#app deep linking

App Deep Linking

When you’re lucky enough to work on a pioneering and truly innovative product, it’s always tempting to push through to a future that others aren’t yet ready for.  On the one hand, we’re very proud to have been the first deep linking platform, the first to launch a searchable and scalable deeplink marketplace, and are still the largest indie deep linking platform.  

But on the other hand, while we’re excited to push the envelope toward what we believe is the future of mobile search, we also are lucky to have a great customer base of amazing apps, who want better deep linking tools and analytics to meet their needs now.

So we’ve been heads down the past few months, building a more robust core deep linking platform, with a stronger set of tools to enhance both the ease & ability to deep link into your app, and to make your app content findable and searchable. 

We’re excited to announce the launch of these upgraded tools today!

These include great new features, like;

- Deferred/Persistent Deep Linking

- iOS Spotlight Search Optimization

- Enhanced, per-link analytics

- AppWords Networking Tool

(our awesome new AppWords Networking tool!)

With much, much more to come!  Our free tier is still available, but we have now added Pro and Enterprise accounts to meet the growing needs of our valued and loyal customers.

As we build up AppWords, our vision for the future of mobile search, we felt the need to also build a stronger foundation for our core deep linking platform. This will enable us to build an even stronger and robust solution for the future of mobile search.  And we’re more excited than ever to be one of the leaders building this future.

Image credit: Gadget360

By definition, app deep links allow developers and marketers to send their end users to specific pages inside the app. We’ve been at the forefront as thousands and thousands of apps have leveraged the Deeplink platform to easily drive retention and reengagement.

But continuously, our app partners have requested our assistance in improving their onboarding flow, and helping their newest customers find the content that helped drive the download. And as a team of product folks, who are we to say no (forever) to a necessary and relevant feature request?

Today, we are super excited to announce that Deeplink now supports Persistent Deep Linking!

At their core, Persistent Deep Links (also referred to deferred deep links) allow you to pass data through the app install process, so that you can identify where the install came from, and deep link  the user to the content they originally intended to see post-install.

As with all Deeplink initiatives, we’ve designed persistent deep linking to be super easy to use. It’s powered by the same SDK that you’re already using for AppWords and Spotlight Optimization. And since it’s built on CocoaPods, the version control should take care of most of the integration.

And furthermore, you’ll be able to attribute and measure all of the data in our portal (which has just been souped up like a car with nitrous boosters). We’ve been testing for a while and the product is pretty rock-solid. For existing Deeplink users, getting going is seamless and easy (be live in a few minutes).

The leaves are changing, and the nights are getting cooler. That means that the iOS9 release is quickly approaching!

IS YOUR APP READY?

As you may remember from WWDC a few months ago, iOS9 is packed with new features, awesome functionality improvements, and upgrades to much of the core OS. For those of us in the deep linking world, there are a few that we’ve been particularly keen on. Most specifically, the new Core Spotlight APIs and Universal Links. Here is your crash-course on each, and how they will effect your existing Deeplink functionality.

Universal Links

This announcement was huge for app engagement! It means that web URLs will now open your app (no Safari interstitial) if your app supports Universal Links. We’re excited to announce that Deeplink fully supports Apple’s Universal Links. And if your app doesn’t support universal linking on rollout, that’s cool too, as we can still support deep linking in iOS 9 in a very similar fashion to how we do it today.

Core Spotlight API

This is the announcement that got much of the attention... Craig Federighi stood up on stage and talked about how broken mobile search is (Ahem!) and how signaling has changed (<cough>). And then he dropped the bomb. Spotlight Search will now search INSIDE your apps (duh!).

To make this magic work, you’ll need to support Apple’s Core Spotlight APIs. It’s super easy. Once you do, users can search your content with a query (sort of like Google search on desktop, but for app content).

But that still leaves a gaping hole in UX. Your app content is still only available when a user deems it the right time to find it. What about those times where a user does something complementary? Aren’t those perfect times to serve your app content to them?

They certainly are. So, we’ve added a crazy-awesome, incredibly simple solution to the AppWords SDK. With a simple 30-second CocoaPods integration, you’ll also get found in relevant apps from the Deeplink network.

Go here--> AppWords iOS SDK.  Do it now. 

No visual display in your apps, no updating necessary, just a free tool to get found in thousands of apps when iOS9 launches.