Getting started

This guide takes you from a new account to a working link that opens your app on a phone. It takes a few minutes if you already have your app’s bundle ID, Team ID and signing certificate fingerprint at hand.

1. Create an account

  1. Go to dynalinks.app/users/sign_up and fill in Email, Password and Password confirmation.
  2. Click Sign up.
  3. Open the confirmation email we send you and confirm your address. You can sign in to the Console after that.

2. Create a project

A project holds your links, your apps and your link domain. Most teams use one project per app (or per app and environment, for example production and staging).

  1. In the Console, click Start new project.
  2. Enter a Name.
  3. Enter a Subdomain. Your links will live at https://{subdomain}.dynalinks.app. The subdomain must be at least 4 characters and can contain lowercase letters, digits and hyphens.
  4. Click Create Project.

You land on the project’s Dynamic Links page. Every new project starts on the free Basic plan. See Free and Pro plans for what each plan includes.

You can add your own domain (for example links.example.com) later under Settings > Custom Domain. Custom domains require the Pro plan.

3. Register your app

Links only open your app after the app is registered in the project and configured to trust your link domain. Register at least one app.

iOS

  1. Click iOS Apps in the top bar, then Add new.
  2. Fill in App Bundle ID, Team ID and AppStore ID.
  3. Click Save iOS App.
  4. In Xcode, add the Associated Domains capability with applinks:{subdomain}.dynalinks.app.

The full walkthrough, including where to find each value, is in iOS setup.

Android

  1. Click Android Apps in the top bar, then Add new.
  2. Fill in Package name and at least one SHA-256 value under SHA Certificate Fingerprints. The debug certificate fingerprint is fine for testing.
  3. Click Create Android app.
  4. Add an intent filter with android:autoVerify="true" for {subdomain}.dynalinks.app to your AndroidManifest.xml.

The full walkthrough is in Android setup.

Dynalinks publishes the domain association files your apps need (the Apple App Site Association file and the Android Digital Asset Links file) on your link domain automatically. You don’t need to host anything yourself.

  1. Click Links in the top bar, then Add new.

  2. Fill in the form:

    Field What to enter
    Name A label for your own reference, for example “Spring promo”.
    Url Where people go when they open the link on a desktop computer. Must start with http:// or https://.
    Path The part after your domain, for example products/5. Letters, digits, hyphens and slashes are allowed. Your app receives this path, so use it to decide which screen to show.
    iOS app to open The iOS app you registered in step 3.
    Android app to open The Android app you registered in step 3.
  3. Optionally fill in Social title, Social description and Social image url to control how the link previews when shared in chat apps and social networks.
  4. Click Create Link.

Your link is now live at https://{subdomain}.dynalinks.app/{path}.

The form also has fallback URLs and a forced redirect option. See Fallback URLs and Forced redirect for what they do.

The Basic plan includes 100 links per project. Links you create through the REST API count toward the same limit.

Send the link to your phone (for example in Messages, Notes or an email to yourself) and tap it there.

Situation What happens
App installed and domain configured correctly The app opens directly.
App not installed A preview page with a button to the App Store or Google Play opens, or the browser goes straight to the store or your fallback URL if you set one up.
Opened on a desktop computer The browser redirects to the link’s Url.

On iOS, typing or pasting the link into Safari’s address bar does not open the app. This is how Universal Links work on iOS. Tap the link from another app instead.

If the app does not open, work through iOS debugging or Android debugging. The most common causes are a typo in the bundle ID or Team ID, a missing SHA-256 fingerprint, or a domain mismatch in Associated Domains or the intent filter.

Next steps