Branch Deep Linking not working in Google Analytics hitCallback - google-analytics

Question

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?

Answer 1

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!