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Linking to app screens (deep linking)

Louise MacBean
  • Updated

You can send emails and push notifications from Ometria with links that direct your customers to screens in your mobile app (provided the customer has your app installed on their device).

These links are called universal links in iOS and app links in Android.

If the recipient doesn't have your app installed, the links will open in their browser. 

To get started with deep linking, you need to integrate your mobile app with Ometria. 

URLs in push notifications

For push notification links, you need to use our SDKs to expose functionality to access the URL and other parameters:

You or your development team will then need to implement the mapping and routing URLs to your desired app screens.

Note: Ometria does not validate or encode the URLs sent, please make sure that you send valid URLs.

URLs in emails

The URLs in Ometria emails are tracking links which allow us to collect click data and attribute orders to clicks from campaigns. 

We do this by routing the URLs to Sparkpost, our email sending service. Sparkpost notifies Ometria when a link gets clicked, then the web client is redirected to the original link pointing to your webpage. 

When directing to a mobile app screen, these tracking URLs need to reach the app first, and then tracking takes place before the app is handed the URL to your website (which can then be mapped to specific app screens).

For these links to reach the mobile app, a 2-way association needs to be established between the app and the tracking domain.

Configuring the tracking domain

In order for the mobile app and operating system (OS) to verify the association, you need to host an association file behind the tracking domain, and the tracking domain must be an TLS/SSL-secured domain - this is a system requirement from Apple and Android.

First, create the association files using the steps relevant to your OS:

Note: React native users should choose from one of the links above depending on their platform.

Once the association files are created, raise a request with support and:

  • ask them to set up an TLS/SSL-enabled tracking domain
  • attach your association file(s) and ask them to set these up behind the new domain.

Setting up the TLS/SSL-enabled tracking domain will require some work on your end as you are the owner of the DNS config to your website.

Configuring your app

Both your app and the mobile operating system need to know that the URL’s domain is associated with the app. 

Follow the relevant SDK Readme to map the tracking domain to the app:

Note: React native users should choose from one of the links above depending on their platform, and then complete the steps here.

Next you need to make sure that the tracking takes place and that the app gets the original URL pointing to your website. 

Ometria provides a helper function for this step - you pass the tracking URL and the function follows the HTTP redirect and returns the original URL. 

You can then map this URL to your preferred mobile app screens.

Recommended mapping

If you use these features in your mobile app you might also want to map the following:

  • Loyalty page
  • Wishlist page
  • ...and any other pages relevant to your marketing use cases

 

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