In the mobile ecosystem, users often need to complete a complete task across multiple apps (for example, browsing > placing an order > making a payment > sharing). If users have to manually switch between apps for each step, their experience will be frequently interrupted. The inter-app redirection capability provided by the system uses a unified link protocol and system-level routing to achieve a smooth "one-tap access" experience, significantly improving user efficiency and satisfaction, and thereby increasing the app conversion rate and user retention rate.
Common use cases include the following:
Based on the certainty of the target app, inter-app redirection can be classified into two types:
This document describes the principles and implementation solutions of various redirection modes based on typical application scenarios.
A user sees interesting content (such as articles, images, and videos) in a social app and wants to share it with friends. After receiving the shared link, the friend can directly click the link to go to the specific content page of the original app, without the need to search for the content. Example:
Share a link that contains App Linking to a friend through the system sharing panel, allowing the friend to directly access the original content with just one tap. For details, please refer to Redirection for Social Sharing.
A user sees an ad in a browser, on social media, or through other channels, and taps the ad to go directly to the product details page, activity page, or coupon claiming page in the app. Example:
App Linking enables precise redirection from an ad link to a specific page in your app, improving the marketing conversion rate. For details, please refer to Ad Redirection.
Your app can identify special text (such as addresses, phone numbers, and dates) in chat content, emails, or documents. When a user taps the text, the corresponding system app is directly called to perform the operation. Example:
The system's text recognition capability is used to identify special text, enabling direct redirection from text to functions. For details, please refer to Redirection After Special Text Recognition.
Starting a specified app refers to the scenario where a target app is explicitly specified for redirection. The system provides two main implementation methods:
App link (App Linking and Deep Linking)
Compared with Deep Linking, App Linking has the following advantages:
Considering security and user experience, App Linking is recommended. Compared with Deep Linking, App Linking provides higher security, prevents spoofing risks, and improves the overall user experience during redirection between apps.
System app redirection
The system provides some capabilities and interfaces for you to quickly implement system application redirection while ensuring access security. For example, you can redirect users to system applications such as Settings, AppGallery, Wallet, Phone, Calendar, and Contacts. For details, please refer to Starting a System Application.
In some scenarios, you may want to implement functions based on user intents rather than specific apps. For example, you may want to use any supported map app for navigation.
In this scenario, you do not specify a specific app. Instead, the system queries all apps that meet the conditions on the current device based on the user's intent, and the user chooses which app to use to perform subsequent operations. For example, user A shares a geographical location with user B. After user B taps the message, the system queries all map navigation apps installed on the device, and user B can choose which app to use for subsequent operations. For details, please refer to Overview of Starting an Application of the Specified Type.