Android Deep linking: Use the same link for the app and the play store

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This workaround might work:

  1. At the server side, create a redirect rule to google play. For example, https://www.foo.com/bar/BlahBlah will redirect to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bar.foo&referrer=BlahBlah.

  2. At the app, register the server side link as a deep link:

<data android:scheme="https"
          android:host="www.foo.com"
          android:pathPrefix="/bar" />

Now, if the app is installed, the URL will be caught and the path can be parsed to extract the BlahBlah part. If the app isn’t installed pressing the link will redirect the user to the Play store with the referring URL.

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Notes:

  • /bar/BlahBlah was converted to &referrer=BlahBlah, because the play store receives a URL argument and the deep link mechanism works with URL paths (as far a I can tell)

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