Skip to main content
Version: 0.60

Linking

Linking gives you a general interface to interact with both incoming and outgoing app links.

Basic Usage#

Handling deep links#

If your app was launched from an external url registered to your app you can access and handle it from any component you want with:

componentDidMount() {  Linking.getInitialURL().then((url) => {    if (url) {      console.log('Initial url is: ' + url);    }  }).catch(err => console.error('An error occurred', err));}

For instructions on how to add support for deep linking on Android, refer to Enabling Deep Links for App Content - Add Intent Filters for Your Deep Links.

If you wish to receive the intent in an existing instance of MainActivity, you may set the launchMode of MainActivity to singleTask in AndroidManifest.xml. See <activity> documentation for more information.

<activity  android:name=".MainActivity"  android:launchMode="singleTask">

NOTE: On iOS, you'll need to link RCTLinking to your project by following the steps described here. If you also want to listen to incoming app links during your app's execution, you'll need to add the following lines to your *AppDelegate.m:

// iOS 9.x or newer#import <React/RCTLinkingManager.h>
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application   openURL:(NSURL *)url   options:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey,id> *)options{  return [RCTLinkingManager application:application openURL:url options:options];}

If you're targeting iOS 8.x or older, you can use the following code instead:

// iOS 8.x or older#import <React/RCTLinkingManager.h>
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url  sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation{  return [RCTLinkingManager application:application openURL:url                      sourceApplication:sourceApplication annotation:annotation];}

If your app is using Universal Links, you'll need to add the following code as well:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application continueUserActivity:(nonnull NSUserActivity *)userActivity restorationHandler:(nonnull void (^)(NSArray<id<UIUserActivityRestoring>> * _Nullable))restorationHandler{ return [RCTLinkingManager application:application                  continueUserActivity:userActivity                    restorationHandler:restorationHandler];}

And then on your React component you'll be able to listen to the events on Linking as follows:

componentDidMount() {  Linking.addEventListener('url', this._handleOpenURL);},componentWillUnmount() {  Linking.removeEventListener('url', this._handleOpenURL);},_handleOpenURL(event) {  console.log(event.url);}

Opening external links#

To start the corresponding activity for a link (web URL, email, contact etc.), call:

Linking.openURL(url).catch((err) =>  console.error('An error occurred', err));

If you want to check if any installed app can handle a given URL beforehand you can call:

Linking.canOpenURL(url)  .then((supported) => {    if (!supported) {      console.log("Can't handle url: " + url);    } else {      return Linking.openURL(url);    }  })  .catch((err) => console.error('An error occurred', err));

Reference

Methods#

constructor()#

constructor();

addEventListener()#

addEventListener(type, handler);

Add a handler to Linking changes by listening to the url event type and providing the handler.

removeEventListener()#

removeEventListener(type, handler);

Remove a handler by passing the url event type and the handler.

openURL()#

openURL(url);

Try to open the given url with any of the installed apps.

You can use other URLs, like a location (e.g. "geo:37.484847,-122.148386" on Android or "http://maps.apple.com/?ll=37.484847,-122.148386" on iOS), a contact, or any other URL that can be opened with the installed apps.

The method returns a Promise object. If the user confirms the open dialog or the url automatically opens, the promise is resolved. If the user cancels the open dialog or there are no registered applications for the url, the promise is rejected.

Parameters:

NameTypeRequiredDescription
urlstringYesThe URL to open.

This method will fail if the system doesn't know how to open the specified URL. If you're passing in a non-http(s) URL, it's best to check {@code canOpenURL} first.

For web URLs, the protocol ("http://", "https://") must be set accordingly!

canOpenURL()#

canOpenURL(url);

Determine whether or not an installed app can handle a given URL.

The method returns a Promise object. When it is determined whether or not the given URL can be handled, the promise is resolved and the first parameter is whether or not it can be opened.

The Promise will reject on Android if it was impossible to check if the URL can be opened, and on iOS if you didn't add the specific scheme in the LSApplicationQueriesSchemes key inside Info.plist (see bellow).

Parameters:

NameTypeRequiredDescription
urlstringYesThe URL to open.

For web URLs, the protocol ("http://", "https://") must be set accordingly!

As of iOS 9, your app needs to provide the LSApplicationQueriesSchemes key inside Info.plist or canOpenURL will always return false.

This method has limitations on iOS 9+. From the official Apple documentation:

If your app is linked against an earlier version of iOS but is running in iOS 9.0 or later, you can call this method up to 50 times. After reaching that limit, subsequent calls always return false. If the user reinstalls or upgrades the app, iOS resets the limit.

openSettings()#

openSettings();

Open the Settings app and displays the app’s custom settings, if it has any.

getInitialURL()#

getInitialURL();

If the app launch was triggered by an app link, it will give the link url, otherwise it will give null.

To support deep linking on Android, refer http://developer.android.com/training/app-indexing/deep-linking.html#handling-intents

sendIntent()#

sendIntent(action: string, extras?: Array<{key: string, value: string | number | boolean}>)

@platform android

Android-Only. Launch an Android intent with extras (optional)