Appearance

Get Help

Create App Links

Attention

Branch's new experience is rolling out in phases, so your interface may differ. This article covers the legacy version of app link creation. For the new version, see Create App Links (New).

Overview ​

App links are Branch Links that take your users to app destinations. There are four primary methods you can use to create app links:

  • Method 1: Create app Short Links in the Branch Dashboard
  • Method 2: Create bulk app Short Links in the Branch Dashboard
  • Method 3: Create Short Links in the Branch Slack App
  • Method 4: Create app links through the Deep Linking API

App links are deep links that take users to specific pages in your app. Web Links are web-only Short Links that work everywhere. Web and app links look the same (yourbrand.com/slug or yourbrand.app.link/slug) depending on if you choose to use a custom domain or a Branch-provided app.link domain.

If your end user does not have your app installed, or if you don’t have an app, the link will open in their default web browser. If they do have your app downloaded, the link will open in your app through an in-app web view.

Read our Create Web Links article to learn more about app links.

If your end user has your app installed, the App Link will deep link to the specific app page you’ve chosen. If they do not have your app installed, they will be taken to the redirect destination for non-app users which can be configured as a web page, a Branch Deepview, or the app store listing to download the app.

Before you begin ​

You can set up a custom domain in the Branch Dashboard or you can use the Branch-provided app.link domain. If you want in-app web views to work, you must have the latest version of the Branch SDK installed.

Set up a custom domain (optional) ​

You can set up a custom domain (for example, link.yourbrand.com) in the Branch Dashboard. Read our Advanced Settings & Changing Link Domain article to learn how.

After you set up your custom domain, you can use it to create branded web Short Links.

Set up app integration ​

You must have the latest version of the Branch SDK (latest update May 15, 2025) installed for app links to work.

Read the following articles to learn more:

Note

The information in this section is relevant to the Activation product. If you want information about app Short Link creation for the Engagement product, read our Legacy Short Link Creation article.

You can create individual Short Links in the Branch Dashboard.

Tip

You can quickly access the Create Short Links page by entering deeplink.new in your browser.

Complete the following steps to start creating a link:

  1. In the Branch Dashboard, select the Create button in the top-right corner of the page.
  2. Select Link.
  3. Select Short Link. The Create Short Link page will open.

Complete the following steps to define your link:

  1. Enter your link title in the Link Title text field. We recommend standardizing your link names to make them easily searchable.
  2. Select App.
  3. (Optional) Enter a long URL that you want to shorten in the Original Web URL text field. This is where your Short Link will redirect to as a fallback.
  4. (Optional) Select the domain that you want this link to use from the Link Domain drop-down menu.
  5. (Optional) Enter a custom link alias (slug/back-half) in the Link Alias text field. You won’t be able to change this once you select Create Link.

Step 3: Add analytics tags (optional) ​

Add analytics tags to your link to sort and compare performance with your other links.

You can add analytics tags in two ways in the Analytics Tags section:

  • Use the drop-downs to select analytics tags that you’ve used in the last 30 days.
  • Enter new analytics tags in the text fields and select Create [ANALYTICS TAG] to create a new tag.
Expand to view available tags

You can add the following analytics tags to your link:

  • Feature: Should describe the action or product where this link is placed. For UTM, this is typically utm_medium.
  • Channel: Should describe the platform or source from which you are expecting users to click this link. For UTM, this is typically utm_source.
  • Campaign: This can vary, but it should describe the theme of the link. For UTM, this is typically utm_campaign.
  • Tags: Tags are a free-form list of meaningful labels that can be used as filters in the Short Links table. Use them to keep your analytics organized.

Note

For a tag from a previous Short Link to appear in the drop-down list, the previously created Short Link must be published with at least one click on it.

Step 4: Add redirects (optional) ​

To add custom redirects, select the drop-down menu for the platform you want to change and choose a new path.

Add information about what should happen if your app is not installed when the user clicks on the link. We can take the users to the app store, open a web page, or open a Deepview.

Links you create will automatically inherit redirects on iOS, Android, and Desktop based on default settings applied to your account.

You can override those defaults and direct users to specific locations if the app is not installed by adding them in the Redirects section.

Expand to view available redirects

You can add the following redirects to your link:

  • Default Redirect: Set at the account level in your Link Settings. This is typically set to the relevant mobile stores.
  • Web URL: Send users to a specific web page if they don’t have your app to avoid an unexpected flow to the app store.
  • Deepview: Send users to a specific Deepview you created in the Branch Dashboard. Copy the Deepview key and paste it into this text box. This is useful if you want to present the user with a preview of the content before taking them directly to the app store, but should not be set for the Desktop option.

Note

The link data fields in Branch support flat key/value pairs only. They don't support nested key/value pairs (nested JSON objects). To recreate a nested JSON structure, like the data object your developers send when they create links with the API, use the Deep Linking API instead.

Add any custom link settings, custom analytics tags, or custom redirect logic. You can view custom data options and advanced analytics tag options in our Create Deep Links article.

Tip

You can type directly into the text field to add link data.

Step 6: Customize QR code (optional) ​

Interface for customizing a QR code with various design options and settings.

Customize the QR code for this link by selecting the pencil icon above the QR Preview section. Learn more in our Customize QR Codes article.

Select Done to save your customizations.

Note

Switching between app and web-only routing may change the link URL depending on your package and domain configuration. If this link will be used in print, finalize your routing strategy before distribution. See Create QR Codes for details.

Customize the link preview for this link by selecting the pencil icon above the Link Preview section. You can customize the title, description, and background image. This is what your link will look like on social media platforms, messaging apps, and anywhere that supports link previews.

Select Done to save your customizations.

Select Create Link to finish creating your link.

You can create app Short Links in bulk in the Branch Dashboard.

Complete the following steps to create web Short Links in bulk:

  1. In the Branch Dashboard, select LinkHub.

  2. Select Create Bulk Links in the top-right corner.

  3. Select Short Links.

  4. Select whether you want to create your Short Links with an existing template or a CSV. You can download a sample CSV to get started by selecting Via CSV Upload > sample CSV file.

  5. Add the relevant information for your links. Open the accordion below to view more information about link information.

    Expand to view available fields
    Required?FieldDescription
    YesLink TitleLink title is the name of the Short Link that will be displayed and be searchable in the Short Links table. Try making it descriptive and memorable for you and your team.
    NoLink AliasLink alias (link slug) is the part of the link after the domain. For example, in “branch.app.link/example”, “example” is the alias. The alias should ideally describe the landing page of the link. This can't be edited once the link has been created. If this field is left blank, Branch will generate a unique link hash for you.
    YesFeatureFeature should describe the action or product where this link is placed. In the UTM world, this is typically utm_medium.
    YesChannelChannel should describe the platform or source from which you are expecting users to click this link. In the UTM world, this is typically utm_source.
    YesCampaign (utm_campaign)Campaign varies from company to company, but it should describe the theme of the link. In the UTM world, this is typically utm_campaign.
    YesOriginal Web URLBranch can fetch and fill data for a link from a page on your website, including open graph tags and other metadata. You'll see this metadata appear in the optional sections later in this creator. This helps reduce the number of steps for you to create a well-configured link.
    YesCustom Key: $canonical_urlN/A
    NoTagsTags are a free-form list of meaningful labels that can be used as filters in the Short Links table. Use them to keep your analytics organized.
    NoSocial Media TitleTitle that will appear in this link’s social media preview.
    NoSocial Media DescriptionDescription that will appear in this link’s social media preview.
    NoSocial Media Image URLNote that your image may be cropped and aligned differently depending on the social platform.
    NoiOS Default RedirectCan’t be changed when creating links in bulk.
    NoAndroid Default RedirectCan’t be changed when creating links in bulk.
    NoDesktop Default RedirectCan’t be changed when creating links in bulk.
    NoWeb OnlyColumn edit is restricted as per the Link Template settings. To change the setting please edit the Link Template.

  6. Select Create Links or Publish Bulk Links depending on which method you chose.

You can create app Short Links using the Branch Slack App. Read our Branch Slack App article to learn more.

The Deep Linking API is included in Engagement Essentials and Activation Essentials. You can use it to create both web and app Short Links.

You can use LinkHub to manage and view your Short Links. Learn more in our LinkHub article. With Activation you’ll see separate Web Short Links and App Short Links tabs.

You can also view Web Short Links on the Overview page in the Branch Dashboard on the All Data and Short Links tabs.

Links page ​

In LinkHub, you can view how many clicks your links have received. Select the Clicks column in the table to sort by most clicks or least clicks. You can learn more in our LinkHub article.

Overview page ​

On the Overview page, use the Summary or Sources tabs to view relevant analytics for your links. Read our Overview Page article to learn more about comparing and filtering results.

Additional resources ​

Check out our Deep Link Reference, LinkHub, and Link Validator articles to continue learning about app links.

FAQs ​

Does a Branch-generated QR code have an expiration date?

No, QR codes do not have an expiration date. The QR code has a Short Link behind it. As long as the Short Link is active, the QR code will continue to work. Short Links will always be active if not deleted or archived. However, if you change the link domain (yourapp.app.link) of your Branch app, all Short Links and the QR codes created with the old domain will stop working.

Are the number of 'Opens' included in the number of 'Installs' reported in Branch?

Opens are not included in installs. If a user who already has the app clicks on the link and opens the app, it is counted as an open. If the app is not installed, the user is taken to the app/play store to install the app. The first time they open the app after the install is counted as an install.

Can updating the Social Media Descriptors affect an app’s ranking in app store searches?

Updating the Social Media descriptors will only change the Image and description associated with the link, will not have any impact on the app's search ranking.

These values will be updated next time the link is scraped by the respective platform.

How long does it take for new images to appear on social media preview once updated?

Branch will update the link 'og' parameters immediately after it is updated. However how the social media descriptors show up on a platform are controlled by the platform. Different platforms handle these links in different ways, the platform might scrape the link every time it is shared and the image might get refreshed immediately. However in most cases the link is not scraped regularly hence you might see a time lag before the image is updated for the link. If you are sharing on Facebook owned platforms you can manually scrape the link by visiting https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/.

Please note that the $og_image_url social preview feature is reserved for paid Branch accounts with a dedicated contract. If you do not have a paid Branch account, you will not see this feature in Branch.

© 2026 BranchPrivacyTermsCookie Policy