Probabilistic fingerprinting.<\/strong> The click captures device signals (IP, OS version, device model, etc.). On first open, your app sends the same signals to the attribution server, which attempts to match them to a recent click within a match window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IDFA matching.<\/strong> If the user grants App Tracking Transparency permission, your app can read the IDFA and send it to the attribution server for an exact match against the IDFA captured at click time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clipboard (pasteboard) tokens.<\/strong> When the user taps the link, a short-lived token is written to the clipboard. On first open, your app reads the clipboard and sends the token for an exact match. As of iOS 16, reading the clipboard from an app triggers a system notification. As of iOS 17, it requires explicit user permission in some contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tolinku uses all three, in order of accuracy, with configurable fallbacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add the Tolinku iOS SDK via Swift Package Manager:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or via CocoaPods:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The full SDK reference is at tolinku.com\/docs\/developer\/sdks\/ios\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most important thing to get right: only run deferred link resolution on the true first open of the app. Running it on every launch creates unnecessary network requests and risks routing returning users to onboarding screens they have already seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Store a flag in Check this flag before triggering any resolution logic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apps using UISceneDelegate (the default for iOS 13+) should initialize Tolinku and run first-open logic in The If your app still uses Requesting ATT permission is optional but increases attribution accuracy. If you choose to request it, do so at a moment that makes sense for your app's flow, not immediately on launch (Apple's guidelines recommend providing context before the system prompt appears).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add Then request permission before calling Always call Tolinku's SDK handles clipboard matching internally when fingerprinting is the only available option. On iOS 16+, reading the clipboard from an app causes the system to display a brief notification at the top of the screen indicating that your app read from the clipboard. This is not a blocking permission prompt, but users do see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If this creates a bad experience for your app, you can disable pasteboard matching in the SDK configuration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disabling it means fingerprinting is the only fallback when ATT is not granted. Attribution accuracy will decrease, but the clipboard notification disappears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SKAdNetwork<\/a> is Apple's privacy-preserving install attribution framework. It tells ad networks which campaigns drove installs, with aggregated and delayed reporting. It does not support deferred deep linking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are running paid UA campaigns, register your SKAdNetwork IDs in You can configure a Testing deferred deep linking on iOS requires actual devices. The iOS Simulator does not replicate the App Store install flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A practical testing workflow:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have issues, enable verbose logging:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This prints resolution steps to the console, showing which matching method was used and what data was returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Use these to drive your routing logic. For complex apps with many possible destinations, a central routing coordinator or a For more on building personalized onboarding flows using deferred link data, see the deferred deep linking for onboarding guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deferred deep linking on iOS requires detecting first opens, routing users to the right screen, and navigating Apple’s privacy frameworks. This guide covers SceneDelegate handling, first-open detection, and Tolinku iOS SDK integration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_title":"Deferred Deep Linking on iOS: Swift Implementation Guide","rank_math_description":"Learn how to implement deferred deep linking on iOS using Swift, SceneDelegate, first-open detection, and the Tolinku iOS SDK. Covers ATT and SKAdNetwork.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"deferred deep linking iOS","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_facebook_title":"","rank_math_facebook_description":"","rank_math_facebook_image":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/og-deferred-deep-linking-ios.png","rank_math_facebook_image_id":"","rank_math_twitter_title":"","rank_math_twitter_description":"","rank_math_twitter_image":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/og-deferred-deep-linking-ios.png","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[106,28,21,24,107,31,22],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deep-linking","tag-att","tag-attribution","tag-deferred-deep-linking","tag-ios","tag-skadnetwork","tag-swift","tag-universal-links"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":584,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions\/584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prerequisites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
https:\/\/github.com\/tolinku\/ios-sdk\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\npod 'TolinkuSDK'\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nDetecting a First Open<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UserDefaults<\/code> the first time the app completes attribution resolution:<\/p>\n\n\n\nimport Foundation\n\nstruct InstallState {\n private static let key = "tolk_first_open_resolved"\n\n static var hasResolvedFirstOpen: Bool {\n get { UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: key) }\n set { UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: key) }\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nSceneDelegate Integration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Tolinku](\"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/platform-platform-routes.png\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\nscene(_:willConnectTo:options:)<\/code>:<\/p>\n\n\n\nimport UIKit\nimport TolinkuSDK\n\nclass SceneDelegate: UIResponder, UIWindowSceneDelegate {\n var window: UIWindow?\n\n func scene(\n _ scene: UIScene,\n willConnectTo session: UISceneSession,\n options connectionOptions: UIScene.ConnectionOptions\n ) {\n guard let windowScene = scene as? UIWindowScene else { return }\n window = UIWindow(windowScene: windowScene)\n\n Tolinku.configure(publishableKey: "tolk_pub_your_key_here")\n\n if !InstallState.hasResolvedFirstOpen {\n resolveFirstOpen()\n } else {\n showMainInterface()\n }\n }\n\n private func resolveFirstOpen() {\n Tolinku.shared.resolveDeferred { result in\n DispatchQueue.main.async {\n InstallState.hasResolvedFirstOpen = true\n switch result {\n case .success(let deepLink):\n self.route(to: deepLink)\n case .failure:\n self.showMainInterface()\n }\n }\n }\n }\n\n private func route(to deepLink: TolinkuDeepLink) {\n \/\/ deepLink.path, deepLink.params, deepLink.referralCode, etc.\n \/\/ Route to the appropriate screen based on the link data\n showMainInterface(initialRoute: deepLink)\n }\n\n private func showMainInterface(initialRoute: TolinkuDeepLink? = nil) {\n let vc = MainViewController(deepLink: initialRoute)\n window?.rootViewController = UINavigationController(rootViewController: vc)\n window?.makeKeyAndVisible()\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nresolveDeferred<\/code> call handles fingerprinting, IDFA lookup (if available), and clipboard reading internally. It returns either a TolinkuDeepLink<\/code> with the routing data or an error if no matching click was found.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHandling AppDelegate-Only Apps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
AppDelegate<\/code> without scenes (less common but still valid), run resolution in application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:)<\/code>:<\/p>\n\n\n\nfunc application(\n _ application: UIApplication,\n didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?\n) -> Bool {\n Tolinku.configure(publishableKey: "tolk_pub_your_key_here")\n\n if !InstallState.hasResolvedFirstOpen {\n Tolinku.shared.resolveDeferred { result in\n DispatchQueue.main.async {\n InstallState.hasResolvedFirstOpen = true\n \/\/ Handle routing\n }\n }\n }\n return true\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nATT and IDFA Access<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
NSUserTrackingUsageDescription<\/code> to your Info.plist<\/code>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<key>NSUserTrackingUsageDescription<\/key>\n<string>We use this to attribute your install and personalize your experience.<\/string>\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nresolveDeferred<\/code>:<\/p>\n\n\n\nimport AppTrackingTransparency\nimport AdSupport\n\nfunc requestTrackingAndResolve() {\n if #available(iOS 14, *) {\n ATTrackingManager.requestTrackingAuthorization { status in\n \/\/ Proceed with resolution regardless of status.\n \/\/ Tolinku will use IDFA if granted, fingerprinting otherwise.\n Tolinku.shared.resolveDeferred { result in\n DispatchQueue.main.async {\n self.handleDeferredResult(result)\n }\n }\n }\n } else {\n Tolinku.shared.resolveDeferred { result in\n DispatchQueue.main.async {\n self.handleDeferredResult(result)\n }\n }\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nresolveDeferred<\/code> inside the ATT completion handler, not before it. If you call resolution before the ATT prompt resolves, the SDK cannot read the IDFA and will fall back to fingerprinting even if the user intends to grant permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\nClipboard \/ Pasteboard Matching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
var config = TolinkuConfiguration(publishableKey: "tolk_pub_your_key_here")\nconfig.pasteboardMatchingEnabled = false\nTolinku.configure(with: config)\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nSKAdNetwork Interaction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Info.plist<\/code> per the Apple documentation<\/a>. This is separate from your Tolinku integration. Tolinku handles the deep link routing; SKAdNetwork handles aggregated conversion reporting to ad networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSKAdNetwork<\/code> conversion value update in parallel with Tolinku's first-open resolution if you need to report on conversion values for paid channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTesting Your Implementation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
resolveDeferred<\/code> is called and that the callback receives the expected deep link data.<\/li>\nhasResolvedFirstOpen<\/code> guard should prevent it).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nTolinku.setLogLevel(.debug)\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nRouting After Resolution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
TolinkuDeepLink<\/code> object contains:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
path<\/code>: the original link path (e.g., \/referral\/ABC123<\/code>)<\/li>\nparams<\/code>: a dictionary of URL parameters<\/li>\nreferralCode<\/code>: convenience accessor if a referral code is present<\/li>\ncampaignId<\/code>, source<\/code>, medium<\/code>: attribution data if available<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nDeepLinkRouter<\/code> class handles this cleanly:<\/p>\n\n\n\nclass DeepLinkRouter {\n static func route(deepLink: TolinkuDeepLink, from nav: UINavigationController) {\n switch deepLink.path {\n case _ where deepLink.path.hasPrefix("\/referral"):\n let vc = ReferralOnboardingViewController(code: deepLink.referralCode)\n nav.setViewControllers([vc], animated: false)\n case _ where deepLink.path.hasPrefix("\/promo"):\n let vc = PromoViewController(params: deepLink.params)\n nav.setViewControllers([vc], animated: false)\n default:\n nav.setViewControllers([MainViewController()], animated: false)\n }\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nFurther Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n