Mobile
The app is installed. The link opens the website anyway.
That single failure costs more than any conversion rate experiment will recover. A mobile link tries the app first, falls back to the right store for the right platform, keeps working inside in-app browsers, and hands the campaign context to the app after installation.
Try the app, then the store, then the web
A mobile link carries three answers per platform: the address that opens the app, the store listing to fall back to, and a web page for everything else. The redirect attempts them in that order with a delay you control, because the only reliable way to know whether an app is installed is to try to open it and watch whether the page is still there afterwards.
Apple and Google both support verified association files that let a domain open an app directly, without a visible interstitial. The platform serves those files from your redirect domain and diagnoses them for you — wrong content type, wrong path, missing fingerprint — because a mistyped association file fails silently and everyone blames the link.
- App scheme or universal link per platform
- Store fallback for iOS and Android
- Web fallback for desktop and unsupported platforms
- Association files served and diagnosed on your own domain
- Configurable attempt delay
- Explicit behaviour for tablets
In-app browsers are the hard part, so they are handled explicitly
Most mobile traffic arrives inside another app’s browser — a social feed, a messenger, a mail client. Those environments block app-opening attempts in inconsistent ways, and a link that behaves correctly in Safari can do nothing at all inside a feed.
So the in-app case is a setting rather than an accident: attempt the app anyway, skip straight to the web page, or show a short prompt to open in the system browser. The behaviour is chosen per link, and the platform recognises the common in-app browsers rather than pretending they are ordinary ones.
Context survives the install
A person taps a link to a specific product, does not have the app, installs it — and lands on a generic home screen. Deferred context solves exactly that: the campaign and the target are kept and handed to the app on first launch, so the person arrives where the link pointed rather than where the app opens by default.
The context is matched on a device signature rather than on anything identifying, and it expires quickly: it exists to bridge one install, not to build a profile.
Still your brand, still your analytics
The intermediate page — when one is needed at all — is rendered by the edge using the logo, colour and support address attached to the domain. There is no mention of the platform underneath, and no third-party host in the chain.
The click is recorded when the redirect happens, before the app-opening attempt: the visit occurred, and what the device did with it afterwards is not observable from outside. That keeps click counts honest instead of quietly under-reporting mobile traffic.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to change my app to use this?
To open the app you need either a custom scheme or verified universal links, both of which most apps already have. To receive deferred context after an install, the app reads it on first launch through the API. Everything else — store fallbacks, in-app browser handling, branded pages — needs no app change at all.
What happens on desktop?
The web fallback is used. Deep link configuration never breaks the desktop path; a link with mobile settings behaves like an ordinary short link everywhere the mobile settings do not apply.
Why do I sometimes see an intermediate page?
Because that is the only way to attempt opening an app and then react to the result. Where verified association files apply, the operating system opens the app directly and no page is shown. The page itself carries your branding and disappears in well under a second.
Does the link still work if the app is uninstalled later?
Yes. The attempt fails, the fallback runs, and the person reaches the store or the web page. Nothing is cached about whether a device has the app.
Launch your branded link shortener
Connect a domain, publish your prices and invite your first customer — most partners go live in an evening.
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