Linking

Linking gives you a general interface to interact with both incoming and outgoing app links.

Every Link (URL) has a URL Scheme, some websites are prefixed with https:// or http:// and the http is the URL Scheme. Let's call it scheme for short.

In addition to https, you're likely also familiar with the mailto scheme. When you open a link with the mailto scheme, your operating system will open an installed mail application. Similarly, there are schemes for making phone calls and sending SMS. Read more about built-in URL schemes below.

Like using the mailto scheme, it's possible to link to other applications by using custom url schemes. For example, when you get a Magic Link email from Slack, the Launch Slack button is an anchor tag with an href that looks something like: slack://secret/magic-login/other-secret. Like with Slack, you can tell the operating system that you want to handle a custom scheme. When the Slack app opens, it receives the URL that was used to open it. This is often referred to as deep linking. Read more about how to get the deep link into your app.

A custom URL scheme isn't the only way to open your application on mobile. For example, if you want to email someone a link to be opened on mobile, using a custom URL scheme isn't ideal because the user might open the email on a desktop, where the link wouldn't work. Instead, you should use standard https links, such as https://www.myapp.io/records/1234546. On mobile, these links can be configured to open your app. On Android, this feature is called Deep Links, while on iOS, it is known as Universal Links.

Built-in URL Schemes

As mentioned in the introduction, there are some URL schemes for core functionality that exist on every platform. The following is a non-exhaustive list, but covers the most commonly used schemes.

Scheme	Description	iOS	Android
mailto	Open mail app, eg: mailto: hello@world.dev	✅	✅
tel	Open phone app, eg: tel:+123456789	✅	✅
sms	Open SMS app, eg: sms:+123456789	✅	✅
https / http	Open web browser app, eg: https://expo.dev	✅	✅

Enabling Deep Links

Projects with Native Code Only

The following section only applies to projects with native code exposed. If you are using the managed Expo workflow, see the guide on Linking in the Expo documentation for the appropriate alternative.

If you want to enable deep links in your app, please read the below guide:

Android

info

For instructions on how to add support for deep linking on Android, refer to Enabling Deep Links for App Content - Add Intent Filters for Your Deep Links.

If you wish to receive the intent in an existing instance of MainActivity, you may set the launchMode of MainActivity to singleTask in AndroidManifest.xml. See <activity> documentation for more information.

XML

<activity
  android:name=".MainActivity"
  android:launchMode="singleTask">

iOS

note

On iOS, you'll need to add the LinkingIOS folder into your header search paths as described in step 3 here. If you also want to listen to incoming app links during your app's execution, you'll need to add the following lines to your *AppDelegate.m:

ObjectiveC

AppDelegate.mm

// iOS 9.x or newer
#import <React/RCTLinkingManager.h>

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
   openURL:(NSURL *)url
   options:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey,id> *)options
{
  return [RCTLinkingManager application:application openURL:url options:options];
}

If your app is using Universal Links, you'll need to add the following code as well:

AppDelegate.mm

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application continueUserActivity:(nonnull NSUserActivity *)userActivity
 restorationHandler:(nonnull void (^)(NSArray<id<UIUserActivityRestoring>> * _Nullable))restorationHandler
{
 return [RCTLinkingManager application:application
                  continueUserActivity:userActivity
                    restorationHandler:restorationHandler];
}

Swift

AppDelegate.swift

func application(_ app: UIApplication, open url: URL, options: [UIApplication.OpenURLOptionsKey : Any]