Here are some good URLs that might be of assistance:
- https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/ios/documentation/General/Conceptual/AppSearch/UniversalLinks.html
- https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2015-509/
- https://medium.com/@barsh/my-first-date-with-ios-universal-links-90dfabc88bb8
- https://search.developer.apple.com/appsearch-validation-tool/
- https://limitless-sierra-4673.herokuapp.com/
Follow these steps to setup Universal app linking on the web server. In this example we use Apache2 as our web server but the same rules apply for nginx or IIS.
Below you'll find a template with a few examples:
{
"applinks": {
"apps": [],
"details": [
{
"appID": "<TEAM_DEVELOPER_ID>.<BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER>",
"paths": [ "*" ]
},
{
"appID": "<TEAM_DEVELOPER_ID>.<BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER>",
"paths": [ "/articles/*" ]
},
{
"appID": "<TEAM_DEVELOPER_ID>.<ANOTHER_APP_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER>",
"paths": ["/blog/*","/articles/*"]
}
]
}
}
PLEASE NOTE!
- The
"apps":JSON key must be left as an empty array. - The SSL generated apple-app-site-association JSON file must not have a
.jsonfile extension.
openssl smime -sign -nodetach
-in "unsigned.json"
-out "apple-app-site-association" -outform DER
-inkey /path/to/server.key
-signer /path/to/server.crt
- Upload the signed apple-app-site-association file to the server:
scp /path/to/apple-app-site-association [email protected]:~/
- Login to the web server:
ssh [email protected]
- Move the file to the root of the webserver (This might be another directory on your server)
mv apple-app-site-association /var/www/
The apple-app-association-file needs to be returned with the following Content-Type:
Content-type: "application/pkcs7-mime".
Below you'll find instructions on how to do this for your web server.
- Modify the
/etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl(or equivalent) file to include the<Files>snippet:
<Directory /path/to/root/directory/>
...
<Files apple-app-site-association>
Header set Content-type "application/pkcs7-mime"
</Files>
</Directory>
- Modify the
/etc/nginx/sites-available/ssl.example.com(or equivalent) file to include thelocation /apple-app-assocationsnippet:
server {
...
location /apple-app-site-association {
default_type application/pkcs7-mime;
}
}
- In Xcode go to
<MyApp>.xcodeproj/<Build target>/Capabilitiesand turn on Associated domains.
2. Enter the domains you want the iOS app to respond to.
- This will generate a
<AppName>.entitlementsfile that needs to be included in the project. - Please note that you need to enter subdomains specifically.
- If you already have a custom URI scheme i.e
myAppScheme://, this method will already be implemented. - We have noticed that devices running iOS 9.0.x responds to this older method of handling app links.
- If you want to support iOS 9.0.x or earlier like iOS8/iOS7 you will need to implement this method and add a JavaScript iframe redirect to your website.
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation;
- Devices running iOS 9.1 or later supports Apple's Universal Links and to handle the incoming URL you need to implement the following method.
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application continueUserActivity:(NSUserActivity *)userActivity restorationHandler:(void (^)(NSArray *))restorationHandler {
NSURL *url = userActivity.webpageURL;
// handle url
}
