When you’re browsing the web, or open a link someone sent you, it might be considered a deep link. A deep link looks just like regular link, but its function is to lead you to a native app. This isn’t bad, is it? Yeah. But they are broken like half of the time.
Clicked on open Spotify link? A webview or browser opens, even though you have this app installed. Clicked on a link in Facebook? Good luck, Facebook breaks some links intentionally or unintentionally, so the deep link won’t work anymore.
Clicked on a link and you don’t have an app? You will be moved to the app store, but you just wanted to see some content.
Sometimes this happens even if you have the app installed. Deep links are complicated in their behavior and implementation. I worked with it during mobile app development. On the surface, it’s super trivial. User has an app? Open the app. Otherwise, open the page or the app store. But in reality, more variables come into play. Deep links don’t work if you copy and paste it directly into the browser’s address bar. It doesn’t work if you open it from the Notes app. I really can’t explain this behavior. If your app uses third-party provider which helps with deep links, if they have a downtime, your users won’t be able to open these links. Because they encode and decode most of the parameters baked into the link, on their side.


Are we better off without it? Can it be fixed? Can it be simpler?