Version: next

Linking

Linking gives you a general interface to interact with both incoming and outgoing app links.

Every Link (URL) has a URL Scheme, some websites are prefixed with https:// or http:// and the http is the URL Scheme. Let's call it scheme for short.

In addition to https, you're likely also familiar with the mailto scheme. When you open a link with the mailto scheme, your operating system will open an installed mail application. Similarly, there are schemes for making phone calls and sending SMS. Read more about built-in URL schemes below.

Like using the mailto scheme, it's possible to link to other applications by using custom url schemes. For example, when you get a Magic Link email from Slack, the Launch Slack button is an anchor tag with an href that looks something like: slack://secret/magic-login/other-secret. Like with Slack, you can tell the operating system that you want to handle a custom scheme. When the Slack app opens, it receives the URL that was used to open it. This is often referred to as deep linking. Read more about how to get the deep link into your app.

Custom URL scheme isn't the only way to open your application on mobile. You don't want to use a custom URL scheme in links in the email because then the links would be broken on desktop. Instead, you want to use a regular https links such as https://www.myapp.io/records/1234546. and on mobile you want that link open your app. Android calls it Deep Links (Universal Links - iOS).

Built-in URL Schemes

As mentioned in the introduction, there are some URL schemes for core functionality that exist on every platform. The following is a non-exhaustive list, but covers the most commonly used schemes.

Scheme	Description	iOS	Android
`mailto`	Open mail app, eg: mailto: support@expo.io	✅	✅
`tel`	Open phone app, eg: tel:+123456789	✅	✅
`sms`	Open SMS app, eg: sms:+123456789	✅	✅
`https` / `http`	Open web browser app, eg: https://expo.io	✅	✅

Enabling Deep Links

If you want to enable deep links in your app, please read the below guide:

Android
iOS

For instructions on how to add support for deep linking on Android, refer to Enabling Deep Links for App Content - Add Intent Filters for Your Deep Links.

If you wish to receive the intent in an existing instance of MainActivity, you may set the launchMode of MainActivity to singleTask in AndroidManifest.xml. See <activity> documentation for more information.

<activity
  android:name=".MainActivity"
  android:launchMode="singleTask">

NOTE: On iOS, you'll need to link RCTLinking to your project by following the steps described here. If you also want to listen to incoming app links during your app's execution, you'll need to add the following lines to your *AppDelegate.m:

// iOS 9.x or newer
#import <React/RCTLinkingManager.h>

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
   openURL:(NSURL *)url
   options:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey,id> *)options
{
  return [RCTLinkingManager application:application openURL:url options:options];
}

If you're targeting iOS 8.x or older, you can use the following code instead:

// iOS 8.x or older
#import <React/RCTLinkingManager.h>

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url
  sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation
{
  return [RCTLinkingManager application:application openURL:url
                      sourceApplication:sourceApplication annotation:annotation];
}

If your app is using Universal Links, you'll need to add the following code as well:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application continueUserActivity:(nonnull NSUserActivity *)userActivity
 restorationHandler:(nonnull void (^)(NSArray<id<UIUserActivityRestoring>> * _Nullable))restorationHandler
{
 return [RCTLinkingManager application:application
                  continueUserActivity:userActivity
                    restorationHandler:restorationHandler];
}

Handling Deep Links

There are two ways to handle URLs that open your app.

1. If the app is already open, the app is foregrounded and a Linking event is fired

You can handle these events with Linking.addEventListener(url, callback).

2. If the app is not already open, it is opened and the url is passed in as the initialURL

You can handle these events with Linking.getInitialURL(url) -- it returns a Promise that resolves to the url, if there is one.

Example

Open Links and Deep Links (Universal Links)

import React, { useCallback } from "react";
import { Alert, Button, Linking, StyleSheet, View } from "react-native";

const supportedURL = "https://google.com";

const unsupportedURL = "slack://open?team=123456";

const OpenURLButton = ({ url, children }) => {
  const handlePress = useCallback(async () => {
    // Checking if the link is supported for links with custom URL scheme.
    const supported = await Linking.canOpenURL(url);

    if (supported) {
      // Opening the link with some app, if the URL scheme is "http" the web link should be opened
      // by some browser in the mobile
      await Linking.openURL(url);
    } else {
      Alert.alert(`Don't know how to open this URL: ${url}`);
    }
  }, [url]);

  return <Button title={children} onPress={handlePress} />;
};

const App = () => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <OpenURLButton url={supportedURL}>Open Supported URL</OpenURLButton>
      <OpenURLButton url={unsupportedURL}>Open Unsupported URL</OpenURLButton>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: { flex: 1, justifyContent: "center", alignItems: "center" },
});

export default App;

Open Custom Settings

import React, { useCallback } from "react";
import { Button, Linking, StyleSheet, View } from "react-native";

const OpenSettingsButton = ({ children }) => {
  const handlePress = useCallback(async () => {
    // Open the custom settings if the app has one
    await Linking.openSettings();
  }, []);

  return <Button title={children} onPress={handlePress} />;
};

const App = () => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <OpenSettingsButton>Open Settings</OpenSettingsButton>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: { flex: 1, justifyContent: "center", alignItems: "center" },
});

export default App;

Get the Deep Link

import React, { useState, useEffect } from "react";
import { Linking, StyleSheet, Text, View } from "react-native";

const useMount = func => useEffect(() => func(), []);

const useInitialURL = () => {
  const [url, setUrl] = useState(null);
  const [processing, setProcessing] = useState(true);

  useMount(() => {
    const getUrlAsync = async () => {
      // Get the deep link used to open the app
      const initialUrl = await Linking.getInitialURL();

      // The setTimeout is just for testing purpose
      setTimeout(() => {
        setUrl(initialUrl);
        setProcessing(false);
      }, 1000);
    };

    getUrlAsync();
  });

  return { url, processing };
};

const App = () => {
  const { url: initialUrl, processing } = useInitialURL();

  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text>
        {processing
          ? `Processing the initial url from a deep link`
          : `The deep link is: ${initialUrl || "None"}`}
      </Text>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: { flex: 1, justifyContent: "center", alignItems: "center" },
});

export default App;

Send Intents (Android)

import React, { useCallback } from "react";
import { Alert, Button, Linking, StyleSheet, View } from "react-native";

const SendIntentButton = ({ action, extras, children }) => {
  const handlePress = useCallback(async () => {
    try {
      await Linking.sendIntent(action, extras);
    } catch (e) {
      Alert.alert(e.message);
    }
  }, [action, extras]);

  return <Button title={children} onPress={handlePress} />;
};

const App = () => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <SendIntentButton action="android.intent.action.POWER_USAGE_SUMMARY">
        Power Usage Summary
      </SendIntentButton>
      <SendIntentButton
        action="android.settings.APP_NOTIFICATION_SETTINGS"
        extras={[
          { "android.provider.extra.APP_PACKAGE": "com.facebook.katana" },
        ]}
      >
        App Notification Settings
      </SendIntentButton>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: { flex: 1, justifyContent: "center", alignItems: "center" },
});

export default App;

Reference

Methods

`constructor()`

constructor();

`addEventListener()`

addEventListener(type, handler);

Add a handler to Linking changes by listening to the url event type and providing the handler.

`removeEventListener()`

removeEventListener(type, handler);

Remove a handler by passing the url event type and the handler.

`openURL()`

openURL(url);

Try to open the given url with any of the installed apps.

You can use other URLs, like a location (e.g. "geo:37.484847,-122.148386" on Android or "http://maps.apple.com/?ll=37.484847,-122.148386" on iOS), a contact, or any other URL that can be opened with the installed apps.

The method returns a Promise object. If the user confirms the open dialog or the url automatically opens, the promise is resolved. If the user cancels the open dialog or there are no registered applications for the url, the promise is rejected.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
url	string	Yes	The URL to open.

This method will fail if the system doesn't know how to open the specified URL. If you're passing in a non-http(s) URL, it's best to check {@code canOpenURL} first.

For web URLs, the protocol ("http://", "https://") must be set accordingly!

This method may behave differently in a simulator e.g. "tel:" links are not able to be handled in the iOS simulator as there's no access to the dialer app.

`canOpenURL()`

canOpenURL(url);

Determine whether or not an installed app can handle a given URL.

The method returns a Promise object. When it is determined whether or not the given URL can be handled, the promise is resolved and the first parameter is whether or not it can be opened.

The Promise will reject on Android if it was impossible to check if the URL can be opened, and on iOS if you didn't add the specific scheme in the LSApplicationQueriesSchemes key inside Info.plist (see bellow).

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
url	string	Yes	The URL to open.

For web URLs, the protocol ("http://", "https://") must be set accordingly!

As of iOS 9, your app needs to provide the LSApplicationQueriesSchemes key inside Info.plist or canOpenURL will always return false.

This method has limitations on iOS 9+. From the official Apple documentation:

If your app is linked against an earlier version of iOS but is running in iOS 9.0 or later, you can call this method up to 50 times. After reaching that limit, subsequent calls always return false. If the user reinstalls or upgrades the app, iOS resets the limit.

`openSettings()`

openSettings();

Open the Settings app and displays the app’s custom settings, if it has any.

`getInitialURL()`

getInitialURL();

If the app launch was triggered by an app link, it will give the link url, otherwise it will give null.

To support deep linking on Android, refer http://developer.android.com/training/app-indexing/deep-linking.html#handling-intents

`sendIntent()`

sendIntent(action: string, extras?: Array<{key: string, value: string | number | boolean}>)

@platform android

Android-Only. Launch an Android intent with extras (optional)

Projects with Native Code Only

Built-in URL Schemes#

Enabling Deep Links#

Handling Deep Links#

1. If the app is already open, the app is foregrounded and a Linking event is fired#

2. If the app is not already open, it is opened and the url is passed in as the initialURL#

Example#

Open Links and Deep Links (Universal Links)#

Open Custom Settings#

Get the Deep Link#

Send Intents (Android)#

Reference#

Methods#

constructor()#

addEventListener()#

removeEventListener()#

openURL()#

canOpenURL()#

openSettings()#

getInitialURL()#

sendIntent()#