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You're missing the whole picture. Branch.io was actually quite popular among a number of big app developers. A big part of what they did was deep linking into y

You're missing the whole picture. Branch.io was actually quite popular among a number of big app developers. A big part of what they did was deep linking into your app, and I may have the timing on this wrong but I think it was before iOS or Google had any deep linking functionality released. For example, you see this all the time on normal Android searches now, where if I have an app already installed and I search for, say, "Miami real estate", since I have the Realtor app already installed, Google's results come back and say "App installed", and when I click on the result it opens the Realtor app to Miami. A big part of Branch's product, IIRC, was their "deep linking through install" functionality. That is, if I search for Miami vacation rentals, and I don't have the app installed, it would just open, say, the realtor.com website for Miami. But there would be a prominent "install app" suggestion, so I could then download the app from the App or Playstore. Importantly (and, again, I may be getting the timing wrong), at that time there was no way to "pass through" a desired landing page after the app was installed. Branch's links allowed that information to be passed through, so when I opened the newly installed Realtor.com it would open right to Miami. I can't remember all the tech details of how they did this but I believe it was some form of device fingerprinting.

a1o 3y ago
I hate this on iPhone, I want the GitHub app because of the notifications and the authentication capabilities. But repositories are much easier to read in the web version, and it forces every GitHub link to go to the app. I wanted some control, like only going to the app if I touch hold something ("right click") and purposefully chose this option.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
  Couldn't agree more. I can't remember which app it was, but I had a similar situation where I installed the app for some limited specific reason, but then all my web searches ended up opening the app when I didn't want it to. Ironically, I ended up installing the app to "fix" my broken search experience.
- nyanmatt 3y ago
  Exact same boat. I found this behavior to be really user hostile as a default. Recently switched to Orion (browser from Kagi), and they’ve got a much more agreeable flow for this. When a link in Orion takes you into another app, there is a popup available when you return to Orion, allowing you to disable opening in the external app. Additionally, long-pressing always provides an “Open in…” option to purposefully choose the GitHub app.
- mastercheif 3y ago
  If you long press on a link and choose open in Safari it will remember your preference and not open the app going forward. Terrible UX, but it works.
  - a1o 3y ago
    Oh, this worked! This is the most not intuitive thing they could have done. Why not a simple setting? Thank you anyhow, as I wouldn't discover this in a billion years.
    - hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
      Honestly, for all the praise about Apple's "great UIs", in feels like over the past 10 years or so they got addicted to all these "hidden" action entry points: long presses, random swipes in every direction, and weird menu locations (I for the life of me have no idea why the "install to home page" button for a PWA website is in the "share" action screen).
prhbr 3y ago
Often referred to as "deferred deep linking" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_deep_linking#Deferred_deep_linking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_deep_linking#Deferred_d...
jeroenhd 3y ago
As a user, I'm glad this didn't make it into phones. We have enough "install our app" bullshit already.
pipes 3y ago
Thanks :)

a1o 3y ago

I hate this on iPhone, I want the GitHub app because of the notifications and the authentication capabilities. But repositories are much easier to read in the web version, and it forces every GitHub link to go to the app. I wanted some control, like only going to the app if I touch hold something ("right click") and purposefully chose this option.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
Couldn't agree more. I can't remember which app it was, but I had a similar situation where I installed the app for some limited specific reason, but then all my web searches ended up opening the app when I didn't want it to. Ironically, I ended up installing the app to "fix" my broken search experience.
nyanmatt 3y ago
Exact same boat. I found this behavior to be really user hostile as a default. Recently switched to Orion (browser from Kagi), and they’ve got a much more agreeable flow for this. When a link in Orion takes you into another app, there is a popup available when you return to Orion, allowing you to disable opening in the external app. Additionally, long-pressing always provides an “Open in…” option to purposefully choose the GitHub app.
mastercheif 3y ago
If you long press on a link and choose open in Safari it will remember your preference and not open the app going forward. Terrible UX, but it works.
- a1o 3y ago
  Oh, this worked! This is the most not intuitive thing they could have done. Why not a simple setting? Thank you anyhow, as I wouldn't discover this in a billion years.
  - hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
    Honestly, for all the praise about Apple's "great UIs", in feels like over the past 10 years or so they got addicted to all these "hidden" action entry points: long presses, random swipes in every direction, and weird menu locations (I for the life of me have no idea why the "install to home page" button for a PWA website is in the "share" action screen).

prhbr 3y ago

Often referred to as "deferred deep linking" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_deep_linking#Deferred_deep_linking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_deep_linking#Deferred_d...

jeroenhd 3y ago

As a user, I'm glad this didn't make it into phones. We have enough "install our app" bullshit already.

pipes 3y ago

Thanks :)