My use case seems quite common to me, but I’m afraid the solution escapes me on the platform. I’m wondering if anyone else has this need and/or has found a way to accomplish this.
The use case:
I want to provide a publicly accessible URL to prospective app users. From this, I can also create a QR code of course. Either way, people who use the URL may or may not have the app yet. It will be a mix of both.
The URL will lead to one of three places:
-My website app landing page for desktop users AND mobile devices that don’t have the app installed
-A specific screen inside my native app if the device does have the app installed
On the surface, it sounds like all you may need is the ability to deep link into a native app. But that’s only half of it. The good news is that this half can be handled by Jimmy Noujaim’s deep link component found here. There was also a deep linking component from PragmaFlow, but to the best of my knowledge, it’s unsupported at this time. But Jimmy’s component has worked for me so far.
The other half of the solution is a little more complicated. You see, that component (above) only works if the app is already installed on the device. If the app is not on the device, then it doesn’t work. But the good news there is that Firebase has solved that problem. You can publish a publicly available URL that will instantly redirect the person to the app if it’s installed, but to a web page if it’s not installed. This process is described here: https://firebase.google.com/docs/dynamic-links
So what’s the problem?
Clearly, I have just spelled out the two “halves” of the solution, above. That is true. Firebase can help ANY user on ANY device get to an appropriate endpoint. If they have the app, it takes them there. If they don’t, it takes them to a webpage. However, the two can’t yet talk to each other. I have a deep-link parameter that tells the app which record to display. But Firebase cannot seem to pass that value to the deep-link component.
I’m so close.
I have been in touch with the developer of the deep link component. There may be a solution, but not within the confines of the custom component framework. So the solution may require an effort from Adalo. This uncertainty makes it difficult to predict when my app can have this critical functionality.
Has anyone had this issue and/or found a way to solve this use case?
Thanks in advance!
