Why are Branch links are not deep linking from Facebook app on Android?

Question

I have integrated Branch in my Android app for deep linking and I'm having an issue. The issue is:

On clicking Branch URL from Facebook app's older version (v3.3) works & deep link data is returned in referringParams, but on clicking same Branch URL from Facebook app's latest version (v30.0.0.19.17) deep link data is not returned in referringParams.

I have an iOS version of my Android app with Branch integrated and everything works fine on iOS.

I also have a Facebook app for my Android & iOS apps.

Answer 1

Facebook (around April 8th) updated the way their internal Webview handles URI schemes. They actually stripped out Branch referral data because they implemented App Links correctly. You'll need to upgrade to Branch v 1.4.5 and implement a few extra things.

From Branch's documentation, you'll see:

Branch uses the Facebook App Links protocol to pass the deep links through to your app from Facebook. Funny enough, if you also have a Facebook app configured in the developer portal and you choose 'Deep link from feed', Facebook ignores it's own protocol. Make sure to uncheck this option in your Facebook app.

Then, you'll need to add a permission inside your manifest, and hook into onNewIntent inside your Activity . More information here: https://github.com/branchmetrics/branch-android-sdk#important-migration-to-v145

Let me know if this helps!