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Test deep linking

Before your marketing team goes live with your deep links in a campaign, it’s important to test them. This ensures that:

  • They’re set up correctly.
  • They deliver the user to the intended content.
  • Adjust is recording them.

Before you begin

Here’s what you need to do before getting started.

  1. Set your app environment to ADJEnvironmentSandbox and log level to ADJLogLevelVerbose.

  2. Build and run your app in Xcode.

  3. Obtain an example deep link from your marketing team.

    Example: https://example.go.link/summer-clothes?promo=beach

To test your deep link implementation, you need to create a test link. To do this:

  1. Log in to Adjust Suite.
  2. Under Campaign Lab, select Custom links.
  3. Select New link.
  4. In the App selection screen, choose the app for which you want to create the link.
  5. In the Link structure screen, add a name for your top-level channel link. Optionally, add campaign, adgroup, and creative sub-levels to set up your link structure.
  6. In the User destinations screen, provide the following information for the deep link to add to your link:
    • iOS app scheme
    • iOS app screen
  7. In the Attribution settings screen, ensure that you set probabilistic modeling to ON under New user:attribution —> Clicks.
  8. In the Link review screen, review your choices, and make any changes as necessary.
  9. Select Create link to generate the click URL, QR code, and link token.

Example: https://example.go.link/summer-clothes?promo=beach&adj_t=abc123

Test direct deep linking

You can test the following universal link configurations:

  • Adjust universal links
  • Email redirect and URL shortener universal links

To check your universal link domain configuration, follow these steps.

  1. On your iOS test device, paste your universal link in Apple Notes.
  2. In Apple Notes, long press on the universal link to open an iOS menu. If you see the Open in your app option, iOS was able to make the connection between your app and the domain.

If this option doesn’t appear, check the following issues.

  • Check your marketing team has enabled Adjust universal links in the Adjust dashboard.
  • Check the Associated Domains configuration in Xcode.
    • The applinks: prefix must be present.
    • The domain in Xcode must match the Adjust Universal Link domain or Branded Link in the Adjust dashboard. If you are testing different builds (for example: debug vs. release), you can add the Adjust Universal Link domain or Branded Link in all builds.
  • Check if the following values in your app match with the values in the Adjust dashboard:
    • App ID prefix
    • Bundle ID: Verify whether you are using the bundle ID of the debug build or release build.
  • Check the Associated Domains configuration in Xcode.
    • The applinks: prefix must be present.
    • The domain in Xcode must match the email redirect domain or URL shortener domain configured in the partner’s system.
  • Check if the following values in your app match with the values in the AASA (Apple-App-Site-Association) file for the email redirect domain or URL shortener domain in the partner’s system:
    • App ID prefix
    • Bundle ID: Verify whether you are using the bundle ID of the debug build or release build.
    • Email redirect domain / URL shortener domain - Verify whether you have configured the domain as a custom domain in the email partner’s system.

Test direct deep linking in the app

You should test direct deep linking both when your app is closed and again when its running in the background on the test device.

App closed

  1. Copy and paste the universal link into Apple Notes.
  2. Tap the home button twice. If your app is open, swipe up on it to close it.
  3. Open Apple Notes
  4. Click the universal link.

The app should open and display the deep link content. If you don’t see the correct page in the app, check the following:

  • Verify that the path or parameters in the deep link are correct. Check if you have used the ? symbol twice instead of the & symbol.
  • Check if your app handles the deep link via the following methods.
    • App doesn’t use scenes: application(_:continue:restorationHandler:) method
    • App uses scenes: scene(_:continue:) method
  • Check if other content in your code is interfering with the deep link.
  • If you’ve set up a redirect to the universal link, ensure that you have configured the redirect correctly.
  • Check if you have configured the Link Resolution method correctly. Ensure that you have added the email redirect domain or URL shortener domain to resolveUrlSuffixArray.

After selecting the deep link, your app calls the appWillOpen method in the Adjust SDK, and you should see entries similar to the following in your Xcode logs:

2022-09-28 09:19:30.873598+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]d: Added sdk_click 1
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873782+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: Path:      /sdk_click
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873806+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: ClientSdk: ios4.38.4
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873824+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: Parameters:
[...]
2022-03-15 09:19:30.873956+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: source   deeplink

If you don’t see these entries in your Xcode logs, ensure the following:

  • You have set the environment to sandbox and logging to verbose in the Adjust SDK.
    • Verbose logging is indicated by [Adjust]v in your Xcode logs.
  • Your app calls the appWillOpenUrl method in the method that receives the deep link.

App running in background

  1. Copy and paste the universal link into Apple Notes.
  2. Tap the home button.
  3. Open your app with the app icon.
  4. Tap the home button twice and open Apple Notes.
  5. Click the universal link.

The app should display the deep link content. If you don’t see the correct page in the app, check the following:

  • Check if your app handles the deep link via the following methods.
    • App doesn’t use scenes: application(_:continue:restorationHandler:) method
    • App uses scenes: scene(_:continue:) method

After selecting the deep link, your app calls the appWillOpenUrl method in the Adjust SDK, and you should see entries similar to the following in your Xcode logs:

2022-09-28 09:19:30.873598+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]d: Added sdk_click 1
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873782+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: Path:      /sdk_click
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873806+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: ClientSdk: ios4.38.4
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873824+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: Parameters:
[...]
2022-03-15 09:19:30.873956+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: source   deeplink

If you don’t see these entries in your Xcode logs, ensure the following:

  • You have set the environment to ADJEnvironmentSandbox and logging to ADJLogLevelVerbose in the Adjust SDK.
    • Verbose logging is indicated by [Adjust]v in your Xcode logs.
  • Your app calls the appWillOpenUrl method in the method that receives the deep link.

Test direct deep linking with a custom URL scheme

You can test direct deep linking with a custom URL scheme when your app is closed or running in the background on the test device.

In Apple Notes, select the universal link. The app should open and display the deep link content.

If the app doesn’t open, check the following:

  • You have configured the URL scheme correctly in Xcode.
  • If you are testing a debug build of the app, Verify whether you are using the debug or release custom URL scheme.

If you don’t see the correct page in the app, check the following:

  • Verify that the path or parameters in the deep link are correct. Check if you have used the ? symbol twice instead of the & symbol.
  • Check if your app handles the deep link via the following methods.
    • App doesn’t use scenes: application(_:continue:restorationHandler:) method
    • App uses scenes: scene(_:continue:) method
  • Check if other content in your code is interfering with the deep link.

After selecting the deep link, your app calls the appWillOpenUrl method in the Adjust SDK, and you should see entries similar to the following in your Xcode logs:

2022-09-28 09:19:30.873598+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]d: Added sdk_click 1
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873782+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: Path:      /sdk_click
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873806+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: ClientSdk: ios4.38.4
2022-09-28 09:19:30.873824+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: Parameters:
[...]
2022-03-15 09:19:30.873956+0900 example[1619:241845]  [Adjust]v: source   deeplink

If you don’t see these entries in your Xcode logs, ensure the following:

  • You have set the environment to ADJEnvironmentSandbox and logging to ADJLogLevelVerbose in the Adjust SDK.
    • Verbose logging is indicated by [Adjust]v in your Xcode logs.
  • Your app calls the appWillOpenUrl method in the method that receives the deep link.

Test deferred deep linking

To test deferred deep linking on the test device, follow these steps.

  1. Install your app.

  2. Retrieve the ADID (Adjust device identifier) from your Xcode logs. Example:

    2022-09-28 09:19:35.609913+0900 example[1619:241847] [Adjust]v: Response: {"app_token":"2eb2na2w54c3","adid":"4446ab34861b99b78ee374c3bd38a350","timestamp":"2022-09-28T00:19:35.841Z+0000","message":"Attribution found","attribution":{"tracker_token":"abc123","tracker_name":"Organic","network":"Organic"}}

  3. Uninstall your app.

  4. Open the Testing Console, enter the Adjust ADID and select View Device Data. You should see the TrackerName as Organic.

  5. Forget your device in the testing console.

  6. Paste your universal link or custom URL scheme deep link in Apple Notes.

  7. Select the deep link. This should redirect you to the App Store.

  8. Install your app from a local build. Don’t install your app from the store.

  9. Open your app. This app should open and display the deep link content.

If you don’t see the correct page in the app, check the following:

  • Check if other content in your code is interfering with the deep link. For example: If your app has onboarding screens or requires user login, but your app doesn’t already handle this before opening the deep link. You might have to implement the adjustDeeplinkResponse method to handle onboarding screens or user login before handling the deep link.
  • Your app code isn’t handling the incoming deep link in the adjustDeeplinkResponse method.
  • Adjust didn’t attribute your install to the click. In the Testing Console, select View Device Data. The TrackerName field should display your test link. Before you start your test, ensure the following:
    • Probabilistic matching was enabled on your test link.
    • In the Testing Console, the TrackerName was set to Organic.