When iOS Facebook's in-app browser loads my web page, I have a link there to "Download App Now" which links to the App Store Page, i.e.
https://itunes.apple.com/my/app/XXXXX/12345678?ls=1&mt=8
If this is loaded in Safari, it launches the corresponding app page in App Store correctly and users can instantly download the app.
However, if launched within Facebook's in-app browser, the browser shows a warning: "Leave Facbook? This web page is trying to open an app outside of Facebook. Are you sure you want to open it?"
If I click "Open App", nothing happens. I've tried changing the link using href, onclick, target=_blank and nothing works, basically FB app just failed to launch the external app page.
Is this a bug with Facebook app? I need the open app link feature as I'm showing a website and wish to redirect mobile users to download the app instead.
I'm using iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 8.1, and the latest Facebook app. I tried it in my iPad 4 iOS 7, same problem too.
Thanks!
As noted by WizKid, this is/was a known problem. It should be fixed with the most recent version of the app.
Related
Im using firebase dynamic link to open the mobile application (If already installed) or to redirect user to Playstore or app store.
In iOS mobile , I pasted the link in notes / messaging apps and while clicking the link it Opens the safari browser and it shows the Preview page. Upon clicking the "Open" button in preview page , it says "Safari cannot open the page because the address is invalid".
Can you please help me with this?
Note : In same iOS device , when I set the default browser to chrome and then clicking the Link opens the app correctly.
Finally I am able to resolve the issue.
The initial step is to create a universal link in Firebase console.
Once the universal link is created , we have to do following changes in XCode:
Enable associated domains under capablities
Include URL types
Must verify your Team ID that you would have provided in firebase console.
Once the universal link setup is completed in Xcode, we can do build and run and check the working of Universal link.
i.e. clicking the link should open the app (provided app is already installed).
and it should not open the safari browser.
If clicking the link opens safari browser , then there is a problem with the Universal link setup.
The below tutorial is very useful:
https://youtu.be/KLBjAg6HvG0
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.
I have setup my AASA JSON file to open the app when someone visits myDomain.com/ShowInTheApp/*
This works from Notes App, Email, Gmail App, Gmail web on safari and basically any other websites other myDomain.com .
When myDomain.com/chooseAppORweb.html contains a link to myDomain.com/ShowInTheApp/ , safari always opens it in the same tab, app wont get launched. I can tap and hold the link to show the context menu that contains an entry "Open In [My app name]" which will indeed launch my app. But not by single tapping on the link.
When I do the exact same steps from another domain, NOTmyDomain.com/chooseAppORweb.html always launches the app without issues.
Has anyone succeeded in launching the app consistently from the same domain using UL ?
Also, if there is an Apple's document that explains any of these behaviours, please share the link.
I'm not sure when Apple added this to their documentation, but it's explained on their Support Universal Links page, in the first note:
In iOS 9 and later, universal links let users open your app when they tap links to your website within WKWebView and UIWebView views and Safari pages, in addition to links that result in a call to openURL:, such as those that occur in Mail, Messages, and other apps.
When a user is browsing your website in Safari and they tap a universal link to a URL in the same domain as the current webpage, iOS respects the user’s most likely intent and opens the link in Safari. If the user taps a universal link to a URL in a different domain, iOS opens the link in your app.
For users who are running versions of iOS earlier than 9.0, tapping a universal link to your website opens the link in Safari.
(Emphasis added)
Essentially, once a user reaches a page hosted on your domain in Safari, any links they follow on your domain will be opened in Safari, even if they're defined as Universal Links by your app.
As st.derrick mentioned above, this is the in-place behavior for Universal links. If you have previously been taken to the App from the link, but then choose to be taken to the website when prompted with a long press, the functionality to open the App will break. You can remedy this by long-pressing again and choosing to open in-app. It's not an ideal solution, but it is the only way I've seen it be fixed. I hope this helps!
Deep linking is turned off for our app
But when ios users click a link we posted on our facebook page to our page app (https://apps.facebook.com/nakedwines/), they are redirected to the ios app instead of our competition page.
If an ios user enters the link manually into their browser, this works.
Is this a bug or is there something not set up right?
Your issue is that when mobile users try to access your app they're brought to the app store (when the app isn't installed) ? That's expected, if the app was installed it would be opened directly.
If you don't have an IOS app, remove the IOS details from the app settings and they'll be brought to your mobile web URL instead.
The Deep linking setting allows users who click posts from your app to be brought into the app with sufficient context to allow your app to display a specific piece of content.
i.e links to your app's content are passed through to the native app with the full URL, and your app can open that content directly.
For example, clicking a link to a spotify song on iOS opens the spotify app and plays that song, without deep linking it just opens spotify with no context.
I ended up creating a completely new facebook app for the competition page. This got round all of the issues. Facebook doesn't seem to play well if you have both a page app and ios/android apps under the same application.
I implemented universal links in the app and are working correctly when the app is installed. If the app is not installed, then I see safari is opening and then it is re-directing to AppStore as I had written redirection on the webpage.
But what I actually would like to happen is that it should be directed to the App Store directly without opening safari. As far as I checked the Apple documentation and other forums, it is mentioned that it cannot directly open the AppStore without opening the safari.
But I have seen some Apps like "Calm" opening the AppStore directly when a URL is shared from that app.
So, is there any way to directly open the Appstore with universal links?