Search specific term/phrase surrounded by double quotes. e.g. “deep linking”
Exclude records that contain a specific term prefixed with a minus. e.g. Android -Firebase
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Connected Advanced Features

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Initialize Branch features

const options = {
    advertising_ids: {
        SAMSUNG_IFA: 'xxxxx',
    },
    branch_match_id: 'xxxxx'
};
branch.init('key_live_YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE', options, function (err, data) {
    console.log(err, data);
});
  • Returns the following inside the data object
KeyValueType
data_parsedIf the user was referred from a link, and the link has associated data, the data is passed in here.object
has_appDoes the user have the mobile app installed already, using Branch's persona data.bool
identityUnique string that identifies the user, if set from setIdentitystring
referring_linkThe referring link clicked, if available.string
referring_identityIf the user was referred from a link, and the link was created by a user with an identity, that identity is here.string

Create Deep Link

const linkData = {
  campaign: 'content 123',
  channel: 'facebook',
  feature: 'dashboard',
  stage: 'new user',
  tags: [ 'tag1', 'tag2', 'tag3' ],
  alias: '',
  data: {
    'custom_bool': true,
    'custom_int': Date.now(),
    'custom_string': 'hello',
    '$og_title': 'Title',
    '$og_description': 'Description',
    '$og_image_url':'http://lorempixel.com/400/400'
  }
};

branch.link(linkData, function(err, link) {
  console.log(link);
});

Share Deep Link

  • Will generate a Branch deep link and tag it with the channel the user selects
  • Uses Deep Link Properties
<!-- shareable elements -->
<button id="button">deep link</button>
<a id="anchor" href="#">deep link</a>

const linkData = {
  campaign: 'content 123',
  channel: 'facebook',
  feature: 'dashboard',
  stage: 'new user',
  tags: [ 'tag1', 'tag2', 'tag3' ],
  alias: '',
  data: {
    'custom_bool': true,
    'custom_int': Date.now(),
    'custom_string': 'hello',
    '$og_title': 'Title',
    '$og_description': 'Description',
    '$og_image_url':'http://lorempixel.com/400/400'
  }
};

branch.link(linkData, function(err, link) {
  // bind elements
  document.getElementById('button').onclick = function() {
    window.open(link || err);
  };
  document.getElementById('anchor').href = link || err;
});

Read Deep Link

  • Retrieve Branch data from a deep link
  • Best practice to receive data from the listener (to prevent a race condition)
  • Validate with Testing read deep link
  • Listener
const options = {
    advertising_ids: {
        SAMSUNG_IFA: 'xxxxx',
    }
};
branch.init('key_live_YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE', options, function(err, data) {
  console.log(err, data);
});
  • Latest data
branch.data(function(err, data) {
  console.log(err, data);
});
  • First data
branch.first(function(err, data) {
  console.log(err, data);
});

Create a QR Code

📘

QR Code Access Required

Access to Branch's QR Code API and SDK requires premium product access. Please reach out to your account manager or https://branch.io/pricing/ to activate.

  • Generates a custom QR Code with a unique Branch link which you can deep link and track analytics with.
  • Uses QR Code Settings (1st parameter)
  • Uses Deep Link Properties (2nd parameter)
  • Callback is a qrCode object which contains a rawBuffer or a base64() function which base 64 encodes the raw buffer so that you can use to display the image directly
const qrCodeSettings = {
    "code_color":"#000000",
    "background_color": "#FFFFFF",
    "margin": 5,
    "width": 1000,
    "image_format": "png"
};
const qrCodeLinkData = {
    tags: [ 'tag1', 'tag2' ],
    channel: 'sample app',
    feature: 'create link',
    stage: 'created link',
    data: {
        mydata: 'bar',
        '$desktop_url': 'https://cdn.branch.io/example.html',
        '$og_title': 'Branch Metrics',
        '$og_description': 'Branch Metrics',
        '$og_image_url': 'http://branch.io/img/logo_icon_white.png'
    }
};
branch.qrCode(qrCodeLinkData, qrCodeSettings, function(err, qrCode) {
    // qrCode.rawBuffer is the raw buffer
    // qrCode.base64() is the encoded 
    //
    // Example img tag:
    // <img src="data:image/png;charset=utf-8;base64,' + qrCode.base64() + '" width="500" height="500">
});

For more information on the QR Code API, please reference this guide.

Setting a custom Deeplink Path when Canonical URL doesn't match App path taxonomy

  • Branch automatically pulls meta tags for your convenience. If Canonical Url is set as a meta tag, it will default this as the Branch $deeplink_path. You can override this by setting $deeplink_path to the path your app url taxonomy uses to deeplink.
<meta name="branch:deeplink:$deeplink_path" content="recipes/456789" />
const options = {
    advertising_ids: {
        SAMSUNG_IFA: 'xxxxx',
    }
};
branch.init('BRANCH_KEY', options, function(err, data) {
  if (document.querySelectorAll("meta[name='branch:deeplink:$deeplink_path']").length > 0) {
    var meta = document.querySelector("meta[name='branch:deeplink:$deeplink_path']").getAttribute("content");
    branch.setBranchViewData({
      data:{
        '$deeplink_path':meta"
      }
    });
  }
});

For more information on the branch:deeplink:Keys you can use to customize your meta tags, please reference this table.

Troubleshooting

  • If you have Facebook App Links metatags on your site and working with your app, then you can skip these instructions. Branch will automatically fetch App Links tags and add them to your deep link data.
  • Do not use Google Tag Manager (GTM) to insert your content metatags. GTM requires JavaScript to load on the page, and the Branch link data scraper does not support JavaScript execution.
  • If you need to allowlist the postback server IP addresses for security purposes, they are listed here.

Track Users

🚧

Sending PII

Be sure to not send any PII through this method. For additional details, please view our guide on Best Practices to Avoid Sending PII to Branch

  • Sets the identity of a user (ID, UUID, etc) for events, deep links, and referrals
  • Validate with the Branch Dashboard
branch.setIdentity('123456');

branch.setIdentity('123456', function (err, data) {
  console.log(err, data);
});
  • Removes the identity of a user
branch.logout();

branch.logout(function(err, data) {
console.log(err, data);
});

Track Events

By default, the Branch SDK tracks clicks, opens, installs, reinstalls and impressions automatically (out-of-the-box).

Please refer to our Event Tracking Docs for more information and examples:

Enable / Disable User Tracking

In order to help our customers comply with GDPR and other laws that restrict data collection from certain users, we’ve updated our Connected SDK with a Do Not Track mode. This way, if a user indicates that they want to remain private on your app, or if you otherwise determine that a particular user should not be tracked, you can continue to make use of the Branch Connected SDK (e.g. for creating Branch links) while not tracking that user. This state is persistent, meaning that it’s saved for the user across sessions for the app. This setting can also be enabled across all users for a particular link, or across your Branch links.

  • To enable Do Not Track Mode during initialization, include the tracking_disabled flag, with a value of true, into the options during initialization:
const options = {
    ‘tracking_disabled’ : true
};
branch.init('key_live_YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE', options, function (err, data) {
    console.log(err, data);
});
  • To enable Do Not Track Mode following initialization, call disableTracking(true). If you call disableTracking() with no argument, it will default to disableTracking(true). Use disableTracking(false) to resume tracking. 
const options = {
    advertising_ids: {
        SAMSUNG_IFA: 'xxxxx',
    },
};
branch.init('key_live_YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE', options, function (err, data) {
    console.log(err, data);
});

branch.disableTracking(true);

Updated 9 months ago