Deep linking
In this guide we will set up our app to handle external URIs. Let's suppose that we want a URI like mychat://chat/Eric
to open our app and link straight into a chat screen for some user named "Eric".
Configuration
Previously, we had defined a navigator like this:
const SimpleApp = StackNavigator({
Home: { screen: HomeScreen },
Chat: { screen: ChatScreen },
});
We want paths like chat/Eric
to link to a "Chat" screen with the user
passed as a param. Let's re-configure our chat screen with a path
that tells the router what relative path to match against, and what params to extract. This path spec would be chat/:user
.
const SimpleApp = StackNavigator({
Home: { screen: HomeScreen },
Chat: {
screen: ChatScreen,
path: 'chat/:user',
},
});
Set up with Expo projects
You need to specify a scheme for your app. You can register for a scheme in your app.json
by adding a string under the scheme key:
{
"expo": {
"scheme": "mychat"
}
}
URI Prefix
Next, let's configure our navigation container to extract the path from the app's incoming URI.
const SimpleApp = StackNavigator({...});
const prefix = Expo.Linking.makeUrl('/');
const MainApp = () => <SimpleApp uriPrefix={prefix} />;
iOS
To test the URI on the simulator (Expo client app ), run the following:
xcrun simctl openurl booted [ put your URI prefix in here ]
// for example
xcrun simctl openurl booted exp://127.0.0.1:19004/--/chat/Eric
Android
To test the intent handling in Android (Expo client app ), run the following:
adb shell am start -W -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "[ put your URI prefix in here ]" com.simpleapp
// for example
adb shell am start -W -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "exp://127.0.0.1:19004/--/chat/Eric" com.simpleapp
Read the Expo linking guide for more information about how to configure linking in projects built with Expo.
Set up with react-native init
projects
URI Prefix
Next, let's configure our navigation container to extract the path from the app's incoming URI.
const SimpleApp = StackNavigator({...}));
const prefix = 'mychat://';
const MainApp = () => <SimpleApp uriPrefix={prefix} />;
iOS
Let's configure the native iOS app to open based on the mychat://
URI scheme.
In SimpleApp/ios/SimpleApp/AppDelegate.m
:
// Add the header at the top of the file:
#import <React/RCTLinkingManager.h>
// Add this above the `@end`:
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url
sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation
{
return [RCTLinkingManager application:application openURL:url
sourceApplication:sourceApplication annotation:annotation];
}
In Xcode, open the project at SimpleApp/ios/SimpleApp.xcodeproj
. Select the project in sidebar and navigate to the info tab. Scroll down to "URL Types" and add one. In the new URL type, set the identifier and the URL scheme to your desired URL scheme.
Now you can press play in Xcode, or re-build on the command line:
react-native run-ios
To test the URI on the simulator, run the following:
xcrun simctl openurl booted mychat://chat/Eric
To test the URI on a real device, open Safari and type mychat://chat/Eric
.
Android
To configure the external linking in Android, you can create a new intent in the manifest.
In SimpleApp/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
, do these followings adjustments:
- Set
launchMode
ofMainActivity
tosingleTask
in order to receive intent on existingMainActivity
. It is useful if you want to perform navigation using deep link you have been registered - details - Add the new
intent-filter
inside theMainActivity
entry with aVIEW
type action:
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:launchMode="singleTask">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
<data android:scheme="mychat" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
Now, re-install the app:
react-native run-android
To test the intent handling in Android, run the following:
adb shell am start -W -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "mychat://chat/Eric" com.simpleapp
Disable deep linking
Unfortunately, version 1.x does not support to disable deep-linking handling. If you wish to handle deep-linking yourself instead of react-navigation
, please upgrade to newer versions.