Open universal link when app is not in background

Question

I have similar case with this problem iOS: apple universal link if app is not open? . When I click an universal link, the app could not go into func application(_ application: UIApplication, continue userActivity: NSUserActivity, restorationHandler: @escaping ([Any]?) -> Void) -> Bool {} if it is not in background.

I added some codes in the didFinishLaunchingWithOptions. However it is not working. Thank you so much If anyone could help.

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {

    let activityDic = launchOptions?[UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey.userActivityDictionary]
    if activityDic != nil {
        // Continue activity here
        self.window?.rootViewController?.restoreUserActivityState(activityDic as! NSUserActivity)
    }


   return true
}

func application(_ application: UIApplication, continue userActivity: NSUserActivity, restorationHandler: @escaping ([Any]?) -> Void) -> Bool {
    if userActivity.activityType == NSUserActivityTypeBrowsingWeb {          
            if let controller = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil).instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "xxx") as? XXXTableViewController {
                if let window = self.window, let rootViewController = window.rootViewController {
                    var currentController = rootViewController
                    while let presentedController = currentController.presentedViewController {
                        currentController = presentedController
                    }
                    currentController.present(controller, animated: true, completion: nil)
                }
            }
    }

    return true

}

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 22 '17 at 10:47

Place this code into didFinishLaunchingWithOptions function to open the URL when the app launch (Swift 3 code) :

    if let url = launchOptions?[UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey.url] as? URL { //Deeplink
        // process url here
    }
    else if let activityDictionary = launchOptions?[UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey.userActivityDictionary] as? [AnyHashable: Any] { //Universal link
        for key in activityDictionary.keys {
            if let userActivity = activityDictionary[key] as? NSUserActivity {
                if let url = userActivity.webpageURL {
                    // process url here
                }
            }
        }
    }

Under what conditions would `UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey.url` not be null? — Will Calderwood, Jul 18 '20 at 15:42

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 23 '20 at 09:05

For IOS14 Swift 5 use SceneDelegate file and func

func scene(_ scene: UIScene, willConnectTo session: UISceneSession, options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions) {
        // Get URL components from the incoming user activity.
        guard let userActivity = connectionOptions.userActivities.first,
              userActivity.activityType == NSUserActivityTypeBrowsingWeb,
              let incomingURL = userActivity.webpageURL
        else { return }
        DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2) {
            LinkHandler.sharedInstance.handleLink(url: incomingURL)
        }
        guard let _ = (scene as? UIWindowScene) else { return }
    }

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 23 '21 at 09:29

2

You can access the URL in the launch options dictionary that is passed to your app at initialization time. Example of an implementation inside the AppDelegate application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) method:

// Catch if open app from url
if let options = launchOptions {
    for key in options.keys {
        if(key == UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey.url) {
            if let url = options[key] as? URL {
                AppDelegate.handleOpenURLWhenAppIsNotOpen(url)
            }
        }
    }
}

// or
if let url = launchOptions?[UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey.url] as? URL {
    AppDelegate.handleOpenURLWhenAppIsNotOpen(url)
}

In AppDelegate you need method:

private class func handleOpenURLWhenAppIsNotOpen(_ url: URL) {
     //can make what you like
}

edited Jun 23 '21 at 09:29

ricardopereira

11,118
5
63
81

answered Mar 08 '17 at 16:13

Svetoslav Bramchev

433
5
12

Thank you for your reply. I tried but it said AppDelegate has no member handleOpenURLWhenAppIsNotOpen. I'm sorry if I typed it wrong. – ray Mar 08 '17 at 16:19
handleOpenURLWhenAppIsNotOpen is my custom method where you can write everything you like (present login screen or other screen in the app). In my case I init tabBarController and select one of four tabs – Svetoslav Bramchev Mar 09 '17 at 08:35

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 17 '17 at 07:03

    if let activityDic = launchOptions?[UIApplicationLaunchOptionsUserActivityDictionaryKey] {

        let options = activityDic.allValues.filter({ (option:AnyObject) -> Bool in

            return option is NSUserActivity
        })

        if options.count > 0 , let userActivity = options[0] as? NSUserActivity{
            // User activity handling should be done here 

        }

    }

Use the above method if you can't access 'userActivity' in conventional way.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 02 '20 at 03:01

Swift 4, 5 (Working solution)

You can try the following code snippet:

if let launchOptions = launchOptions, let dict = launchOptions[UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey.userActivityDictionary] as? NSDictionary {
    if let userActivity = dict.first(where: { $0.value as? NSUserActivity != nil })?.value as? NSUserActivity {
       // handle your logic here
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 10 '17 at 05:33

I have used Branch.io for handling universal link. The following code is for reference if anyone needed.

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
    // Override point for customization after application launch.
    //branch.io
    let branch: Branch = Branch.getInstance()
    branch.initSession(launchOptions: launchOptions, andRegisterDeepLinkHandler: {params, error  in
        // If the key 'pictureId' is present in the deep link dictionary
        if error == nil && params!["pictureId"] != nil {
            print("clicked picture link!")
            // load the view to show the picture
        } else {
            // load your normal view
        }
    })
    //branch io

    FBSDKApplicationDelegate.sharedInstance().application(application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: launchOptions) //don't put it on return
    return true
}

func application(_ application: UIApplication, continue userActivity: NSUserActivity, restorationHandler: @escaping ([Any]?) -> Void) -> Bool {
        // pass the url to the handle deep link call
        Branch.getInstance().continue(userActivity)

}

Open universal link when app is not in background

6 Answers6