Universal Deeplink (React Native Bare App)

August 12, 2025

Full Stack Developer

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for setting up deep linking on both iOS and Android platforms. It ensures that users can navigate directly to specific screens within your app from external links, such as URLs or shared content. This guide ensures deep linking is properly configured for both iOS and Android, using:

🔗 apple-app-site-association (iOS)
🔗 assetlinks.json (Android)

✅ Common Hosting Requirements

These requirements apply to both platforms:

Requirement	Value
Protocol	HTTPS only
Location	`https://your-domain.com/.well-known/`
Content-Type	`application/json`
Request type	Only `GET` requests
No redirects	No 301/302 redirects allowed
Access	Publicly accessible (no auth headers or cookies)
Path	Must be exactly `/.well-known/apple-app-site-association` and `/.well-known/assetlinks.json` (no extensions for iOS!)

🔁 Replace your-domain.com with your actual hosted domain, e.g., myapp.example.com, xyz.co.in, etc.

✅ Test Hosting

Use this in terminal:

curl -I https://your-domain.com/.well-known/apple-app-site-association
curl -I https://your-domain.com/.well-known/assetlinks.json

Expected:

HTTP/2 200
Content-Type: application/js

🍏 iOS Setup – Universal Links

1. 📁 File: `apple-app-site-association`

Location:


https://your-domain.com/.well-known/apple-app-site-association

Content:

{
  "applinks": {
    "apps": [],
    "details": [
      {
        "appID": "TEAM_ID.BUNDLE_ID",
        "paths": ["/deeplink/*"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

🔁 Replace:

TEAM_ID: Apple Developer Team ID (get it from Apple Dev portal)

BUNDLE_ID: iOS bundle identifier (e.g., com.example.myapp)

2. 🛠 Add Entitlements

You must enable associated domains in your iOS app:

Option A: Xcode GUI (Recommended)

Open your iOS project in Xcode.
Select your target → Go to Signing & Capabilities
Click + Capability → add Associated Domains
Under Domains, add:
```
applinks:your-domain.com
```

Option B: Manually edit `.entitlements` file

In ios/YourApp/YourApp.entitlements, add:

<key>com.apple.developer.associated-domains</key>
<array>
  <string>applinks:your-domain.com</string>
</array>

Also, make sure this file is included in your target's build settings.

🤖 Android Setup – App Links

1. 📁 File: `assetlinks.json`

Location:

https://your-domain.com/.well-known/assetlinks.json

Content:

[
  {
    "relation": ["delegate_permission/common.handle_all_urls"],
    "target": {
      "namespace": "android_app",
      "package_name": "com.yourcompany.app",
      "sha256_cert_fingerprints": ["AA:BB:CC:...:ZZ"]
    }
  }
]

🔁 Replace:

package_name: your app’s package name (e.g., com.example.myapp)

sha256_cert_fingerprints: SHA-256 of your release keystore

📌 Get SHA-256 Fingerprint:


keytool -list -v -keystore your-release-key.jks -alias your-alias

You’ll find:


SHA256: AA:BB:CC:...:ZZ

2. 🧾 AndroidManifest.xml Setup

Update android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:

<activityandroid:name=".MainActivity"
  android:launchMode="singleTask"
  android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize"
  android:label="@string/app_name"
  android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize">

  <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" />

    <dataandroid:scheme="https"
      android:host="your-domain.com"
      android:pathPrefix="/deeplink" />
  </intent-filter>
</activity>

🔁 Replace your-domain.com and path as needed.

🔁 Summary Checklist

Step	iOS (Universal Links)	Android (App Links)
✅	Host `.well-known` file	Host `.well-known` file
✅	Enable Associated Domains	Add `intent-filter` to manifest
✅	Add `.entitlements` with applinks	Add `assetlinks.json` with SHA-256
✅	HTTPS, JSON, No Redirects	HTTPS, JSON, No Redirects
✅	Test with `curl -I`	Test with `curl -I`

🧪 Testing

iOS Simulator


xcrun simctl openurl booted https://your-domain.com/deeplink/anything

Android Emulator


adb shell am start -W -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "https://your-domain.com/deeplink/anything" bundleId

💡 Optional: Deep Linking Test Links

Try opening:

iOS: https://your-domain.com/deeplink/test
Android: https://your-domain.com/deeplink/test

Or manually test in browser or using adb:


adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "https://your-domain.com/deeplink/test" com.yourcompany.app

✅ UPI Deep Linking Support in React Native App (Android + iOS)

🔁 Common JS Code (React Native)

Ensure you're intercepting UPI schemes like upi:// in WebView or navigation handlers:

import { Linking } from "react-native";

const handleNavigationStateChange = (navState: any) => {
  const url = navState?.url;
  if (url?.startsWith("upi://")) {
    Linking.openURL(url).catch((err) => {
      console.warn("Unable to open UPI link", err);
    });
    return false;
  }
};

🍏 iOS Configuration (`Info.plist`)

Add LSApplicationQueriesSchemes to allow launching or checking if UPI apps are installed:

<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
<array>
    <string>upi</string>
    <string>phonepe</string>
    <string>tez</string>
    <string>paytm</string>
    <string>bhim</string>
    <string>amazonpay</string>
    <string>cred</string>
    <string>freecharge</string>
</array>

⚠️ This is mandatory for Linking.canOpenURL and Linking.openURL to work for these schemes on iOS.

🤖 Android Configuration (`AndroidManifest.xml`)

1. Add `<queries>` for Android 11+ (API 30+) — Required to check if apps are installed

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <queries>
    <!-- UPI base scheme -->
    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
      <data android:scheme="upi" />
    </intent>

    <!-- Specific UPI apps -->
    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
      <data android:scheme="bhim" />
      <data android:host="pay" />
      <data android:pathPrefix="/" />
    </intent>

    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
      <data android:scheme="paytm" />
      <data android:host="pay" />
      <data android:pathPrefix="/" />
    </intent>

    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
      <data android:scheme="amazonpay" />
      <data android:host="pay" />
      <data android:pathPrefix="/" />
    </intent>

    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
      <data android:scheme="cred" />
      <data android:host="pay" />
      <data android:pathPrefix="/" />
    </intent>

    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
      <data android:scheme="freecharge" />
      <data android:host="pay" />
      <data android:pathPrefix="/" />
    </intent>

    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
      <data android:scheme="phonepe" />
      <data android:host="pay" />
      <data android:pathPrefix="/" />
    </intent>

    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
      <data android:scheme="tez" />
      <data android:host="pay" />
      <data android:pathPrefix="/" />
    </intent>
  </queries>

🔍 Testing UPI Deep Links

Android


adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d "upi://pay?pa=xyz@upi&pn=Test&am=1&cu=INR"

iOS (Safari or in-app)

Linking.openURL("upi://pay?pa=xyz@upi&pn=Test&am=1&cu=INR");

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Universal Deeplink (React Native Bare App)

✅ Common Hosting Requirements

✅ Test Hosting

🍏 iOS Setup – Universal Links

1. 📁 File: `apple-app-site-association`

2. 🛠 Add Entitlements

Option A: Xcode GUI (Recommended)

Option B: Manually edit `.entitlements` file

🤖 Android Setup – App Links

1. 📁 File: `assetlinks.json`

📌 Get SHA-256 Fingerprint:

2. 🧾 AndroidManifest.xml Setup

🔁 Summary Checklist

🧪 Testing

iOS Simulator

Android Emulator

💡 Optional: Deep Linking Test Links

✅ UPI Deep Linking Support in React Native App (Android + iOS)

🍏 iOS Configuration (`Info.plist`)

🤖 Android Configuration (`AndroidManifest.xml`)

1. Add `<queries>` for Android 11+ (API 30+) — Required to check if apps are installed

🔍 Testing UPI Deep Links

Android

iOS (Safari or in-app)

✅ Common Hosting Requirements​

✅ Test Hosting​

🍏 iOS Setup – Universal Links​

1. 📁 File: apple-app-site-association​

2. 🛠 Add Entitlements​

Option A: Xcode GUI (Recommended)​

Option B: Manually edit .entitlements file​

🤖 Android Setup – App Links​

1. 📁 File: assetlinks.json​

📌 Get SHA-256 Fingerprint:​

2. 🧾 AndroidManifest.xml Setup​

🔁 Summary Checklist​

🧪 Testing​

iOS Simulator​

Android Emulator​

💡 Optional: Deep Linking Test Links​

✅ UPI Deep Linking Support in React Native App (Android + iOS)

🍏 iOS Configuration (Info.plist)​

🤖 Android Configuration (AndroidManifest.xml)​

1. Add <queries> for Android 11+ (API 30+) — Required to check if apps are installed​

🔍 Testing UPI Deep Links​

Android​

iOS (Safari or in-app)​

✅ Common Hosting Requirements

✅ Test Hosting

🍏 iOS Setup – Universal Links

1. 📁 File: `apple-app-site-association`

2. 🛠 Add Entitlements

Option A: Xcode GUI (Recommended)

Option B: Manually edit `.entitlements` file

🤖 Android Setup – App Links

1. 📁 File: `assetlinks.json`

📌 Get SHA-256 Fingerprint:

2. 🧾 AndroidManifest.xml Setup

🔁 Summary Checklist

🧪 Testing

iOS Simulator

Android Emulator

💡 Optional: Deep Linking Test Links

🍏 iOS Configuration (`Info.plist`)

🤖 Android Configuration (`AndroidManifest.xml`)

1. Add `<queries>` for Android 11+ (API 30+) — Required to check if apps are installed

🔍 Testing UPI Deep Links

Android

iOS (Safari or in-app)