Receive Dynamic Links on iOS

To receive the Firebase Dynamic Links that you created, you must include the Dynamic Links SDK in your app and call the handleUniversalLink: and dynamicLinkFromCustomSchemeURL: methods when your app loads to get the data passed in the Dynamic Link.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure to add Firebase to your iOS project.

Use Swift Package Manager to install and manage Firebase dependencies.

  1. In Xcode, with your app project open, navigate to File > Add Packages.
  2. When prompted, add the Firebase Apple platforms SDK repository:
    3.   https://github.com/firebase/firebase-ios-sdk.git
  3. Choose the Dynamic Links library.
  4. Add the -ObjC flag to the Other Linker Flags section of your target's build settings.
  5. For an optimal experience with Dynamic Links, we recommend enabling Google Analytics in your Firebase project and adding the Firebase SDK for Google Analytics to your app. You can select either the library without IDFA collection or with IDFA collection.
  6. When finished, Xcode will automatically begin resolving and downloading your dependencies in the background.

Now, perform some configuration steps:

  1. In the Firebase console, open the Dynamic Links section. Accept the terms of service if you are prompted to do so.

  2. Ensure that your app's App Store ID and your App ID prefix is specified in your app's settings. To view and edit your app's settings, go to your Firebase project's Settings page and select your iOS app.

    You can confirm that your Firebase project is properly configured to use Dynamic Links in your iOS app by opening the following URL:

    https://your_dynamic_links_domain/apple-app-site-association

    If your app is connected, the apple-app-site-association file contains a reference to your app's App ID prefix and bundle ID. For example:

    {"applinks":{"apps":[],"details":[{"appID":"1234567890.com.example.ios","paths":["NOT /_/*","/*"]}]}}

    If the details field is empty, double-check that you specified your App ID prefix. Note that your App ID prefix may not be the same as your Team ID.

  3. Optional: Disable the Dynamic Links SDK's use of the iOS pasteboard.

    By default, the Dynamic Links SDK uses the pasteboard to improve the reliability of post-install deep links. By using the pasteboard, Dynamic Links can make sure that when a user opens a Dynamic Link but needs to install your app first, the user can go immediately to the original linked content when opening the app for the first time after installation.

    The downside of this is that use of the pasteboard triggers a notification on iOS 14 and later. So, the first time users open your app, if the pasteboard contains a URL, they will see a notification that your app accessed the pasteboard, which can cause confusion.

    To disable this behavior, edit your Xcode project's Info.plist file and set the FirebaseDeepLinkPasteboardRetrievalEnabled key to NO.

  1. In the Info tab of your app's Xcode project, create a new URL type to be used for Dynamic Links. Set the Identifier field to a unique value and the URL scheme field to be your bundle identifier, which is the default URL scheme used by Dynamic Links.
  2. In the Capabilities tab of your app's Xcode project, enable Associated Domains and add the following to the Associated Domains list: 
    applinks:your_dynamic_links_domain
  3. If you want to receive Dynamic Links with a fully-custom domain, in your Xcode project's Info.plist file, create a key called FirebaseDynamicLinksCustomDomains and set it to your app's Dynamic Links URL prefixes. For example: 
    FirebaseDynamicLinksCustomDomains

  https://example.com/promos
  https://example.com/links/share
  4. Import the FirebaseCore module in your UIApplicationDelegate, as well as any other Firebase modules your app delegate uses. For example, to use Cloud Firestore and Authentication:

    SwiftUI

    import SwiftUI
import FirebaseCore
import FirebaseFirestore
import FirebaseAuth
// ...

    Swift

    import FirebaseCore
import FirebaseFirestore
import FirebaseAuth
// ...

    Objective-C

    @import FirebaseCore;
@import FirebaseFirestore;
@import FirebaseAuth;
// ...
  5. Configure a FirebaseApp shared instance in your app delegate's application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) method:

    SwiftUI

    // Use Firebase library to configure APIs
FirebaseApp.configure()

    Swift

    // Use Firebase library to configure APIs
FirebaseApp.configure()

    Objective-C

    // Use Firebase library to configure APIs
[FIRApp configure];
  6. If you're using SwiftUI, you must create an application delegate and attach it to your App struct via UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor or NSApplicationDelegateAdaptor. You must also disable app delegate swizzling. For more information, see the SwiftUI instructions.

    SwiftUI

    @main
struct YourApp: App {
  // register app delegate for Firebase setup
  @UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor(AppDelegate.self) var delegate

  var body: some Scene {
    WindowGroup {
      NavigationView {
        ContentView()
      }
    }
  }
}
  7. Next, in the application:continueUserActivity:restorationHandler: method, handle links received as Universal Links when the app is already installed:

    Swift

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, tvOS, or watchOS targets. 
    func application(_ application: UIApplication, continue userActivity: NSUserActivity,
                 restorationHandler: @escaping ([UIUserActivityRestoring]?) -> Void) -> Bool {
  let handled = DynamicLinks.dynamicLinks()
    .handleUniversalLink(userActivity.webpageURL!) { dynamiclink, error in
      // ...
    }

  return handled
}

    Objective-C

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, tvOS, or watchOS targets. 
    - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
continueUserActivity:(nonnull NSUserActivity *)userActivity
 restorationHandler:
#if defined(__IPHONE_12_0) && (__IPHONE_OS_VERSION_MAX_ALLOWED >= __IPHONE_12_0)
(nonnull void (^)(NSArray<id<UIUserActivityRestoring>> *_Nullable))restorationHandler {
#else
    (nonnull void (^)(NSArray *_Nullable))restorationHandler {
#endif  // __IPHONE_12_0
  BOOL handled = [[FIRDynamicLinks dynamicLinks] handleUniversalLink:userActivity.webpageURL
                                                          completion:^(FIRDynamicLink * _Nullable dynamicLink,
                                                                       NSError * _Nullable error) {
                                                            // ...
                                                          }];
  return handled;
}
  8. Finally, in application:openURL:options: handle links received through your app's custom URL scheme. This method is called when your app is opened for the first time after installation.

    If the Dynamic Link isn't found on your app's first launch, this method will be called with the DynamicLink's url set to nil, indicating that the SDK failed to find a matching pending Dynamic Link.

    Swift

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, tvOS, or watchOS targets. 
    @available(iOS 9.0, *)
func application(_ app: UIApplication, open url: URL,
                 options: [UIApplication.OpenURLOptionsKey: Any]) -> Bool {
  return application(app, open: url,
                     sourceApplication: options[UIApplication.OpenURLOptionsKey
                       .sourceApplication] as? String,
                     annotation: "")
}

func application(_ application: UIApplication, open url: URL, sourceApplication: String?,
                 annotation: Any) -> Bool {
  if let dynamicLink = DynamicLinks.dynamicLinks().dynamicLink(fromCustomSchemeURL: url) {
    // Handle the deep link. For example, show the deep-linked content or
    // apply a promotional offer to the user's account.
    // ...
    return true
  }
  return false
}

    Objective-C

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, tvOS, or watchOS targets. 
    - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)app
            openURL:(NSURL *)url
            options:(NSDictionary<NSString *, id> *)options {
  return [self application:app
                   openURL:url
         sourceApplication:options[UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsSourceApplicationKey]
                annotation:options[UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsAnnotationKey]];
}

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
            openURL:(NSURL *)url
  sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication
         annotation:(id)annotation {
  FIRDynamicLink *dynamicLink = [[FIRDynamicLinks dynamicLinks] dynamicLinkFromCustomSchemeURL:url];

  if (dynamicLink) {
    if (dynamicLink.url) {
      // Handle the deep link. For example, show the deep-linked content,
      // apply a promotional offer to the user's account or show customized onboarding view.
      // ...
    } else {
      // Dynamic link has empty deep link. This situation will happens if
      // Firebase Dynamic Links iOS SDK tried to retrieve pending dynamic link,
      // but pending link is not available for this device/App combination.
      // At this point you may display default onboarding view.
    }
    return YES;
  }
  return NO;
}