At a glance: Unified deep linking (UDL) enables you to send new and existing users to a specific in-app activity (for example, a specific page in the app) as soon as the app is opened.
UDL privacy protection
The UDL method only returns parameters relevant to deep linking and deferred deep linking:
deep_link_value
anddeep_link_sub1
. If you try to get any other parameters (media_source
,campaign
,af_sub1-5
, etc.), they returnnull
.
Flow
UDL routes mobile users into a specific activity or content in an app.
The flow works as follows:
- User clicks a OneLink link.
- If the user has the app installed, the Android App Links or URI scheme opens the app.
- If the user doesn't have the app installed, they are redirected to the app store, and after downloading, the user opens the app.
- The app open triggers the AppsFlyer SDK.
- The AppsFlyer SDK runs the UDL API.
- The UDL API retrieves OneLink data from AppsFlyer servers.
- The UDL API calls back the
onDeepLinking()
method in theDeepLinkingListener
class. - The
onDeepLinking()
method gets aDeepLinkResult
object. - The ]
DeepLinkResult
] object includes:- Status (Found/Not found/Error)
- A [
DeepLink
] object that carries thedeep_link_value
anddeep_link_sub1
parameters, that the developer uses to route the user to a specific in-app activity, which is the main goal of OneLink.
[DeepLink
] https://dev.appsflyer.com/hc/docs/deeplink
Prerequisites
- UDL requires AppsFlyer Android SDK V6.1+.
Planning
When setting up OneLinks, the marketer uses parameters to create the links, and the developer customizes the behavior of the app based on the values received. It is the developer's responsibility to make sure the parameters are handled correctly in the app, for both in-app routing, and personalizing data in the link.
To plan the OneLink:
- Get from the marketer the desired behavior and personal experience a user gets when they click the URL.
- Based on the desired behavior, plan the
deep_link_value
and other parameters that are needed to give the user the desired personal experience.- The
deep_link_value
is set by the marketer in the URL and used by the developer to redirect the user to a specific place inside the app. For example, if you have a fruit store and want to direct users to apples, the value ofdeep_link_value
can beapples
. - The
deep_link_sub1
parameter can also be added to the URL to help personalize the user experience. For example, to give a 10% discount, the value ofdeep_link_sub1
can be10
.
- The
Implementation
Implement the UDL API logic based on the chosen parameters and values.
- Use the
subscribeForDeepLink()
method (fromAppsFlyerLib
) to register theDeepLinkListener
interface listener. - Make sure you override the callback function
onDeepLinking()
.
onDeepLinking()
accepts as an argument aDeepLinkResult
object. - Use
getStatus()
to query whether the deep linking match is found. - For when the status is an error, call
getError()
and run your error flow. - For when the status is found, use
getDeepLink()
to retrieve theDeepLink
object.
TheDeepLink
object contains the deep linking information and helper functions to easily retrieve values from well-known OneLink keys, for example,getDeepLinkValue()
. - Use
getDeepLinkValue()
to retrieve thedeep_link_value
. - Use
getStringValue("deep_link_sub1")
to retrievedeep_link_sub1
. - Once
deep_link_value
anddeep_link_sub1
are retrieved, pass them to an in-app router and use them to personalize the user experience.
Code example
appsflyer.subscribeForDeepLink(new DeepLinkListener(){
@Override
public void onDeepLinking(@NonNull DeepLinkResult deepLinkResult) {
DeepLinkResult.Status dlStatus = deepLinkResult.getStatus();
if (dlStatus == DeepLinkResult.Status.FOUND) {
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Deep link found");
} else if (dlStatus == DeepLinkResult.Status.NOT_FOUND) {
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Deep link not found");
return;
} else {
// dlStatus == DeepLinkResult.Status.ERROR
DeepLinkResult.Error dlError = deepLinkResult.getError();
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "There was an error getting Deep Link data: " + dlError.toString());
return;
}
DeepLink deepLinkObj = deepLinkResult.getDeepLink();
try {
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "The DeepLink data is: " + deepLinkObj.toString());
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "DeepLink data came back null");
return;
}
// An example for using is_deferred
if (deepLinkObj.isDeferred()) {
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "This is a deferred deep link");
} else {
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "This is a direct deep link");
}
// An example for using a generic getter
String fruitName = "";
try {
fruitName = deepLinkObj.getDeepLinkValue();
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "The DeepLink will route to: " + fruitName);
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "Custom param fruit_name was not found in DeepLink data");
return;
}
goToFruit(fruitName, deepLinkObj);
}
});
⇲ Github links: Java
Updated 17 days ago