Inquiry About Deferred Deep Link Limitation and Alternative Options

Thank you for contacting us regarding your inquiries about deferred deep linking in iOS applications. To ensure that we provide you with the most comprehensive and accurate information, we kindly request that you provide further clarification on your questions and share relevant examples.

Here are some specific areas that we would appreciate your input on:

Specific Scenarios:

• Could you elaborate on any specific scenarios where you have encountered difficulties with deferred deep linking? Are there any error messages or observable behaviors that you have observed?

App Installation State:

• You mentioned scenarios where the application is not installed. Could you provide more detailed information about these situations? Are you utilizing Universal Links for an application that has not been installed? Have you considered Smart Banners? What experience are you anticipating?

Examples of Deep Links:

• Could you share some examples of the deep links that you are employing and the desired behavior versus the actual behavior? Are you inquiring about Deep Linking or Universal Links?

Target iOS Versions:

• Are you targeting specific iOS versions, or are you observing issues across multiple versions?

Once we have these additional details, we will be better equipped to assist you. Additionally, we kindly request that you provide a link to your AASA file and the bundle ID.

Albert Pascual
  Worldwide Developer Relations.

Thank you for your prompt response.

Please find below the answers to your queries:

Question: Could you elaborate on any specific scenarios where you have encountered difficulties with deferred deep linking? Are there any error messages or observable behaviors that you have observed?

Response: "We have encountered issues where deferred deep linking does not behave as expected in certain scenarios. Specifically, when the user installs the app after clicking the link, the link does not always open the intended screen or take the user to the expected content.

While it works fine when application is installed, When application is installed and user clicks on link, it open the application and navigate to specific screen. In below API, we gets the clicked URL as the callback.

• (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application

continueUserActivity:(nonnull NSUserActivity *)userActivity restorationHandler: (nonnull void (^)(NSArray<id<UIUserActivityRestoring>> *_Nullable))restorationHandler {

Question: You mentioned scenarios where the application is not installed. Could you provide more detailed information about these situations? Are you utilizing Universal Links for an application that has not been installed? Have you considered Smart Banners? What experience are you anticipating?

Response: Yes, we are using Universal Links. When application is not installed on device, the Universal Link redirect the user to the App Store correctly.

After downloading the application. Once user open the application. We are not able to get the URL as callback which user clicked to download the application. We expect that Universal Links should seamlessly open the correct page within the app once installed.

However, we have not implemented Smart Banners yet, and we are still evaluating whether they would help to improve the user experience.

Question: Could you share some examples of the deep links that you are employing and the desired behavior versus the actual behavior? Are you inquiring about Deep Linking or Universal Links?

Response: We are utilizing the Universal Links. Below are a few examples:

Universal Link Example: https://azdev25-dsm.testwd.com/Service/api/deeplink/click?screen=15

Desired behavior: Upon clicking, if the app is installed, it should open directly to the login page with the correct code filled in. If the app is not installed, it should open the App Store or prompt the user to install the app. And once user opens the app, it should navigate to login page.

Actual behavior: If the app is not installed, it open the App Store or prompt the user to install the app. And once user open the application, it is not navigates to the desired screen.

Question: Are you targeting specific iOS versions, or are you observing issues across multiple versions?

Response: "We are targeting iOS versions 14.0 and above, as the app needs to support a wide range of devices. However, we have observed these issues across all the versions.

Question: Kindly provide a link to your AASA file and the bundle ID.

Response: Here is the link to our AASA file: https://azdev25-dsm.testwd.com/.well-known/apple-app-site-association

Our bundle ID is: com.welldoc.joyner.debug

Dear Apple Support Team,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to follow up on the support request I submitted.

I would like to request further details or an update on the issue.

I would greatly appreciate any additional information or assistance you can provide regarding this matter.

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to your prompt response.