Universal links of two app open ever the same app with Branch.io

Question

All my applications use the same custom domain, namely links.ci--e.es.

My app are:

• Co-ba -> Bundle id --> com.cit--e.co-ba
• Ca-as -> Bundle id --> com.cit--e.ca-as
• Gu-la -> Bundle id --> com.cit--e.gu-la

In each app:

• I have installed on my device my applications.
• I have correctly set up all my applications. Both live and test dashboard. Also in XCode.
• I consider the code for facebook. And I added the code to my Applications.
• In Validator universal links, personalized domain, the bundle id and return prefix me this json. And everything is correct.

Validator Universal Links Validator Universal Links

{
"applinks": {
    "apps": [],
    "details": [
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.co-ba",
            "paths": [
                "*",
                "/"
            ]
        },
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.gu-la",
            "paths": [
                "*",
                "/"
            ]
        },
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.ca-as",
            "paths": [
                "*",
                "/"
            ]
        },
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.test",
            "paths": [
                "*",
                "/"
            ]
        },
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.co-ba",
            "paths": [
                "*",
                "/"
            ]
        },
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.gu-la",
            "paths": [
                "*",
                "/"
            ]
        },
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.test",
            "paths": [
                "*",
                "/"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

}

For each of my applications I make marketing link. Example:

App name Co-ba - htttp://link.ci--e.es/TzUm/CL1D25b4tt

App name Ca-as - htttp://link.ci--e.es/LKVl/wkb27JqVtt

App name Gu-la - htttp://link.ci--e.es/lySm/ygacY4N2tt

And these links work correctly when there is a single application installed on my device. Links do not work properly when installed have more than one application.

The links I always open the same application even if they belong to another application. Example:

If you have installed Co-ba and Gu-la. I open a link on my device Co-ba and the Co-ba app opens. I open a link on my device Gu-la and the app opens Co-ba. This is a mistake. Where you can be the fault?

thanks for your reply.

Answer 1

Alex from Branch.io here:

Short version

Branch doesn't currently support multiple apps on the same domain, so there will be some unavoidable unexpected behavior. I recommend using different subdomains for each app.

Longer explanation

The reason this is happening is because all three apps are registered to open the same Universal Links URLs. Co-ba is just the first one in the apple-app-site-association file, so it is the one that opens by default when several apps are installed.

If you look at the Branch link links for each app, you'll see there is a four character unique ID in each one.

• Co-ba: TzUm
• Ca-as: LKVl
• Gu-la: lySm

This four character ID is what Branch uses to separate the links for each app, so that only the correct app opens. You will need to host your own apple-app-site-association file and update it to look like this (also getting rid of the duplicate entries):

{
"applinks": {
    "apps": [],
    "details": [
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.co-ba",
            "paths": [
              "/TzUm/*",
              "/a/Branch-key-for-co-ba/*"
            ]
        },
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.gu-la",
            "paths": [
              "/lySm/*"
              "/a/Branch-key-for-gu-la/*"
            ]
        },
        {
            "appID": "ZXXXXXXXX4.com.ci--e.ca-as",
            "paths": [
              "/LKVl/*"
              "/a/Branch-key-for-ca-as/*"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

With this solution, you must keep in mind that Marketing links created on the Branch dashboard (and any other link you create with a custom alias) will not work, because they do not have the four character identifier.