Xamarin.Forms iOS Deep Linking VS for MAC

Yuval Tirosh 1

Hello all,

I'm using deep-linking in Xamarin.Forms, overriding
ContinueUserActivity(UIApplication, NSUserActivity, UIApplicationRestorationHandler) in AppDelegate and OnAppLinkRequestReceived(Uri) in the shared project's App.

The app opens properly when invoked from textual link (e.g. email app), but not from the browser (e.g. when scanning a QR code). When suing the browser, iOS navigates to website instead of the app.

Wondering if this is the expected behavior or not.
Xamarin.Forms 65.0.0.2012
VS for Mac 8.8.8 (build 12)
Tested with iPhone 12 mini iOS 14.4

Cheers,
Yuval

Kyle Wang 5,531 Reputation points

2021-06-16T07:22:15.217+00:00

@Yuval Tirosh More info about Deep Linking, you can refer to Allowing Apps and Websites to Link to Your Content. To open the app in Safari, try to go to Settings->Safari->Request Desktop Website->All websites and switch off. If it doesn't work, could you provide a minimal, reproducible example via OneDrive or Github?
Yuval Tirosh 1 Reputation point

2021-06-19T07:30:40.643+00:00

Thanks @Kyle Wang ,
The app supports the associated domain and the website has the apple-app-site-association set up which allows the app to be opened when clicking a textual link to the website. I verified that the Safari setting is off and still the issue persists. I will upload a sample and share the link soon.
Cheers!
Yuval
Kyle Wang 5,531 Reputation points

2021-06-22T07:24:12.217+00:00

@Yuval Tirosh May I know whether your issue has been solved or not? If not, please share it in here.
Yuval Tirosh 1 Reputation point

2021-06-28T05:51:24.347+00:00

Sorry for the delay.
The URLs that the app is supposed to open are for resources that do not exist on the website (e.g. www.myDomain.com/someText/1)

1.If a user is browsing to a link that doesn't exist in the website (as above)-the website redirects to a page allowing the user to download the app (Play/App store) tp prevent a 404.
2.The Android OS identifies the URL before it reaches the browser or the backend server and offers to open the URL using the app's relevant activity.
3.the iOS does not have the same capability and when the link is shown in the QR scanner, it offers to use the browser. The browser then tries to open the link and is redirected to the download-page immediately.

If the redirection is removed from the website, iOS offers to open the link with my app from the QR reader.
I cannot use 1 link to reach specific content in the app OR the download page if the app is not installed.
I hope this is clear :-)
Cheers,
Yuval

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Xamarin.Forms iOS Deep Linking VS for MAC

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