Launching Android Application from link or email

Question

I have been trying to launch the application from a link on email or from a posting on some social networking websites. The problem is that in some device or some gmail application on the android don't show the anchor tags or link that I have specified.

The intent-filter that I set to my activity is below:

 <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
 <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
 <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
 <data android:scheme="myappname" />

And I am sending the email with this anchor tag

myappname://processtobedone/?id=1

It works fine with the email application that I have on Huawei device but in device's default gmail application it is not showing it has an link and in some devices by default it appends https: as suffix for the tag and launches the browser.

Possible duplicate of [Make a link in the Android browser start up my app?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3469908/make-a-link-in-the-android-browser-start-up-my-app) — Tot Zam, Feb 27 '17 at 01:00

score 20 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 27 '17 at 00:54

20

Instead of using a custom scheme, you can have an <intent-filter> that identifies a URL that you control:

<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:host="www.this-so-does-not-exist.com"
        android:path="/something"
        android:scheme="http"/>
</intent-filter>

Then, links to http://www.this-so-does-not-exist.com/something will bring up your app (in a chooser, along with the Web browse) on devices that have your app, and will bring up your Web page on devices that do not have your app.

edited Feb 27 '17 at 00:54

Tot Zam

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answered Feb 19 '13 at 15:04

CommonsWare

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Thanks and sorry for delayed reply @CommonsWare. I would try this. – Dinash Feb 20 '13 at 07:17
Hi Thanks for you answer and it works fine on most device but not in all as it is not working with HTC EVO 4G. Whenever i click on the link it directly opens up the browser and i am sure of why it is so. Also checked whether the any defaults being set and it is not set either. – Dinash Feb 26 '13 at 06:12
@Dinash: This approach may not work on various US-shipped HTC devices due to a workaround stemming from an import ban obtained by Apple. See http://commonsware.com/blog/2012/07/23/linkify-problem-patent-behavior.html and http://commonsware.com/blog/2012/07/24/linkify-problem-detection-mitigation.html – CommonsWare Feb 26 '13 at 12:52

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 19 '13 at 14:48

2

Make a real link (http:) that goes a website you control, such as a static website on amazon s3, use the javascript on that site to detect an android user agent and then redirect to a link with the anchor tag.

answered Feb 19 '13 at 14:48

CQM

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1

You don't even need the JavaScript. If the `` has the Web page URL instead of the custom scheme, the user can choose to open the app directly. – CommonsWare Feb 19 '13 at 14:49
@CommonsWare ah, thats how instagram must work. I always wondered how that was a choice – CQM Feb 19 '13 at 15:01
@CommonsWare Can you please tell how to define url instead of custom scheme. – CodingRat Jul 22 '14 at 10:59

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 18 '16 at 11:33

<activity
android:name=".SplashEmailActivity"
android:screenOrientation="portrait"
android:exported="true"
android:launchMode="singleInstance" android:configChanges="orientation|keyboard|keyboardHidden|screenSize"
android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden|adjustResize" >

<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="http"  android:host="your.domain.name"/>

</intent-filter>

</activity>

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 06 '19 at 13:13

To trigger app link on a device, for instance, of your case myappname://processtobedone/?id=1, the simplest way is to create a basic html page file (with name deeplink_test.html) and send to your email, after that open this email and click to the html file, open with Chrome browser and click on the anchor link.

<html>
    <head>
        <title>DeepLink Test</title>
    <head>
    <body>
        <a href="myappname://processtobedone/?id=1">run deeplink</a>
    <body/>
</html>

Email apps will strip this out, gmail for example strips this — Nico Westerdale, Mar 05 '20 at 14:57

Launching Android Application from link or email

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