Try searching for
Deep linking is the practice of sending users directly to a specific location inside an app, rather than a generic app homepage or mobile website.
Deep links work in a very similar way to normal web links — which, when you click on them, take you to an article or a page inside a website. The difference is that in the context of mobile, these links take you to content inside an app.
For example, let’s say you’re running a campaign on Facebook advertising a 20% off deal on a pair of shoes…
It’s not hard to see which is the better user experience, and the one most likely to generate a sale.
Deep links work from pretty much any campaign medium you can add a link to, such as SMS, QR code, email, or web, to name a few.
Now you know what deep linking is, you may be wondering what happens if a user doesn’t already have your app installed. What then?
That’s where deferred deep linking comes into play. As the name suggests, this technology enables users who don’t already have your app installed to make a short pit stop to download it (in other words, deferring their journey) before continuing on to the content they originally clicked on.
Deep links are super useful to have in your app marketing toolkit because they:
Deep links create a frictionless experience that’s key to improving the performance of your user acquisition, engagement, and re-engagement campaigns, as well as essential for understanding campaign performance.
But don’t just take our word for it. If you’re interested in exploring how deep links are a mission-critical tool in other brands’ toolkits, helping them attract (and keep) users, check out this post.
Deep links are set up slightly differently depending on the operating system.
On iOS, you need to specify a custom URL scheme for iOS Universal Links. Meanwhile, on Android, you need to set up App Links.
You can learn more about setting up those types of links in our post on Making sense of Universal Links and App Links.
There is another way to implement deep links, and that’s through a custom URI scheme. However, this route is considered less secure (and user-friendly) than Universal Links and App Links, and has become less popular over time.
So deep links are critical to your app marketing campaigns — but how exactly do you go about setting them up (and do you need a developer)?
The good news is that most MMPs offer a pretty straightforward deep-link generator that’ll set up a link based on whatever experience you’re looking to create for your users (referral-to-app, social-to-app, and so on).
For more on how to implement deep links, check out chapter six of our deep linking guide.
In the summer of 2023, Google announced their plan to deprecate Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL) on August 25th, 2025. Many in the app industry are now faced with the challenge of finding a new method to manage deep links and the essential user journeys they enable. FDLs played a key role in activating these user journeys through smart URLs, facilitating both deep linking and deferred deep linking, seamlessly directing users to specific content within an app, even upon first install.
However, there are certain limitations to the FDL functionality such as bulk link management, email integration, and other web-to-app tools. Therefore the need for a multi-platform linking solution has never been more critical.
AppsFlyer proposes itself as a viable alternative to Firebase Dynamic Links, offering a comprehensive CX and deep linking suite designed to craft seamless user journeys that drive growth. As Google suggests transitioning from FDL well before its end date to avoid service disruptions, AppsFlyer is ready to onboard former FDL users and those looking for more feature-rich platform capabilities.
Creating (and measuring) deep links with AppsFlyer is extremely straightforward and can be done without the help of a developer.
After you’ve signed up and installed the AppsFlyer SDK in your app, you can head on over to our Deep Linking & Customer Experience Suite.
There you’ll follow our deep link setup wizard, which includes:
And voilà, you’ll have a deep link that you can use in your campaign and then see the results in the Overview Dashboard.
For more info on deep linking at AppsFlyer, check out our handy help center article.
Deep linking is a way of directing users straight to a specific location within an app installed on their device, bypassing the homepage or a generic landing page. This creates a seamless user experience with no need for additional navigation.
While both deep links and normal web links guide users to specific content, deep links navigate users to a location inside an app, as opposed to a webpage.
Deferred deep linking is a form of deep linking for users who don’t already have the app installed. When they click on the link, they’ll be taken to first download the app, before continuing directly to the specific content they were interested in.
Mobile deep links are crucial for app marketers because they offer a better, more secure user experience, lead to higher conversion rates and retention, and provide detailed metrics for evaluating campaign performance.
Setting up deep links involves different methods depending on the operating system. It’s typically done through Universal Links on iOS, or App Links on Android. Another method is using a custom URI scheme, but this is less secure and popular.
It means that all links served by FDL will stop working, and customers will be unable to create new links or edit them.
Fortunately other deep linking solutions are available, including AppsFlyer’s Onelink technology.
AppsFlyer provides a step-by-step migration process that ensures a seamless transition from FDL to AppsFlyer. For the technical details, read this article.
