How to Create Firebase Dynamic Links? Step-by-Step Android Tutorial

September 24, 2021September 23, 2021 4771

What are dynamic links? Dynamic links are links whose behavior you can decide – you’ll learn about that in the next section. firebase dynamic links may behave differently or similarly across platforms – Android, iOS, web platform – based on what you need. It will show the appropriate content for that platform. You can also configure Firebase Dynamic Links to change the behavior depending on whether or not the user has the application installed. These links can be used for various purposes, especially marketing campaigns for your new apps.

Being an iOS and Android Application Development Company, we develop apps that use Firebase dynamic links. For example, we developed the PayNowlink payment app which generates dynamic links to complete transactions without any human contact. We decided to write this tutorial to help Android developers, as well as mobile app beginners, understand what dynamic links are, how they can be created and how they can be used.

How do Firebase Dynamic Links work?

Dynamic links are created to provide the best experience for your app users. You can create a dynamic link in a number of ways. You can use the Firebase console, an iOS or Android Builder API, a REST API, or form a URL by adding dynamic link parameters to a specific domain of your app. These parameters specify the behavior of the link when opening based on the user’s platform and whether the application is installed or not.

When a user opens a dynamic link on an iOS or Android device, they are taken directly to the linked content on their native app. In the case of a desktop browser, they are brought to content equivalent to the content linked on your site. For users who don’t have your app installed, you can upload them to your website or take them to the Play Store or show them an interstitial describing your app’s benefits before taking them to the app store for a smoother transition.

Now that you know what dynamic links are and how they work, it’s time to see how to create a dynamic link in firebase. Below are step-by-step tutorials for creating dynamic links for Android and iOS platforms.

Tutorial: How to create a dynamic link for Android?

Part 1: to create dynamic links

Step 1: Dynamic link creation starts by creating a project with an empty activity

Step 2: Configure Project Name, Package Name, and Minimum SDK Version

Step 3: Create a Firebase project and add a JSON file to your project

Step 4: Add the following dependencies to your App Gradle

    - implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-dynamic-links-ktx:19.1.0'
    - implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics-ktx:17.4.4'

Step 5: Pass the link parameters

     val invitationLink =
                     "http://www.yopmail.com/?invitedby=${refferCode.value}" //Pass parameters in link as query parameters

Step: 5.1 Long dynamic link

Generate dynamic link using the following function

                val dynamicLink = Firebase.dynamicLinks.dynamicLink {
                    link =
                        Uri.parse(invitationLink)
                    domainUriPrefix = "https://spaceo.page.link"
                    // Open links with this app on Android
                    androidParameters {
                      // The versionCode of the minimum version of your app that can open the link.
                      // If the installed app is an older version, the user is taken to the Play Store to upgrade the app.
                        minimumVersion = 1
                    }
                    // Open links with com.example.ios on iOS
                    // iosParameters("com.example.ios") { }
                }

         val dynamicLinkUri = dynamicLink.uri  // get Link

Step 5.2: Short Firebase Dynamic Link

        val shortLinkTask = Firebase.dynamicLinks.shortLinkAsync {
                    link =
                        Uri.parse(invitationLink)
                    domainUriPrefix = "https://spaceo.page.link"

                    androidParameters {
                    // The versionCode of the minimum version of your app that can open the link.
                    // If the installed app is an older version, the user is taken to the Play Store to upgrade the app.
                        minimumVersion = 1
                    }
                    // Set parameters
                    // ...
                }.addOnSuccessListener { result ->
                    // Short link created
                    val shortLink = result.shortLink
                    //val flowchartLink = result.previewLink
                    this.shortLink.value = shortLink.toString()
                }.addOnFailureListener {
                    // Error
                    // ...
                    Log.d("log_tag", "==> ${it.localizedMessage}", it)
                    this.shortLink.value = it.localizedMessage
                }

Part 2: to receive dynamic links

Step 1: Add an intent filter to the activity tag as below

     <activity
                android:name=".DeepLinkReceiveActivity"
                android:screenOrientation="portrait">
                <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.yopmail.com"
                        android:scheme="http" />
                    <data
                        android:host="www.yopmail.com"
                        android:scheme="https" />
                </intent-filter>
            </activity>

Step 2: Use the code below to get data from your activity.

      Firebase.dynamicLinks
                .getDynamicLink(intent)
                .addOnSuccessListener(this) { pendingDynamicLinkData ->
                    // Get deep link from result (may be null if no link is found)
                    var deepLink: Uri? = null
                    if (pendingDynamicLinkData != null) {
                        deepLink = pendingDynamicLinkData.link
                        Log.d("TAG", "==> ${deepLink.toString()}")
                        if (deepLink?.getBooleanQueryParameter("invitedby", false) == true)
                            binding.linkData = deepLink.getQueryParameter("invitedby")
                    }

                    // Handle the deep link. For example, open the linked
                    // content, or apply promotional credit to the user's
                    // account.
                    // ...

Demo for Android App Firebase Deep Linking

This demo shows how you can create firebase dynamic links on android and get a specific Reference Code opening a specific dynamic link. This can be used to promote offers in your app.

Dynamic Links Use Cases

Here are some ways to use dynamic links.

1. Converting web users to app users

   The problem with standard hard links is that they don’t survive the application installation process. If a user clicks on a direct link and is taken to the application’s installation page, all of the link’s original content will be lost. Dynamic links overcome this problem. Therefore, if the user installs your app by clicking a dynamic link, all this information will be available when the user opens the app for the first time.

2. Marketing campaign

   You can use Firebase Dynamic Link for marketing campaigns, from emails to social media, banner ads and even QR Codes. You can see which campaigns are getting the highest quality users. You can also offer your users a personalized first-time experience based on the campaign that brought them there.

   So if users installed your music app because you showed them a classical music ad, you can ensure that your app takes them to the classical music section the first time they open your app.

   Read too: How to read QR code on Android

3. sharing

   Any dynamic link, Firebase or not, is also great for sharing. Users can use these links to share recipes, links to their favorite level in a game or even coupon codes. In fact, dynamic links are the technology that drives Firebase invites.

4. Analytics

   Since dynamic links are Firebase products, you can view your stats directly in the Firebase Console. You can find out how many people clicked on a link or use Firebase Analytics to find out which of your users opened your app for the first time via a particular link.

Read here: Direct links tutorial on mobile app

Conclusion

So we hope that by now even you can create Firebase dynamic links to your app without the hassle. You can also refer to this GitHub source code for Android if you need more details.

If you have any questions implementing this code during application development, please feel free to ask us. We always appreciate constructive feedback, you can also give us feedback on this tutorial and help us improve. If you need to hire Android developers for your project, please contact us.