Step 4: Use the Deep link validator (original) (raw)

Using deep links help provide you and your users a better user experience, higher retention, and new opportunities to engage your users and increase traffic to your app. This article explains the benefits of using the deep link validator and how to use it.

On this page

An animation showing how to access the Deep Link Validator.

  1. Go to App advertising hub within the Tools menu Tools Icon.
  2. Click the Deep link validator tab.

The deep link validator tool allows you to validate your entire app or a specific link to make sure it’s usable and working as intended.

App validation for Android

To validate all the deep links in your app:

  1. In the “Deeplink validator” page, select "Android" in the “Select platform” drop-down.
  2. Enter or search for your app from the app picker.
  3. Choose Validate all deeplinks in the “Select report type” drop-down.
  4. Select Validate.

After you select “Validate”, the scan pulls all the deep links found in your app, and performs the relevant checks on each link.

App validation for iOS

Follow these steps to validate all the deep links in your app:

  1. In the “Deeplink validator” page, select “iOS” in the “Select platform” drop-down.
  2. Enter or search for your app from the app picker.
  3. Choose Validate all deeplinks in the “Select report type” drop-down.
  4. Click Add app domains.

After you have validated all the deep links in your app, a slidelog opens. In the slidelog, select the following:

  1. Matching Android app: Select the corresponding Android app to the iOS app.
  2. Add your own domains: Select the domains that you want to validate.
  3. Click Apply to validate.

The validator pulls all the domains found in the Android app along with the domains that you entered and then performs the relevant checks.

The image displays the Specific link validation screen.

To validate a specific link:

  1. In the “Deeplink validator” page, select "Android" or "iOS" in the “Select platform” drop-down.
  2. Enter or search for your app from the app picker.
  3. Choose Validate a deeplink in the “Select report type” drop-down.
  4. Enter the link you want to validate.
  5. Select Validate.

After you select "Validate", the relevant checks on your link are performed.

Verification results for Android

After you validate, you’ll find the checks that the tool performed on your link, how many passed and failed, whether the link was validated as an App Link or Custom URL Scheme, and the app version validated. It’s important to note that any link check other than a Custom URL Schemes check will require a different setup. Learn more about setting up custom schemes for Android apps.

If the deep link is not configured correctly, you’ll find the list of app and website checks we performed, which ones passed or failed, and how to fix the failed ones.

If the link you validated is a valid link, you’ll find a preview (if available) and a QR code for the landing page that this deep link leads to in the app, and all the related checks that the tool performed for this link.

However, the deep link preview may not always accurately reflect the content of the app, especially if the access to the app is restricted (for example, if it requires a login or needs to be accessed from a specific location). Therefore, use the QR code to test the deep link on your own device.

Verification results for iOS

After validation, you can receive one of the following messages:

If you receive the first message, proceed to install the app and scan the QR code to verify that the right page opens up in the app. This step ensures that the deeplink is set up correctly in the app.

If you receive the second message, review the errors in the “Checks for your app” and “Checks for your website” sections and follow the instructions on how to fix them.

If you receive the third message, check if the patterns in your Apple app site association (AASA) file cover this deep link and it’s not excluded.

Note: For iOS, custom schemes can’t be validated. The deeplink in need of validation must start with “http” or “https”.

We can only validate website checks for iOS apps. App configuration will still be essential for any validated deep links to work.

How to understand the detailed app verification table

The deep link validator tool provides a full report of all the links found in your manifest file, and checks whether each link is configured correctly. If all your links are valid, a list of all the valid links will be shown.

After we validate, you’ll find up to 3 tabs on the validation table.

Note: To help you prioritize the data, you can filter the domains and links in the tables based on the number of checks that failed or the type of checks that failed.

For Android

Domains that failed website checks tab

An animation showing domains that failed website checks.

Note: If one or more of the domains in your app fails website checks, all the App Links in your app will not work as intended. When clicking on those links, the app may still open, but the dialog which allows the user to select which app will open the link will show.

For iOS

Domains that failed website checks tab

An animation showing domains that failed website checks.

Domains that passed website checks tab

How to download or send the full report

In the full report, you’ll find how many of your links won’t work and the app version we validated. To download or send the full report, click “Full report” in the “Deep Link validator” page.

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