Versioning of Universal Links and /apple-app-site-association

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Created Jul ’15

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For Universal Links in iOS 9, we'll provide a file /apple-app-site-association which specifies the app IDs and website paths that should be handled by the app ID, like this:

https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/releasenotes/General/WhatsNewIniOS/Articles/iOS9.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40016198-SW4

{
  "applinks": {
    "apps": [],
    "details": {
      "9JA89QQLNQ.com.apple.wwdc": {
        "paths": [
          "/wwdc/news/",
          "/videos/wwdc/2015/"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

On the app side, there is a single com.apple.developer.associated-domains entitlement which specifies only a domain, no paths.

Suppose v2 of my app can handle /foo, but v1 can't. Is there a way to express this using the Universal Links feature? The idea is that users with v1 installed will see the content in Safari without the app being opened, but users with v2 installed will see the content in the app.

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Answer 1

nicksnyder OP

Jul ’15

The implicit recommendation according to the WWDC video (22:15) is that if you app receives a universal link that it doesn't know how to handle, then it should open the url in Safari.

This means the users on v1 of your app will see the native app open and then it will bounce them to Safari (kind of the reverse of how deep linking works today).

0

Answer 2

footxt OP

Jul ’15

@nicksnyder: Thanks! Giving the time in the video was of great help. I was thinking of doing this, but it worried me because I was afraid Safari would just bounce back to the app again. I suppose if Apple is doing it in the demo, there must be some logic in there to not bounce endlessly.

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