@danielpearson definitely.. much more of an issue on iOS than Android, but the URL-based query parameters is a cool use case that I've only seen product-ized by Kahuna
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Advanced “deep linking” technology for app developers, which allows for a more powerful means of sharing content from within apps, referring or inviting others to install apps, and more.
Hi @kareemk, great question. You're right, deep linking becomes a bit more complicated when it involves passing data through app stores. If we detect that the user has the app installed, we can send them straight to the appropriate content easily... But if we detect the user does not have the app installed, we use a combination of fingerprinting (for users who haven't used a Branch Link before) and an anonymous user library (for those that have clicked Branch links before) to create super accurate matches.
For fingerprinting: if we have never seen a user before, branch collects information about devices when a link is clicked, then matches that information when the app is opened for the first time by the same user, sending them to the correct content (perhaps a friend referral onboarding process, or content specific to an ad they were interested in). This fingerprinting information includes IP address, OS, OS version, device model, and screen size, to name a few.
However, because Branch has already been integrated in thousands of apps, many users (hundreds of millions of them so far!!) that are downloading your app have already used Branch links. Even if they haven't downloaded your specific app before, we can use the anonymous ID we made for them to guarantee 100% accuracy in deep linking through the app store when they download your app for the first time.
You can read about all of this in-depth here: https://dev.branch.io/recipes/ma... Hope this helps answer your question!
similar to Tapstream onboarding links. Guessing it doesn't integrate with Twitter and Facebook native app install ads though. Which is a shame. We're running some tests right now - regular promoted link posts with Tapstream custom onboard experience links vs. "generic" app install links with Twitter and Facebook's native install units.
Hi @sammybauch- Thank you for the reply! You've hit upon an awesome use-case for Branch Links, which is that they support Google's App Indexing, Facebook's App Links, Apple's Universal Links, even Pinterest and Twitter's app content cards. Rather than integrating with every platform's sdk (and updating it every time they make changes/updates), you only have to integrate with branch.io and we take care of all the updates and edge-cases.
In regards to testing custom onboarding v Twitter/FB native app install links: with Branch you can have both and don't have to choose between them! We support all platforms, our links work everywhere (iOS, Android, mobile web, desktop, you name it...), and our data passes through any app store, so that you can give a customized onboarding experience no matter what.
We built Branch to be a flexible tool: not only are we always working on new features that our partners want, we are constantly amazed by the unique use-cases they come up with (check out Yummly deep linking ingredients for a recipe into your cart on Instacart here: http://blog.branch.io/two-apps-a...).
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or if I can help in any way.
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