying to implement Branch marketing links in my app. I want for example to be able to create a link to share with users that will route them to a particular screen in the app. I noticed from the Branch docs that for some apps the link just opens the app store and not the actual app (even if it is installed). Being based in Asia I have the feeling that most of our customers will be wanting to share the link via an unsupported app such as Line. If a user is redirected to the app store via the link and then taps “open app”, what happens? Is the link meta data lost? Does the meta data only remain if the link is opened in an app such as mail or notes?
Alex from Branch.io here:
This list in the Branch documentation gives a partial list of apps that support Universal Links, but unfortunately it is not complete. We've tried to cover the most common apps.
Line is using a custom webview (not SFSafariViewController). It doesn't support Universal Links for the initial click, but this is one of the edge cases where Branch can detect the originating app and do some custom behavior. For Line, we trigger your app's URI scheme. This means the behavior your users see when clicking a Branch link from within Line is the same as Universal Links, even though Universal Links isn't actually the protocol being used.
If you want to handle other apps where Branch doesn't have a workaround like this, you could try enabling the deepviews feature. This will cause the link to open a content preview with a button to launch the app (or forward to the App Store if not installed).
When a user with the app already installed clicks the Open button on the App Store page, all the meta data is preserved and they will still be deep linked. Branch doesn't know (or care!) what happens between when the user clicks the link and the app launches, so that gives you plenty of flexibility.
Universal Links have some restrictions - not from Branch but from Apple's implementation. One of these restrictions is Universal Links cannot be opened from SFSafariViewController.
From Branch's docs, Line is not explicitly mentioned but other popular messaging apps may be of interest. I don't have Line myself but whether Line launches websites in it's own browser or the Safari app may give you a clue.
Facebook Messenger - works conditionally
WeChat - works conditionally
Twitter - works conditionally
LinkedIn - works conditionally
Any app using SFSafariViewController - works conditionally
I have a mobile web app designed as a single place for employees of our company to help them locate various online resources. The app has a lot of in-app content, but also provides links to external partner websites. My issue is a common one with a bit of a twist. I like the way the app looks in standalone mode on an iphone, but am struggling to figure out a solution for keeping the app in stand-alone mode, while also providing the ability to open external links in safari. I know how to keep the app in standalone mode when links are clicked, but when an external link is clicked, one of two problems occurs:
1) If I code the external link to keep it in standalone mode, there is no way to navigate back to my app from the external site as the back button is obviously no longer available.
2) If I code the external link to open in safari, when the user is done with the external link, the session for my app is closed and the user has to go back to their homescreen and re-open it again. (I know I can code it so that they will return to where they were in the session, but this is not the solution I want).
My question is this, is there a way to open external links ON TOP OF a standalone web app session? So that when the external link is closed, the standalone web app session appears?
I've read that I can use AJAX to open external links within the active session, but I don't know how to do this and can't find anything online that explains it well. Any help would be MUCH appreciated.
My app functions fine in safari, but looks SO much better in standalone mode; I would be SO appreciative if anyone can provide a solution. I am also willing to discuss paying someone to help with this as well.
Cheers,
SC
Turn your app into an actual app, not just a web site. You should implement your own web browser in your app using UIWebView. It's very simple. You probably only need a back button and a close button, you don't need a full search/address bar, bookmarks, etc. UIWebView and two buttons will do it.
As soon as you switch apps to Safari you will see the behavior you have described - there's no getting around it. Your only choice is not to exit.
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/uikit/reference/UIWebView_Class/Reference/Reference.html