Firebase Dynamic links Analytics not shown?

Question

I am exploring the dynamic links in firebase. My requirement is I will have an sms in my cell phone, which will have a short link and upon click of this link I will open a web page (later we might integrate this with a page in the app)

So I created fire base account and setup an app using my personal gmail account. Am using their post api with the right api key to generate short urls. (getting warning about the phishing issues which I am ignoring for the time being) Upon clicking the urls (short link/preview link) I can go to the appropriate URL I have configured.

now I am trying to see the analytics around this dynamic url but dont know why I cannot see anything.

I am checking Grow -->DynamicLink--> Selected My app and I expect the dynamic link generated in above steps to appear here but I cannot see anything.

I am going to analytics -->Events it is asking me to add an app to see the analytics which is not the case for now as I am just hitting the url on the browser directly.

Please let me know if I am doing the right thing?

Answer 1

One of the main use cases (as mentioned in firebase docs) of the firebase dynamic links is web to app conversion and your app must contain the firebase SDK. Once the user comes to the app through the dynamic link, firebase SDK fires the appropriate events. These events can be tracked from analytics -> Events.

But your use case is different you are creating dynamic links for the SMS and after clicking user comes to the website and there is no firebase SDK installed in your website hence no analytics (although firebase will measure some events like click, etc) on the analytics -> Events.

If you want to see the analytics, you will need to create a dynamic link in the firebase console manually or use the dynamic link analytics api.

In short, API created dynamic links can only be tracked if firebase SDK is installed in your app and after that, you need to add that app to firebase analytics -> events section. According to your use case, my suggestion would be to either create dynamic links from console manually or use the dynamic link analytics api