Deep linking
As part of the implementation process for your Android SDK, you will configure the ability for your app to use deep links. This article provides additional examples for deep linking use cases.
For introductory information on deep links, refer to our User Guide article.
This article includes information on News Feed, which is being deprecated. Braze recommends that customers who use our News Feed tool move over to our Content Cards messaging channel—it’s more flexible, customizable, and reliable. Check out the migration guide for more.
Universal deep link delegate
The Android SDK provides the ability to set a single delegate object to custom handle all deep links opened by Braze across Content Cards, in-app messages, and push notifications.
Your delegate object should implement the IBrazeDeeplinkHandler
interface and be set using BrazeDeeplinkHandler.setBrazeDeeplinkHandler()
. In most cases, the delegate should be set in your app’s Application.onCreate()
.
The following is an example of overriding the default UriAction
behavior with custom intent flags and custom behavior for YouTube URLs:
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public class CustomDeeplinkHandler implements IBrazeDeeplinkHandler {
private static final String TAG = BrazeLogger.getBrazeLogTag(CustomDeeplinkHandler.class);
@Override
public void gotoNewsFeed(Context context, NewsfeedAction newsfeedAction) {
newsfeedAction.execute(context);
}
@Override
public void gotoUri(Context context, UriAction uriAction) {
String uri = uriAction.getUri().toString();
// Open YouTube URLs in the YouTube app and not our app
if (!StringUtils.isNullOrBlank(uri) && uri.contains("youtube.com")) {
uriAction.setUseWebView(false);
}
CustomUriAction customUriAction = new CustomUriAction(uriAction);
customUriAction.execute(context);
}
public static class CustomUriAction extends UriAction {
public CustomUriAction(@NonNull UriAction uriAction) {
super(uriAction);
}
@Override
protected void openUriWithActionView(Context context, Uri uri, Bundle extras) {
Intent intent = getActionViewIntent(context, uri, extras);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
if (intent.resolveActivity(context.getPackageManager()) != null) {
context.startActivity(intent);
} else {
BrazeLogger.w(TAG, "Could not find appropriate activity to open for deep link " + uri + ".");
}
}
}
}
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class CustomDeeplinkHandler : IBrazeDeeplinkHandler {
override fun gotoNewsFeed(context: Context, newsfeedAction: NewsfeedAction) {
newsfeedAction.execute(context)
}
override fun gotoUri(context: Context, uriAction: UriAction) {
val uri = uriAction.uri.toString()
// Open YouTube URLs in the YouTube app and not our app
if (!StringUtils.isNullOrBlank(uri) && uri.contains("youtube.com")) {
uriAction.useWebView = false
}
val customUriAction = CustomUriAction(uriAction)
customUriAction.execute(context)
}
class CustomUriAction(uriAction: UriAction) : UriAction(uriAction) {
override fun openUriWithActionView(context: Context, uri: Uri, extras: Bundle) {
val intent = getActionViewIntent(context, uri, extras)
intent.flags = Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK or Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP or Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP
if (intent.resolveActivity(context.packageManager) != null) {
context.startActivity(intent)
} else {
BrazeLogger.w(TAG, "Could not find appropriate activity to open for deep link $uri.")
}
}
}
companion object {
private val TAG = BrazeLogger.getBrazeLogTag(CustomDeeplinkHandler::class.java)
}
}
Deep linking to app settings
To allow deep links to directly open your app’s settings, you’ll need a custom BrazeDeeplinkHandler
. In the following example, the presence of a custom key-value pair called open_notification_page
will make the deep link open the app’s settings page:
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BrazeDeeplinkHandler.setBrazeDeeplinkHandler(new IBrazeDeeplinkHandler() {
@Override
public void gotoUri(Context context, UriAction uriAction) {
final Bundle extras = uriAction.getExtras();
if (extras.containsKey("open_notification_page")) {
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction("android.settings.APP_NOTIFICATION_SETTINGS");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
//for Android 5-7
intent.putExtra("app_package", context.getPackageName());
intent.putExtra("app_uid", context.getApplicationInfo().uid);
// for Android 8 and later
intent.putExtra("android.provider.extra.APP_PACKAGE", context.getPackageName());
context.startActivity(intent);
}
}
@Override
public void gotoNewsFeed(Context context, NewsfeedAction newsfeedAction) {}
});
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BrazeDeeplinkHandler.setBrazeDeeplinkHandler(object : IBrazeDeeplinkHandler {
override fun gotoUri(context: Context, uriAction: UriAction) {
val extras = uriAction.extras
if (extras.containsKey("open_notification_page")) {
val intent = Intent()
intent.action = "android.settings.APP_NOTIFICATION_SETTINGS"
intent.flags = Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK
//for Android 5-7
intent.putExtra("app_package", context.packageName)
intent.putExtra("app_uid", context.applicationInfo.uid)
// for Android 8 and later
intent.putExtra("android.provider.extra.APP_PACKAGE", context.packageName)
context.startActivity(intent)
}
}
override fun gotoNewsFeed(context: Context, newsfeedAction: NewsfeedAction) {}
})
Deep linking to the News Feed
News Feed is being deprecated. Braze recommends that customers who use our News Feed tool move over to our Content Cards messaging channel—it’s more flexible, customizable, and reliable. Check out the migration guide for more.
To deep link to the Braze News Feed from a push notification, create a custom deep link for your News Feed activity.
Then, as you set up your push notification campaign (either through the dashboard or API), configure the notification to navigate to your News Feed deep link.
Custom WebView activity
By default, when website deeplinks are opened inside the app by Braze, they are handled by BrazeWebViewActivity
. To change this:
1. Create a new Activity that handles the target URL from Intent.getExtras()
with the key com.braze.Constants.BRAZE_WEBVIEW_URL_EXTRA
. See BrazeWebViewActivity.java
for an example.
2. Add that activity to AndroidManifest.xml
and set exported
to false
.
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<activity
android:name=".MyCustomWebViewActivity"
android:exported="false" />
3. Set your custom Activity in a BrazeConfig
builder object. Build the builder and pass it to Braze.configure()
in your Application.onCreate()
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BrazeConfig brazeConfig = new BrazeConfig.Builder()
.setCustomWebViewActivityClass(MyCustomWebViewActivity::class)
...
.build();
Braze.configure(this, brazeConfig);
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val brazeConfig = BrazeConfig.Builder()
.setCustomWebViewActivityClass(MyCustomWebViewActivity::class.java)
...
.build()
Braze.configure(this, brazeConfig)