SAN Deferred Deep Linking
SAN Deferred Deep Linking is by request only. Please contact our support team to gain access to this feature.
Overview
When the Branch SDK initializes within an app, it calls out to Branch and gets back deep link data. This historically has excluded data from Self-Attributing Networks (SANs). With this feature, we will now return SAN ad data as deep link data, on new installs or reinstalls (not opens).
The following SANs are supported:
Google
Snap
Meta
SAN Deferred Deep Linking Post iOS 14.5 Changes
iOS ONLY: SAN Deferred Deep Linking will only work after the user opts-in to sharing their device data through Apple's AppTrackingTransparency framework. This also means that there will be a delay due to the nature of the 2nd install event only occurring after a paid-attributed opt-in.
For additional information on changes post iOS 14.5, visit our FAQ Pages
Viewing the Returned SAN Deep Link Data
We will only return the information we get back from the SAN, which does not include any Branch link control parameters, because there is no Branch link involved. Even if customers put a Branch link in the ad, that link’s data will not be returned as part of this feature.
Below is an example response to api2.branch.io/v1/install. The deep link data is inside data.
{
"session_id": "775732418224171111",
"identity_id": "775732414789038000",
"link": "https://abc.app.link?%24identity_id=775732414789038000",
"data": {
"+is_first_session": true,
"$3p": "a_google",
"~advertising_partner_name": "Google",
"+click_timestamp": 1557204842,
"~secondary_publisher": "google",
"~campaign": "ABC",
"~campaign_id": "33333377778880001",
"~ad_set_name": "DEF",
"~ad_set_id": "4444333399990002",
"~ad_name": "XYZ",
"~ad_id": "22223333377770003",
"~feature": "paid advertising",
"~ad_objective_name": "APP_INSTALLS",
"~channel": "Google"
},
"device_fingerprint_id": "777778888855555222"
}
FAQs
Will my app get back Branch deep link data?
No. You will get back campaign, ad set and ad information, returned as ~campaign, ~ad_set_name, and ~ad_name. Other fields are shown in the example above. You can deep link based on these fields. Your app will not get back $ios_url, $android_deeplink_path, $canonical_url or other such fields.
Even if customers put a Branch link in the ad, that link’s data will not be returned as part of this feature.
Do I need to update my app for SAN Deferred Deep Linking?
No. However, you must be whitelisted on our servers.
However, if you want to change routing logic based on new data coming back from SANs (e.g. show a specific app page for a specific campaign name), then you'd need to make updates.
Will I get any ad data from SANs, including impressions?
Only click data (not view-through), and only if the click was within the last 2 hours.
If there are multiple recent clicks, such as a Google click then a click on an email, which deep link data will I receive in app?
You will receive the latest click, regardless of source.
What if I want data for reinstalls or opens?
We’ve chosen not to support these at this time. If we did support these, then it would result in over-counting reinstalls and opens within Google and Snap.