Deferred Deep Links

Deferred deep links let you route users to specific content even when they don't have your app installed. The user clicks a link, installs from the App Store or Play Store, and on first launch the SDK matches them back to the original link.

How It Works

User taps a WarpLink URL in a browser
WarpLink captures browser signals via a JavaScript interstitial
User is redirected to the App Store (iOS) or Play Store (Android)
User installs and opens the app
SDK detects first launch (UserDefaults on iOS, SharedPreferences on Android)
SDK collects device signals and sends them to the attribution API
Server matches against stored click data
Deep link returned with isDeferred: true

Check for Deferred Deep Links

import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { WarpLink, type WarpLinkDeepLink } from '@warplink/react-native';

function App() {
  const [isReady, setIsReady] = useState(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    WarpLink.checkDeferredDeepLink()
      .then((link) => {
        if (link?.isDeferred) {
          navigateTo(link.deepLinkUrl ?? link.destination);
        }
      })
      .catch((error) => {
        console.warn('Deferred deep link check failed:', error.message);
      })
      .finally(() => {
        setIsReady(true);
      });
  }, []);

  if (!isReady) return <SplashScreen />;
  return <>{/* Your app */}</>;
}

Confidence-Based Routing

const link = await WarpLink.checkDeferredDeepLink();
if (!link?.isDeferred) return;

const confidence = link.matchConfidence ?? 0;

if (confidence > 0.5) {
  // High confidence — navigate directly
  const productId = link.customParams['product_id'] as string | undefined;
  if (productId) {
    navigation.navigate('Product', { id: productId });
  } else {
    navigation.navigate('WebView', { url: link.destination });
  }
} else if (confidence > 0.3) {
  // Medium confidence — show suggestion
  navigation.navigate('Suggestion', {
    message: 'Were you looking for this?',
    url: link.destination,
  });
}
// Below 0.3 — ignore, show default onboarding

Confidence Scores

Scenario	Confidence	Match Type
IDFV re-engagement (iOS)	1.0	`deterministic`
Play Install Referrer (Android)	1.0	`deterministic`
Enriched fingerprint, < 1 hour	0.85	`probabilistic`
Enriched fingerprint, < 24 hours	0.65	`probabilistic`
Enriched fingerprint, < 72 hours	0.40	`probabilistic`
Multiple candidates	-0.15 per extra	`probabilistic`

Match Window

WarpLink.configure({
  apiKey: 'wl_live_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz012345',
  matchWindowHours: 48,
});

Platform Differences

	iOS	Android
Deterministic match	IDFV (re-engagement)	Play Install Referrer
First launch tracking	UserDefaults	SharedPreferences
ATT required?	No (IDFV is exempt)	N/A

Caching Behavior

Attribution check happens once per install (first launch only)
Result cached by the native SDK
Subsequent calls to checkDeferredDeepLink() return null

Edge Cases

Offline First Launch

checkDeferredDeepLink() rejects with E_NETWORK_ERROR. The first-launch flag may be consumed, so retrying later may return null.

Check for connectivity before calling checkDeferredDeepLink() if your first-launch experience depends on it.

App Reinstall

iOS: UserDefaults may persist across reinstalls (iCloud backup). SDK may return cached result.
Android: SharedPreferences cleared on uninstall. Fresh install triggers new attribution.

Multiple Links Before Install

Only the most recent click is matched.

Deferred Deep Links

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