Deep linking in React Native requires configuration on three levels: the native iOS project, the native Android project, and the JavaScript layer that handles incoming URLs. This guide covers all three, from initial setup to production-ready link handling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the navigation-specific configuration, see React Navigation Deep Links<\/a>. For Universal Links details, see Universal Links: Everything You Need to Know<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a user taps a link that should open your app:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two types of links to configure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This guide focuses on Universal Links and App Links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Open your iOS project in Xcode ( This tells iOS that your app handles links from In If you also want to handle custom URL schemes, add:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your deep linking platform serves the Apple App Site Association (AASA) file at The AASA file tells iOS which URL paths your app should handle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verify it's accessible:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In The Note the Your platform serves the assetlinks.json file at The file links your domain to your Android app:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get your SHA-256 fingerprint:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you use Google Play App Signing, also include Google's signing key fingerprint from the Play Console (Setup > App signing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n React Native provides the There are two scenarios for receiving deep links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You must handle both. Missing either one means broken deep links in that scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For robust URL parsing, extract the path and query parameters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This keeps your routing logic clean and separates URL parsing from navigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a physical device (Universal Links don't work in the simulator for all scenarios):<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: typing the URL directly in Safari's address bar does NOT trigger Universal Links. You must tap a link from another context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use ADB to simulate a deep link:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or paste the link in a text message or email and tap it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If links aren't working:<\/p>\n\n\n\n iOS:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Android:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For more testing tools, see Deep Link Testing Tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without During development, your domain's AASA\/assetlinks files may not be set up yet. You can test with custom URL schemes first (they don't require server configuration), then switch to Universal Links\/App Links once your domain is configured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you're using Expo, see Expo Deep Linking: Setup Without Ejecting<\/a> for the managed workflow approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before shipping deep links to production:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For integrating deep links with the Tolinku SDK, see the React Native SDK documentation<\/a>. For the routing deep-dive, see Deep Link Routing Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Set up deep linking in React Native from scratch. Configure Universal Links, App Links, and navigation handling for iOS and Android.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_title":"React Native Deep Linking: Complete Setup Tutorial","rank_math_description":"Set up deep linking in React Native from scratch. Configure Universal Links, App Links, and navigation handling for iOS and Android.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"React Native deep linking","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-react-native-deep-linking-setup.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-react-native-deep-linking-setup.png","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[25,23,20,24,71,69,56,22],"class_list":["post-884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engineering","tag-android","tag-app-links","tag-deep-linking","tag-ios","tag-javascript","tag-mobile-development","tag-react-native","tag-universal-links"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884","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=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2521,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions\/2521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tolinku.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How Deep Linking Works in React Native<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Linking<\/code> module receives the URL<\/li>\n\n
yourapp:\/\/product\/123<\/code>. Simpler to set up but less reliable and less secure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nStep 1: iOS Configuration (Universal Links)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Associated Domains Entitlement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
ios\/YourApp.xcworkspace<\/code>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
applinks:go.yourapp.com<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\ngo.yourapp.com<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAppDelegate Configuration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
ios\/YourApp\/AppDelegate.mm<\/code> (or .m<\/code> for older projects), add the Universal Links handler:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\/\/ Add this import at the top\n#import <React\/RCTLinkingManager.h>\n\n\/\/ Add this method to your AppDelegate implementation\n- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application\n continueUserActivity:(NSUserActivity *)userActivity\n restorationHandler:(void (^)(NSArray<id<UIUserActivityRestoring>> * _Nullable))restorationHandler\n{\n return [RCTLinkingManager application:application\n continueUserActivity:userActivity\n restorationHandler:restorationHandler];\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application\n openURL:(NSURL *)url\n options:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey,id> *)options\n{\n return [RCTLinkingManager application:application openURL:url options:options];\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nAASA File<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/go.yourapp.com\/.well-known\/apple-app-site-association<\/code>. If you're using Tolinku, this is handled automatically when you configure your Appspace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n{\n "applinks": {\n "apps": [],\n "details": [\n {\n "appID": "TEAMID.com.yourapp.bundleid",\n "paths": ["\/product\/*", "\/invite\/*", "\/promo\/*"]\n }\n ]\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\ncurl https:\/\/go.yourapp.com\/.well-known\/apple-app-site-association\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nStep 2: Android Configuration (App Links)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Intent Filters<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
android\/app\/src\/main\/AndroidManifest.xml<\/code>, add intent filters to your main activity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<activity\n android:name=".MainActivity"\n android:launchMode="singleTask">\n\n <!-- App Links (Universal Links equivalent) -->\n <intent-filter android:autoVerify="true">\n <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" \/>\n <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" \/>\n <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" \/>\n <data android:scheme="https" android:host="go.yourapp.com" \/>\n <\/intent-filter>\n\n <!-- Existing intent filters... -->\n<\/activity>\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nandroid:autoVerify="true"<\/code> attribute tells Android to verify domain ownership via the Digital Asset Links file.<\/p>\n\n\n\nandroid:launchMode="singleTask"<\/code>. This ensures that when a link is tapped while your app is already running, it reuses the existing activity instead of creating a new one. Without this, deep links may not reach your JavaScript code correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDigital Asset Links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/go.yourapp.com\/.well-known\/assetlinks.json<\/code>. If using Tolinku, this is configured automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[{\n "relation": ["delegate_permission\/common.handle_all_urls"],\n "target": {\n "namespace": "android_app",\n "package_name": "com.yourapp",\n "sha256_cert_fingerprints": [\n "AB:CD:EF:..."\n ]\n }\n}]\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nkeytool -list -v -keystore your-keystore.jks -alias your-alias\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nStep 3: JavaScript Link Handling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Basic Linking API<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Linking<\/code> module for handling URLs:<\/p>\n\n\n\nimport { Linking } from 'react-native';\n\n\/\/ Handle link when app is already running (warm start)\nuseEffect(() => {\n const subscription = Linking.addEventListener('url', ({ url }) => {\n handleDeepLink(url);\n });\n\n return () => subscription.remove();\n}, []);\n\n\/\/ Handle link that launched the app (cold start)\nuseEffect(() => {\n Linking.getInitialURL().then((url) => {\n if (url) {\n handleDeepLink(url);\n }\n });\n}, []);\n\nfunction handleDeepLink(url) {\n const parsed = new URL(url);\n const path = parsed.pathname;\n const params = Object.fromEntries(parsed.searchParams);\n\n \/\/ Route based on path\n if (path.startsWith('\/product\/')) {\n const productId = path.split('\/')[2];\n navigation.navigate('Product', { id: productId });\n } else if (path.startsWith('\/invite\/')) {\n const code = path.split('\/')[2];\n navigation.navigate('Invite', { code });\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nImportant: Cold Start vs Warm Start<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Linking.getInitialURL()<\/code> to get the URL.<\/li>\nLinking.addEventListener('url', ...)<\/code> to receive the URL.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nURL Parsing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
function parseDeepLink(url) {\n try {\n const parsed = new URL(url);\n\n \/\/ Only handle your domain\n if (parsed.hostname !== 'go.yourapp.com') {\n return null;\n }\n\n return {\n path: parsed.pathname,\n params: Object.fromEntries(parsed.searchParams),\n };\n } catch {\n return null;\n }\n}\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nStep 4: Testing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
iOS Testing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
https:\/\/go.yourapp.com\/product\/123<\/code>, and tap the link<\/li>\nAndroid Testing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW \\\n -d "https:\/\/go.yourapp.com\/product\/123" \\\n com.yourapp\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nDebugging<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
adb shell dumpsys package d<\/code> to see if your app is verified for the domain<\/li>\nCommon Pitfalls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Missing
singleTask<\/code> Launch Mode<\/h3>\n\n\n\nandroid:launchMode="singleTask"<\/code>, Android may create a new activity instance when a link is tapped while the app is already running. This means onNewIntent<\/code> is never called on the existing activity, and React Native's Linking<\/code> event listener never fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\nForgetting Cold Start Handling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Linking.addEventListener<\/code> only fires for links received while the app is running. If the app was launched by a link, you must call Linking.getInitialURL()<\/code> separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTesting in Development<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Expo Projects<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Production Checklist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\/.well-known\/apple-app-site-association<\/code><\/li>continueUserActivity<\/code><\/li>autoVerify=\"true\"<\/code><\/li>\/.well-known\/assetlinks.json<\/code><\/li>Linking.getInitialURL()<\/code><\/li>Linking.addEventListener<\/code><\/li>