Firebase dynamic link not opening the app iOS

Question

I have developed & installed an iOS app locally on my device.

And have set custom scheme in the info.plist as mydlink

Set associated domains as weel: applinks:<myapp>.app.goo.gl

Created dynamic link on firebase as:

https://<myapp>.app.goo.gl/?link=http://<mysite.com>/&ibi=<app bundle id>&ius=mydlink&ifl=https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id%3D<app store id>%26mt%3D8&pt=<app store id>

When I open or click on dynamic link, it opens app page in the "App Store" app and not opening app itself though its installed.

What am I missing here?

Answer 1

If you are on iOS 9, universal links will be used. Universal links don't work in a lot of cases, like:

• If you use a simulator
• If you try to open the link directly in safari on a device (typing it into the address field in the browser)

I spent a lot of time trying this and could never get it to work on a simulator in a reliable way. What I end up doing is emailing the link to me and opening it from Inbox. Then it works every time!

Answer 2

I'm sorry for the late reply - I hope your issue has been resolved and that this is helpful to others who may be experiencing the same problem.

There could actually be one or more issues here for iOS 9+; Dynamic Links relies on Apple's Universal Links to open the app on iOS 9+ and these suggestions are aimed at resolving issues with Universal Links and Firebase and have nothing to do with the SDK directly.

1. Verify that the assoc file is correct at https://app_id.app.goo.gl/apple-app-site-association - it should look similar to https://maps.app.goo.gl/apple-app-site-association but with only one element in "details."
2. As pointed out by another answer, verify that your team ID is properly set in the Firebase console.
3. If you've long-pressed the link and then clicked "Open in Safari" or you have clicked the "goo.gl>" button on the status bar of your app after the app opens via a Universal Link, then iOS defaults to opening Universal Links in Safari. This can be fixed by pulling down on the paged opened in Safari and clicking "Open in App" (or similar) on the smart banner.

The "ibi" parameter is not involved in opening the app in a post-install click on iOS 9+, but is in prior versions when the "ius" param is not set.

Regarding iOS 8, can you try running the app and then clicking a link after the app is installed? On versions prior to iOS 9, you can test by copy/pasting the link into safari.

https://firebase.google.com/docs/dynamic-links/ios

Answer 3

sometimes we make a mistake in Associated Domains entitlements. There have to be no spaces

applinks:mydomain.page.link

Answer 4

Just in case there is still someone out there having this issue, please note the following

1. Dynamic links now opens on simulator, please free to copy your link and paste on safari in your emulator.

2. Chrome and safari opens dynamic differently, safari uses only universal linking while chrome uses both url scheme and universal linking to open dynamic link. Ultimately you should try to get dynamic linking opening via universal link in your app.

3. If your dynamic link routes to App Store instead of opening your app. there is an issue with your universal link. You can temporarily test using chrome.

   To set up opening dynamic link via universal link, please check the following

   • Ensure your Team id is correctly set In firebase console, get your team id from your membership detail in https://developer.apple.com

   • Ensure your domain is listed in your associated domain as shown below, no space between the domain

   • Ensure Associated domain is turned on in your apple developer account

   • if you are using a custom domain, ensure you add it to the info.plist as shown below.

Answer 5

I experienced same problem. Interestingly if you open the dynamic link in Chrome, app starts directly and successfully. But in Safari always it tries to open AppStore although the app is installed. I have no idea why Safari doesn't work in this case.

Answer 6

I had an issue using iOS 14, running on device in debug mode. Link has always redirected me to the AppStore app not to my app. The solution was to enable "Associated Domains Development" on iPhone Settings>Developer>Associated Domains Development (found it here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/63939770/6689321 ).

Answer 7

I make a mistake that not setup Associated Domains for DEBUG, so make sure you setup Associated Domains all both DEBUG & RELEASE

Answer 8

Firebase dynamic links were not working for us (on iOS9 where they use universal links) due to a problem in Firebase's assumptions during setup. Here's how we fixed the problem on our app:

Firebase asks for your "Team ID" when adding your iOS app to Firebase Console Project Settings, and it assumes that your unique app ID will be in the format TeamID.com.foo.bar

However, in our case, that was NOT our unique app ID. When I looked at our provisioning profile (on developer.apple.com I found our provisioning profile and clicked "edit"), I saw that our unique app ID was actually SomethingElse.com.foo.bar

I had to go into Firebase Console and enter that "SomethingElse" in the spot where it asked for Team ID, even though that was NOT our team ID. Once I made that change, Firebase Dynamic Links started working correctly.

It appears Firebase is making an assumption that your unique app ID will always start with your Team ID, which is apparently not always the case.

Note that changing your Team ID can take a significant amount of time to take effect. You can see that the change has happened by checking the appropriate link for your app_id (https://app_id.app.goo.gl/apple-app-site-association).

Answer 9

If none of the above workarounds work for you, please check if you have added activitycontinuation in associated domains or not.

Answer 10

After integrating Firebase Dynamic links, the sample link started working immediately on a device with iOS 8. For iOS 9 devices Universal links mechanism is used, as mentioned by other answers. This means Apple needs to update the entitlement data used to verify deep link dual authentication. This may take 48 hours, according to Apple's App Search API Validation Tool.

There are more Universal links troubleshooting tips here.

Answer 11

Experienced the same problem.

The solution for me was to use the

Identifiers -> App IDs -> 'my.app.ID' -> Prefix

You can find it on: https://developer.apple.com/account/ios/identifier/bundle

Instead of the 'DevelopmentTeam' number from the .pbxproj which I used and add it to the Team ID for my iOS app in the Firebase console.

And don't forget to download and add a new .plist to the project.

Answer 12

I have great news.

I always hear that it's IMPOSSIBLE to test a dynamic link on simulator.

But now WE CAN test firebase dynamic link on simulator

https://stackoverflow.com/a/56385506/6273003

Answer 13

When link is open in safari, It shows a "open (project name)"button. If this button is pressed for 2-3 second, It asks for opening that into different apps for first time.It also shows your app name. If you select your app, It opens your app. After doing that if you again open this link and press button in safari, it always work fine.

This fixed the problem for me.

Answer 14

i had same issue with latest flutter sdk and firebase dynamic links plugin.

Tried all solutions the only fix was to manually insert com.apple.developer.associated-domains key to ios/Runner/Running.entitlements file

<key>com.apple.developer.associated-domains</key>
<array>
  <string>applinks:abc.page.link</string>
</array>

Answer 15

Make sure you have a Team Id set in the firebase console for you app. (you will then need to download and import the .plist file).

This fixed the problem for me.

Answer 16

We had a similar problem. The issue in our case was that the software that generated the emails with the links generated a new link that had a 304-redirect to our deep link. This did not work in Safari (but in Chrome).

Check that your deep link is actually the first link opened when you click the link in the email.

Answer 17

i had same case and it fixed with after defined ios app on deeplink url;

Dynamic Links -> choose your link -> Edit

make sure that you have defined ios app;

Answer 18

I had the problem, that the AASA file was different at the locations

[domain]/.well-known/apple-app-site-association
[domain]/apple-app-site-association

The validator from branch always checks the file on the non well known path. It was confusing because it always said it was all fine even though is was not.

For Firebase, check your hosting and search in the public dir for a .well-known folder. In my case, I could just delete it, run firebase deploy --only hosting and let Firebase generate all AASA files for me.

https://branch.io/resources/aasa-validator/

Answer 19

If you are sure all your dynamic links config in xcode is correct, link is good, but it still opens Appstore you can try this trick:

1. Copy the link and paste it into the notes app
2. Long press on the link in notes to see context menu
3. If you see button "Open in YourAppName" - try pressing it.