I'm creating Firebase Dynamic Links programmatically in an Android and iOS apps.
Both apps are already available in Google Play and the App Store, so I want to use MinimumVersion to redirect users to the appropriate store if they are using previous versions.
The iOS parameters documentation states:
The version number of the minimum version of your app that can open the link. This flag is passed to your app when it is opened, and your app must decide what to do with it.
So if I understand it correctly, previous version would not be able to use it, as the code to decide what to do with it, doesn't exist in the current iOS version?
The Android parameters documentation states:
The versionCode of the minimum version of your app that can open the link. If the installed app is an older version, the user is taken to the Play Store to upgrade the app.
But when I try it, the Android device still suggests the current app to handle the intent, and doesn't redirect the user to upgrade it.
When I choose the app it opens it instead of redirecting.
What can cause this behavior?
Am I missing something in my understanding of how Firebase Dynamic Links suppose to work?
Related
we have successfully implemented dynamic links natively on iOS, but we loose our UTM parameters, when the User installs his App via AppStore.
Details:
In case a user has not installed the targeted App, then the user will be redirected to the AppStore after tabbing on the dynamic link. After installing the app and open it, the UTM parameters are not being sent to Google Analytics.
I assume these UTM parameters get lost during the AppStore redirect, as this Issue does not reproduce for users, who have already installed the App. Also for Android, we could not reproduce this.
Any hints on that? Thanks!
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).
I have a requirement to open the native version of the hybrid app (.ipa/.apk/.appx) when the hybrid app is requested in a device browser.
I am able to detect the environment using WL.Client.getEnvironment(); method, if it is found to be Android/iPad, I want to launch the respective .apk/.ipa file in the device. Any help is appreciated.
Re-reading this question and the comments several times... I still do not understand the actual scenario... it'd be best to rephrase it.
Scenario: How to open an app from the web browser:
If you have added the following environments to your Worklight application:
Mobile Web
Android
iPhone
And when visiting the Mobile Web version of your app, you want to display a message like "For the full experience, open the full application by clicking here".
Then:
It is implied that the user already has the application installed.
If it is not installed, you need to take care of that somehow
The way to handle this scenario is to use URI schemas:
For Android: How to implement my very own URI scheme on Android
This means that after adding the custom URI schema to AndroidManifest.xml, you could then detect the device OS the Mobile Web app is currently running on and display a custom link: myapp://<the URI schema you've defined>. Tapping it will open the app installed on the device.
For iOS, in a similar fashion: https://coderwall.com/p/mtjaeq
Also see: http://wiki.akosma.com/IPhone_URL_Schemes
Alternate solution: If you are not sure if the app will be installed or not, then instead of using URI schemas you can always point to either Google Play or Apple App Store, to the app page; the user will then have either a "Open" or "Install" link.
Scenario: How to open an app from my own app
If you have a Worklight Hybrid application (Mobile Web is not a Hybrid application), and you want to open another application from within it, you can:
Use the same approach of URI schemas, or
Use Cordova plug-ins
I have created this Worklight 6.1.0 project to demonstrate:
Android - How to open, for example, the Android Settings app from your Worklight Hybrid app
iOS - How to check if Waze is installed and open it, and if it is not installed then to open Apple Maps instead.
See instructions.txt in the apps\test folder.
Are you asking that if the user via their device browser hits the webapp version of your app on the internet, the website will ask the user to fire up the native app on their device? kind of like what ebay does?
if that is what you want check out these pages
android:Launch custom android application from android browser
IOS:
iPhone - Open Application from Web Page
I'd like to use branch smart banner because it can open app if it was installed. But i've understood how it work. I need install ios sdk in my app and use setIdentity?
Alex from Branch.io here: the smart banner actually doesn't require the SDK to be integrated. setIdentity is a completely separate method used for tracking individual users, and isn't used at all for the smart banner.
However, integrating the SDK is definitely the easiest way to get things working, because even without it you would still need to set up a Branch account, configure all your link routing rules in the Branch dashboard, and then enable Universal Links in your app (if it's iOS). Since that is 90% of the SDK set up process, you might as well do the whole thing so you can also take advantage of things like install attribution and analytics!
How do I notify and/or force a beta tester to update their installed version if a newer version has been uploaded / distributed?
Using either Crashlytics (aka Fabric.io) or HockeyApp, this should be possible. At the moment, I only see a way to do it via email notifications, but I have seen others do it via an in-app notification.
On HockeyApp, when integrating the SDK, the app will automatically notify the user with an alert if an update is available and the user can then update from within the app. In addition you can set a new version as being "mandatory" in the web interface, then the user will then be forced to update from within the app and can not skip the update.