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Just updated my iPhone to iOS10 and the Universal links stopped working. If I run my app in an iPhone with iOS9, or lower, the Universal Links work fine, but the are just not working at all in iOS10.

Any clues?

6rod9
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  • do you see any logs in the console ? – Teja Nandamuri Sep 19 '16 at 13:43
  • @TejaNandamuri no:(, it doesn't even open my app. It just opens Safari instantly. – 6rod9 Sep 19 '16 at 14:13
  • How are you running the universal links and what are you trying to link to? Another app? – Fogmeister Sep 19 '16 at 14:45
  • my universal links are working flawlessly after update. so, no clue. give us more details. – holex Sep 19 '16 at 15:06
  • @Fogmeister I am linking "http://www.tril.us" to my iOS app Tril (if its installed in the device). – 6rod9 Sep 19 '16 at 18:20
  • @holex I just followed the instructions from the Apple developer site. Assosiated domains + apple-app-site-assosiation file. My universal links work in an iphone 5 with iOS 9.3.5 but they don't work at all in an iPhone 6 with iOS10. – 6rod9 Sep 19 '16 at 18:22
  • Is it possible you inadvertently deactivated them? Try pasting the link into Notes and long-pressing to see if there is an 'Open in [App]' option. – Alex Bauer Sep 19 '16 at 21:27
  • @AlexBauer The long-press and "Open in .." actually worked! How could I had my Universal Links deactivated? o.O – 6rod9 Sep 20 '16 at 14:14
  • @6rod9 glad that helped! See my full answer below for more info – Alex Bauer Sep 20 '16 at 21:08

2 Answers2

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It sounds like you inadvertently deactivated Universal Links. This usually happens if you tap the bypass link in the top right corner of the screen after opening a Universal Link.

Universal Link bypass button

This is a per-app setting that is saved on each unique device. The setting is preserved even if you delete the app and reinstall it, so the only way to reverse this is by intentionally re-enabling Universal Link behavior for that app on your device. There are a couple of ways to do this:

  1. Paste the link into Notes or iMessage (or some other app that supports Universal Links) and long-press on it. You'll see an 'Open in [App]' option. Select it, and after that all Universal Links for that app will work again.
  2. On the the webpage that opens in Safari — assuming it doesn't immediately redirect somewhere else — you can scroll up on the initial view to get a banner. Clicking this will also re-enable Universal Links for the associated app.

enter image description here

Alex Bauer
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    on iOS 10.. long-pressing on iMessage doesn't even show the "Open with [app]". The only option is NOTES app, where the longpress works! Thanks for cracking this @Alex! – insaneinc Nov 02 '16 at 13:30
  • @insaneinc woah, you are right! I hadn't realized that. Thanks for pointing out this new limitation – Alex Bauer Nov 02 '16 at 14:31
  • @Alex Bauer But if the user in my app press a deep link from firebase on nots for example he have in the top left of scree , press the nots and try again the link open the app but if i press goo.gl the link not open the app and open safari and not open the app. what can be the problem ? – Roei Nadam Apr 20 '17 at 11:31
  • @AlexBauer - The first way you mentioned here is worked for me. Thanks a lot buddy :-) :-) :-) – Lineesh K Mohan Apr 27 '17 at 05:10
  • If you paste you link on to the Notes app, it's not enough, you will need to click on the OK button so that the link become clickable. – Martinos Jul 21 '17 at 20:29
  • @RoeiNadam I'm also using Firebase dynamic links, it doesn't;t work in Safari, did you find the solution? – Lucky_girl Feb 28 '18 at 13:00
  • @TusharJ. Awwww dang . Universal Links are a pain. Fortunately Apple finally removed the 'bypass link' in iOS 11, so things are a BIT better now. – Alex Bauer Aug 14 '18 at 14:57
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Ensure that you have the app installed on your device first. A fix for iOS 11 is to text or send the universal URL to yourself or a friend via iMessage. Then tap on the link to open it. It should automatically launch the app. This should fix the issue.

A couple of notes:

  • Some apps like Slack (at the moment) does not send me to the app but instead sends me to Safari. So don't rely on Slack to test your universal links.
  • Another thing that wasn't working for me was seeing the app banner from safari, but after sending the URL via iMessage and tapping on it, I am able to see the app banner from safari again.
Jen C
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