Root URL

The Root URL is a fallback address, such as your website’s home page, for visitors who land on your link domain without a matching link. Without it, these visitors see a 404 “Not Found” page.

It applies to your Dynalinks subdomain (for example your-app.dynalinks.app) and to your custom domain if you have one. You do not need a custom domain or the Pro plan to use it.

Setting the Root URL

  1. Open your project in the Console.
  2. Open the Settings menu and choose Advanced Settings. You need to be an owner or manager of the project.
  3. In the Root URL section, click Edit Root URL.
  4. Enter a complete URL, including https://, in Fallback Root URL. For example https://example.com/home.
  5. Click Update Root URL.

The Root URL section in Advanced Settings shows the current value with a “Configured” badge. When nothing is set, it shows “Not configured” and “404 errors shown”.

To remove it, clear the field and click Update Root URL. Visitors will see the 404 page again.

The URL must start with http:// or https://. Leading and trailing spaces are removed when you save.

When visitors are redirected

With a Root URL set, Dynalinks redirects visitors to it in two cases:

  1. The bare domain. Someone opens https://links.example.com/ (or https://your-app.dynalinks.app/) with nothing after the slash.
  2. A path with no matching link. Someone opens https://links.example.com/old-campaign and no link in your project matches that path, even after Dynalinks applies your query parameter settings.

The redirect always goes to the Root URL exactly as you entered it. The requested path and query string are not carried over.

Links that exist are not affected. They work as usual, including the preview page, fallback URLs and forced redirect.

Unnamed links also use the root path. They are built as / followed by query parameters, for example:

https://links.example.com/?link=https://example.com/product/42&apn=com.example.app&ibi=com.example.app

Dynalinks decides what to do with a request for / based on its query string:

Request Without a Root URL With a Root URL
/ with no query string 404 page Redirect to the Root URL
/?link=... (an unnamed link) Handled as an unnamed link Handled as an unnamed link
/?utm_source=newsletter (query parameters, but no link) 404 page 404 page

So setting a Root URL never interferes with unnamed links. The flip side is the last row: a bare-domain visit that carries any query string, such as tracking parameters added by an ad platform or email tool, is treated as an unnamed link request. Without a link parameter it shows a 404 page, even when a Root URL is set.

If you share your bare domain in places that append tracking parameters, share your website’s address instead, or create a regular link (for example /home) that points to it.

What is not affected

  • /.well-known/apple-app-site-association, /apple-app-site-association and /.well-known/assetlinks.json are always served normally. See Custom apple-app-site-association.
  • Universal Links and App Links that open your app directly are handled by your app, not by this setting.