All About Deep Links
You will see the term "deep link" in a variety of locations throughout our CMS. This functionality to allows you to direct users within your app to internal app screens, external websites, or even external apps.
By clicking "Please select a deep link..." you can select from a list of links that already exist within your app. This includes internal app screens and any deep links you've created throughout the system.
When you Create a New Deep Link, you will have a few options. Feel free to check out each description to find the selection that makes the most sense for your strategy.
*Native WebView: This allows you to link to any website. When the user clicks, a browser will open within the app. We recommend you use this when linking to websites as it keeps your users in your app vs. bouncing them out of your app and to their native browser on the phone. If you are linking to a page that accepts payments with Apple & Google Pay, you can use this option. The Native Webview will work with the native device wallet.
*External WebView: This allows you to link to any website. When the user clicks, the default browser on their device will open the website. As this takes the user outside of your app, we only suggest you use this for specific circumstances. We suggest using external if you are selling something or collecting donations when the website only includes credit cards as a method of payment.
External App: This allows you to link to another app. If the user has the app on their phone, they should be taken to that app. If the user does not have the app on their phone, they should be directed to the app store.
Phone Number: This allows you to link the user to start an outgoing phone call to the number entered.
Mail: This allows you to link the user to start an outgoing email to the address and details entered.
Home Screen: This allows you to link to the home screen of your app, previously referred to as your Discover Screen.
*Please note that when adding any URL into an app, we are bringing over the formatting and structure from your current website. If your website does not look mobile-friendly, any changes to make the website fit the app will need to come from the client's team.
Setup Details:
Internal:
- Deep Link Title: an internal name for the link you are saving in the system.
- Enter the Deep Link Title here again.
- Bottom Tab Title: Users will not see this. Reuse the Deep Link Title.
- Choose an icon...: Select any icon. Users will not see this.
- Top Tab Title: This will appear at the top of the user's screen when they select this link. Use the same Deep Link Title as long as you're comfortable with that being seen by the users.
- Screen Type: News Details is the only option (if you need to link to an internal screen that is not a news detail please look in the select a deep link option or contact Client Support)
- Banner Category: If you would like to display your rotating sponsor banners on the screen users are taken to, select that here.
- Article: Select the News Article you want to link users to.
- You do not need to Add Top or Bottom Tabs. Save the Deep Link. You'll then be put back on the main screen you were working on - at this point, select "Please select a deep link..." and the link you just created will be visible in the list.
Native or External Webview:
- Deep Link Title: an internal name for the link you are saving in the system.
- Link URL: the website link. Please include https://
- Use Device ID: this should only be turned on if you have a custom web developer that wants to use the unique IDs to personalize the webview to individual users. Contact Client Support for more details.
External App:
- Deep Link Title: an internal name for the link you are saving in the system.
- Link URI: A URI is a bit more complicated than a URL, and in most cases, a simple URL will not work here. You will have to do some work to determine the URI for the app you are wanting to link to. Reach out to Client Support for assistance if needed, but often simply Googling "How to find the Spotify URI" will do the trick.
- App Store and Play Store URL: These are links to the Apple and Google Play stores for this specific app. Please include https://
Phone Number:
- Deep Link Title: an internal name for the link you are saving in the system.
- Phone Number: The phone number you want their phone to dial, beginning with the area code.
Mail:
- Deep Link Title: an internal name for the link you are saving in the system.
- Mail to: This is the email address that will receive the email.
- CC: This is the email address that will be copied on the email.
- BCC: This is the email address that will be blind copied on the email.
- Subject: This is the Subject line of the email.
- Body: This is the email Body.
Home Screen:
- Deep Link Title: an internal name for the link you are saving in the system.
- You don't need to enter anything else with this option, as this will automatically link to your home screen.
The articles below were written specifically to walk you through the setup of functionality such as Push Notifications, Banners, etc. Deep Links can be created within each of these screens, so these guides also contain deep link details.
Push Notifications - Creating Dynamic Content
How To Add Hyperlinks to a Landing Page