Dynamic link opening Play Store instead of Installed app - firebase

Dynamic link is not opening the installed mobile app. It opens the Play Store instead. I have a button on my website on click of which, I want to open my app. For this, I am opening a dynamic link on click of that button on my website. When I click on the button, in some web browsers, the dynamic link is redirecting to Google Play store app(with my app on the Play Store) and in some browsers, opening Play Store website(with my app on the Play Store) inside the browser. However, when I send that dynamic link in the chat apps like Whatsapp and click on that link from the chat, then its opening my installed application.
I have also uploaded the release and debug SHA-256 keys from my local machine and the Google Play Store on the Firebase Console.
I have gone through several Github issues and stackoverflow questions, but could not find any solution for it.
Mobile
On mobile side, I have dynamic link listeners setup. We are generating the dynamic link on the backend side(code included below).
useEffect(() => {
getInitialDynamicLink();
const unsubscribe = dynamicLinks().onLink(handleDynamicLink);
return () => unsubscribe();
}, []);
const handleDynamicLink = link => {
if (link?.url) {
console.log('shared url is: ', link?.url);
}
};
const getInitialDynamicLink = () => {
dynamicLinks()
.getInitialLink()
.then(link => {
handleDynamicLink(link);
});
};
Backend
On the backend, I am using https://www.npmjs.com/package/firebase-dynamic-links/v/1.0.0 to generate dynamic links.
package.json:
"#react-native-firebase/app": "^16.4.0",
"#react-native-firebase/dynamic-links": "^16.4.0",
"react-native": "0.67.4",
android/build.gradle
ext {
buildToolsVersion = "31.0.0"
minSdkVersion = 21
compileSdkVersion = 33
targetSdkVersion = 33
ndkVersion = "21.4.7075529"
kotlin_version = "1.4.0"
googlePlayServicesAuthVersion = "19.2.0"
}
AndroidManifest.xml:
As mentioned in the doc https://developer.android.com/training/app-links#android-app-links, my app also has the App Link
<intent-filter android:autoVerify="true">
<action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE"/>
<data android:host="appname.page.link" android:scheme="https"/>
</intent-filter>

Related

Firebase Persisting Auth with Stack Navigator

Attempting to let Firebase persist authentication within the app.js of React Native by doing the following:
There is a sign in page that envokes auth() sign in via Firebase, which works fine, and redirects to the home page via navigation.replace("Home"); however, once the app is closed and relaunched on the emulator, it redirects back to sign in.
This is seemingly what the App.js looks like, I assume that the AuthStateChanged would be prevalent as depicted below, however, user is not accessed in App.js as it is established in SignIn.js, when the Firebase credentials are sent, but I assume it would be similar to this layout?
const App = () => {
var initialRoute = null
React.useEffect(() => {
const unsubscribe = auth().onAuthStateChanged(user => {
if(user) {
initialRoute = "Home"
}
else {
initialRoute = "SignIn"
}
})
return unsubscribe
}, []);
return (
<NavigationContainer>
<Stack.Navigator
screenOptions={{
headerShown: false,
}}
initialRouteName={initialRoute}
>
The reason it needs to affect the initial route, and not just redirect anyone who reopens to the home page, is because after registration, there are extra steps included that adjust the database, such as location mapping and etc., therefore, the redirection has to occur within the initial route.
Thanks for your assistance.
This is not how you build a navigation flow with react-navigation. But that's no problem since theres a guide here on the official react-navigation side on how to do that: https://reactnavigation.org/docs/auth-flow/
Fixed by setting two different returns within App.js, one for if the user is authenticated with Firebase that sets the initialRoute to "Home", and one for else that sets it to "SignUp", seems to work fine.

Deep Link doesn't open the app instead does a google search

I have been using Expo to develop a react-native app, The functionality I am currently trying to implement is to share a link with friends on platforms such as fb messenger/whatapp or even normal texts and when they click this link it will launch my app to a specific page using the parameters.
After extensive research online - I’ve come to a blocker, following expo’s documentation I defined a scheme for my app - when I press share everything works correctly a message is created and I’m able to share content but only as string.
I am using react-natives Share library to share to an app and I’m using Expo to provide me with the link.
Ideally my first goal is to get the app opening using the Expo Link before I explore further into adding more functionality to the link.
Share.share({
message: "Click Here to View More! " + Linking.makeUrl( ' ' , { postkey : "7a5d6w2x9d6s3a28d8d});
url: Linking.makeUrl( ' ' , { pkey : gkey });
title: 'This post is amazing',
})
.then((result) =>{
console.log(result)
if(result === 'dismissedAction'){
return
}
})
.catch((error) => console.log(error))
In the root of my app I have also defined the event handlers: App.js
_handleRedirect=(event)=> {
let {path,queryParams} = Linking.parse(event);
Alert.alert(`queryparams : ${event} path : ${path} `)
this.props.navigation.navigate("Post_Detail",{key:queryParams.postkey})
}
}
componentDidMount() {
let scheme = 'nxet'
Linking.getInitialURL()
.then(url => {
console.log("App.js getInitialURL Triggered")
// this.handleOpenURL({ url });
})
.catch(error => console.error(error));
Linking.addEventListener('url', ({url}) => this._handleRedirect(url));;
}
componentWillUnmount() {
Linking.removeEventListener('url', this.handleOpenURL);
}
When I share the link to Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or even just messages or notes it appears as myapplink://, I try to enter this into the browser and instead of asking me to open my app - it does a google search.
Please note I am attempting to have this working on Android Device and facing this issue
Is there something I am doing incorrectly?
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
You can not open external links, means other than http, https on Android. But you can on iOS. In order to be able to open your expo links, you need proper anchor tags on android. You can create html mails and give it a try, you will see it is gonna work on Android as well.

React Native - How to persist a Firebase authenticated user session from react-native app to a (react-native-webview) webview component?

I have a react-native app which uses Firebase (with "#react-native-firebase/auth": "^6.0.1").
In the app there is one Webview (with "react-native-webview": "^7.5.2").
The user logs in, then I have access to its jwt by using:
auth().currentUser.getIdTokenResult()
.then(jwtToken => {
console.log('jwtToken: ', jwtToken.token);
})
Now I need the user to open the Webview and still being connected because the webview points to my firebase hosting page.
<WebView
source={{
uri: 'my-firebase-hosting-url',
headers: {
Authorization: jwtToken,
},
}}
renderLoading={this.renderLoadingView}
startInLoadingState={true}
sharedCookiesEnabled={true}
thirdPartyCookiesEnabled={true}
domStorageEnabled={true}
ref={ref => {
this.webview = ref;
}}
/>
On the server side, I have setup express and cookie-session.
The user doesn't seems to be logged in the webview: on the server side, when I console.log(req.session) it shows an empty object {}.
I've tried multiple options but nothing seems to work in iOS (not tried on Android yet)
What am I missing? Are there extra steps on the frontend/backend? (I am still new to programming)
Thank you for your help.
I finally solved it and hope it will help others:
Design your state
state = {
shouldRenderWebview: false,
authorization: ''
...
In your constructor, get a refreshed token from firebase
auth()
.currentUser.getIdTokenResult()
.then(result => {
this.setState({
authorization: result.token,
shouldRenderWebview: true,
});
})
Design your main component to either show a loading view (while it's getting the token) or render the webview
Your webview (and add 'Bearer' to the code)
const Authorization = 'Bearer ' + this.state.authorization;
<WebView
source={{
uri: this.state.urlToGo,
headers: {
Authorization,
},
}}
....
In your backend, check if the authentication code is valid
firebase.auth().verifyIdToken(req.headers.authorization.substr(7));
Then do your stuff depending on the result.

react native share dynamic link

1.Everything work fine before share, I shared to Facebook Messenger and click the social content, the redirect link is not the link that firebase generated. The link has become the dynamic domain mixed with the title and description.
2.I tried to copy only the generated firebase link and paste to Facebook Messenger, social content loaded, then by clicking the content it call the dynamic link correctly and launch the app.
const link = new firebase.links.DynamicLink('https://example.com/parameter' , 'abc123.app.goo.gl')
.android.setPackageName('com.example.android')
.ios.setBundleId('com.example.android')
.social.setTitle("Social Title")
.social.setImageUrl("http://exmaple.com/super.png")
.social.setDescriptionText("Description");
firebase.links().createShortDynamicLink(link, 'SHORT')
.then((url) => {
Share.share({
message: "Message Title",
url: url,
title: "Title"
}, {
// Android only:
dialogTitle: 'Super Share'
})
// ...
});
How to share with correct dynamic link not just copy and paste, consider the user behavior.

Branch Deep Linking not working in Google Analytics hitCallback

I'm using both Google Analytics and branch.io in this website.
The website is designed for mobile.
The problem is that when clicking the banner with text "OPEN", the app cannot be opened.
Here is the code for the click:
$scope.openApp = () => {
let appOpened = false;
const open = () => {
if (!appOpened) {
appOpened = true;
branch.deepviewCta();
}
};
$timeout(open, 1000);
ga('send', 'event', 'homepage', 'download', {
hitCallback() {
open();
}
});
};
If I get rid of the GA code, it works fine:
$scope.openApp = () => {
let appOpened = false;
const open = () => {
if (!appOpened) {
appOpened = true;
branch.deepviewCta();
}
};
$timeout(open, 1000);
open();
};
The reason I put open() in hitCallback is to make sure GA sends out the hit because open() will redirect to another page.
Can you help me?
Alex from Branch.io here:
The Branch deepviewCta() function works on iOS 9+ by triggering an automatic redirect to a Universal Link URL (which opens the app) and then going to a fallback URL if that fails. But Apple is very specific about the situations in which a Universal Link is allowed to launch the app (including things like how long of a pause is allowed before redirection). Of course these restrictions are not public, so all we can do is guess. My suspicion is that putting the deepviewCta() function inside a GA callback is falling outside of Apple’s rules, so the app never opens and you are instead being sent to the fallback URL.
I can think of two options here:
You can build some way to trigger the GA and Branch functions separately so that they don’t conflict with Apple’s requirements.
We actually have a brand new, one-click integration with Google Analytics, which you can read about here and here. If you set that up, you’ll get all Branch-related events automatically instead of needing to manually collect link click data.
Hopefully that helps!

Resources