Sanat is a Senior Android Engineer at Comcast NBCUniversal where he builds Smart Home, Video, Internet features on the Xfinity product. In his free time, he likes to learn and share upcoming Android technologies with his colleagues. Sanat holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering.
Sanat Tripathi
Senior Android Engineer at Comcast
A deep dive into deep links
Deep links are an integral tool to drive users directly to specific screens within your mobile app, entering potential and returning users into a desired action flow. However, deep links can be challenging to implement because developers must manage non-typical points of entry to the app (e.g., entering the app without launching a home screen) while also managing the app’s back stack.
Using the Xfinity app as an example, we will explain how deep links work and describe the process behind creating them. We will also explore the difference between a deep link and an app link, how to associate a website to a mobile app, and how to make an app react to deep links. We will address more advanced concepts, such as:
• Testing deep links via Android Debug Bridge (adb) and Android Studio
• Debugging deep links
• Typical navigational patterns when receiving deep links
• Handling extra parameter additions to deep links
• Using custom schemas