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6 min read

Deferred Deep Links

What happens when a user clicks your link but doesn't have your app installed? Without special handling, they install the app and land on the home screen — the original link context is gone. Deferred deep linking solves this.

What you'll learn

  • What deferred deep linking is
  • How ULink preserves link context through app install
  • When to use deferred deep links

The problem without deferred linking

Regular deep links work great when your app is already installed. But what about new users?

Here's what typically happens:

  1. User clicks your product link from an email
  2. Device detects app isn't installed
  3. User goes to App Store and installs
  4. User opens app... and lands on the home screen
  5. The original product link? Gone.
Gotcha

Without deferred deep linking, you lose the user's intent. They clicked a specific product link but land on your home screen — that's a conversion lost.

How deferred deep linking works

Deferred deep linking remembers the original link destination and delivers it after the app is installed. Here's the flow:

Deep Link Flow

Tap link
Not installed
App Store
Install
App opens

User clicks a ULink from email, ad, or social media

Step through the diagram to see how ULink handles this:

  1. User taps link — clicks your ULink from email, ad, or social
  2. App not installed — device detects the app isn't there
  3. Context stored — ULink saves link data using fingerprinting and device info
  4. App Store redirect — user is sent to install the app
  5. Install completes — user downloads and opens your app
  6. Context restored — SDK retrieves stored data, app opens to the right content
Key Concept

"Deferred" means delayed. The deep link destination is remembered and delivered after the app is installed. No context lost.

Real-world example

Imagine you're running a referral campaign:

  1. Sarah sends her friend Mike a referral link with her code
  2. Mike clicks the link but doesn't have your app
  3. He's sent to the App Store and installs
  4. On first launch, he lands directly on the referral rewards screen
  5. Sarah's referral code is automatically credited

Without deferred deep linking, Mike would open the app, forget about the referral, and Sarah would never get credit.

Platform differences

On iOS, ULink uses a combination of device fingerprinting and the clipboard to match the user after install. The SDK checks for deferred link data on first launch.

Quick recap

  • Deferred deep links preserve context through app installation
  • Users land on the right content even as first-time installers
  • Essential for marketing campaigns targeting new users
  • ULink handles the complexity — you just configure your links