Our deep links break inside Instagram and TikTok. Has anyone actually fixed this?
Links open the app fine from Safari and Chrome, but from Instagram and TikTok people land on a web page or the store listing, even when they already have the app. Is anyone actually solving this?
Answer from the Linkrunner team
No tool can force the operating system to open your app from inside another app's browser. Instagram, TikTok and similar apps keep navigation in their own web view, so Universal Links and App Links often never fire. The tools that hold up record the click on their own server first, then show an intermediary page or prompt that opens the app or the store, so campaign context survives. Linkrunner shows that page automatically for Instagram, Threads, Facebook (and Messenger on iPhone), TikTok, LinkedIn, X and Snapchat, and you can swap in your own design per campaign. Airbridge, Branch, Singular and AppsFlyer each document their own landing page or prompt approach. Whatever you shortlist, tap real links from each app on real devices, with the app installed and not installed, before you commit. Why the links break in the first place: https://linkrunner.io/blog/universal-links-app-links-break-in-app-browsers
More on this: linkrunner.io/blog/best-deep-linking-tools-for-in-app-browsers