How do I open the deep link in mobile browser rather than mobile app in react native - react-native

What I am trying to do is opening a deep link in mobile browse (Not in app). Deeplinking is all set up, all the links with specific domains are opening/navigating into app opened from any where else. Now here is a scenario that there are some particular links with same domain (I set up deeplinking for), I want to open that in browser because I don't have any view to show for that link in my app so I want them open in browser.
I have identified the links but when I opened these links via Linking.openUrl it navigates me to the app.
if (lowerUrl.includes(PostType.NO_DEEP_LINK)) {
Linking.openURL(lowerUrl);
return null;
}
Is there any method I can specify the Linking method to open url in mobile browser not in app although the url has a same domain that is setup for deep linkg.

Solution 1#
The best possible solution for that can be using android:pathPattern in android manifest. Basically you have to provide path pattern (a sort regex) to match the valid links.
Documentation for that can be found here.
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/data-element
Solution # 2
One has to make RN Native Module and instead Linking.openURL(lowerUrl) to handle this kind of scenario.
To make browser native module one can take help from here.
This solution doesn't work with devices which lacks google play services like Kindle Fire, etc

Related

React Native send email with link to web app or mobile app

I am trying to implement deep linking into this app. The app is a React Native Expo app, and is served on web, iOS and Android. There are a bunch of things we want to achieve with this i.e. link to specific things in the app such as certain messages etc. But currently my primary focus is just to navigate to general screens like 'Home', 'Messages', 'Login' etc.
I have been testing and so far, I can enter the URIs such as exp://host:port/--/login and they work as expected.
However, I know and understand that this will not work in a web browser on my laptop for example.
So my question is, how do I send an email to a user let's say after they have verified their account, prompting them to login, with a link that will for one, take them to the web app if they are on desktop, and two open the mobile app if they have it installed on their phone?
And just as an example, let's imagine my deep link URI is myapp://login
Thanks for any help.
EDIT
After looking around some more, I am deciding to consider the possibility of linking to the web app, and upon the web app loading, linking to the mobile app if they have it installed.
Given this, what is the best way to handle this?
You can follow one of the next approaches.
Validate the request origin and based on that generate the link for
an specific platform.
Generate as much links as platform are currently serving you app.
Like: Link to iOS, Link to Android and Link To web
You can design image buttons for each one to make it prettier

Why dynamic links in React Native are opening the browser first?

I'm trying to communicate two React Native apps using Firebase Dynamic Links, only in Android.
When I execute openLink with the URL of the other, I see the browser for a second, and then it opens the other app well.
I don't want to see an intermediate browser before open the other app.
I'm having that issue from app A to B, and viceversa.
So, why is the browser opening first? And how can I configure the apps in order to not open the browser?
it's default behavior of android devices.
usually if any link supported by app and its set default to open link then it will open directly otherwise android system opens browser and based on Link URI scheme navigate to app.
there is one solution,
You can create module (intent activity) which will launch that app directly.
Steps to follow
pass data from js to native module and from that use Intent class, set data and start it.
this was for Android use case.

Expo shared link is not clickable

I've been trying to create mechanism for my Expo app, that will allow users to share content of app (so I basically need linking with params, and I think I know how to do it, according to docs).
I wanted to start creating this mechanism with simple sharing, without params (just clickable link that opens app). Here's my code (executed when user presses share button):
share = async () => {
await Share.share({
message: Linking.makeUrl()
})
}
It shares link as excepted (I tried it on messenger), but shared link is not clickable. I also tried using exp://192.168.100.3:190000 that points to my PC in the same LAN (I coped that from http://localhost:19002/), where metro bundler is running, and copying Tunnel link - neither of those worked, link is just a plain text, and if user clicks on it nothing happens. But, when I scan QR code, from http://localhost:19002/ (metro bundler page) application opens as excepted.
You're doing everything just fine!
The reason why a shared link is not clickable in some apps is simply because of the mechanisms of the other apps for "detecting" links from plain text and "linkifying" them.
You see, these links are actually "deep links" (custom URL schemes).
Here's an example. If I share this link: exp://192.168.100.3:190000 over Slack, it becomes "clickable", because it looks like Slack has a mechanism to detect these custom "deep links" which lead to a mobile app:
If I share the same link over Messanger, it outputs it as a plain text. This is because Messanger doesn't have a mechanism to detect these "deep links".
In order for the link to "click", it must be rendered in an anchor tag. Messenger simply linkifies only "known" web links (http://, https://...), not custom ones.
The QR code reader in your case opens your deep link, because it has a mechanism to detect "deep links".
So, if you want a reliable way for making your links always "clickable", here's the workaround: spin-off a web site. When people generate (and share) links, they share web links https://your-server. When they open these links -> the web server redirects them with the exp://... (or your custom) scheme. If users have your app installed - the links will open with your app.

Branch.io architecture query

I have the following requirement and based on the branch docs I cannot get myself a straight answer.
We want to enable deep links that if the user has the app installed that it uses them and if not redirects to download then redirects.
If the user is on a desktop they get redirected to a page to download app.
We want to control all the actual deep linking using react navigation config and wanted to know how we can pair the two!? The guides are very poorly written and makes understanding the flow a nightmare.
Some guidance and suggestions on how best to accomplish this would be great.
P.s. are the links generated that when app found it takes the prefix and replaces with appname:// ??
Your requirement for deep linking can be handled with Branch, you can set the URI schemes of the apps under the link settings of your Branch dashboard and also mention your app on PlayStore/Appstore for the user to download the app when clicked on the link.Similarly you can add the redirection URLs for the scenarios when your link is clicked on a desktop.
Alternatively you can use our React SDK to create links with all these link properties and even more. More details here.
The handling of the deep link data and redirecting the user to the desired page can be found here.
If you wish to know more about how Branch passes data through to the app and attributes app sessions, check this.

How to get the URI scheme of any app for AppLinks/universal linking?

I need to open a third-party app from my react native mobile app. I understand that this is called universal linking on iOS and AppLink on Android.
I have done a lot of research for this, and I have been able to set up a link to the third party app on the app store. Now I just need to get my app to open up the app if the user has it installed. That requires the URI scheme of the other app, though.
My question is, how do I get the URI scheme to this third party app? Rather, how do I get the URI scheme of any app? I know the URI scheme of the twitter app is 'twitter://app', but the app I am trying to link to is way more niche than twitter or other popular apps, so there is no help for this sort of thing online.
Any tips?
Finding the URL scheme of an iOS app
Due to Apple's tendency for secrecy, it's not easy to find the URL scheme of an iOS app. But it can be done. Here's how I do it, using a Mac app called iMazing.
Launch iMazing, select a connected iOS device, click Apps:
In the footer of the window, click Manage Apps:
Select the app you're interested in , then select Export .IPA menu item. Note: You may need to download the app first.
The saved file will have the .ipa extension. Change the extension to .zip, and unzip the file. You now have a directory with the name matching the app's name.
Assuming "asana" is the app name, open the file "asana/Payload/asana.app/Info.plist" in a text editor, and search for a section that contains "CFBundleURLSchemes". Assuming the app contains CFBundleURLSchemes (they are optional), it should look something like this:
The URL scheme is in the <string>asana</string>, so the complete url scheme in this case is "asana://". Test that the URL launches the app by typing it into iOS Safari browser window. If it works, Safari should display an alert like this:
What About Apps Without CFBundleURLSchemes?
I haven't found a way to launch apps without CFBundleURLSchemes directly, but you can link to the app's page in the App Store, where the user can open the app with the Open button (or Get button if the app is not installed).
You will need to obtain the app page's URL from the App Store:
Open App Store, go to the app's page, click the share icon:
Click Copy Link:
The URL will look like this:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/asana-organize-tasks-work/id489969512
Clicking on that link in Safari will bring up the app page in the App Store.
Maybe it is worth to start with some background:
There are various ways to deep link into an app, and it depends on the platform (iOS\Android\WindowsPhone...) and its version.
On iOS, up until version 9, the way to open an app was by using URI schemes, e.g. the one you added above: twitter://app. Each app declares the scheme that should be used. Therefore in order to deep link into the app you wish to open, you'll need to use the scheme that it declared. This is the same for Android until version 6.
Starting iOS9+, Apple introduced Universal Links as the method for deep linking. Here's some information: https://developer.apple.com/ios/universal-links/
In these versions, URI schemes won't longer work when using Safari browser (which is the iOS default browser) if the app is not installed. If the app is installed, however, URI schemes should allow opening the app, if everything is configured successfully. In Android there's a similar method called "AppLinks".
Having said this, the above information is for setting deep link for your app. I do not think that it is a common use case to open a third party app from your app - deep links are configured and used by the app owner (e.g. for publishing his\her app to engage users).