Android App link - Open a url from app in browser without triggering App Link

Question

I have enabled App linking in my application. It works fine. But in my application there are some scenarios where i cannot handle the incoming url. In those cases i want to redirect that url to the default browser in the device.

Currently what i have tried doing is using intents to open browser with the url, but it again redirects to my app itself. The app link is of the format ->

https://<domain>/<prefix>/<params>

so depending on the params, i would like to either handle the app link in the app itself or redirect it to the default browser. Below is the code i tried to open the browser with the above url

val browserIntent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(appLinkModel.url))
browserIntent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_APP_BROWSER)
browserIntent.resolveActivity(packageManager)?.let {
    startActivity(browserIntent)
}

I tried excluding the addCategory() line but the results are the same. Either the app crashes(hence the resolveActivity()), or app opens itself in a loop.

WHAT I WANT TO DO

So what i want to do is redirect the url to the default browser(or show a chooser WITHOUT my app in it), without triggering the app link again and again. So is this possible?

joebobfrank · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-10 16:45:22Z

50

String data = "example.com/your_url?param=some_param";
Intent defaultBrowser = Intent.makeMainSelectorActivity(Intent.ACTION_MAIN, Intent.CATEGORY_APP_BROWSER);
defaultBrowser.setData(data);
startActivity(defaultBrowser);

this technique (using makeMainSelectorActivity) will force the link to open in the device's default browser

Note - makeMainSelectorActivity only works for API level 15 and above.

If you need to support API levels lower than 15, you could try this hack

For Android 13 (API level 33) and above a MAIN Action selector may not work when sending a VIEW intent as Android enforces the intent matching the intent filter. The following approach should work for API level 33 (and also 15+):

val emptyBrowserIntent = Intent()
    .setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW)
    .addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_BROWSABLE)
    .setData(Uri.fromParts("http", "", null))
val targetIntent = Intent()
    .setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW)
    .addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_BROWSABLE)
    .setData(targetUri)
    .setSelector(emptyBrowserIntent)
startActivity(targetIntent)

edited Nov 10, 2022 at 16:45

joebobfrank

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answered Nov 11, 2019 at 12:24

Vinay W

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3 Comments

neske Over a year ago

It working fine on android 12 and below, but not working on android 13. on android 13, It throw ActivityNotFoundException.

neske Over a year ago

See also issuetracker.google.com/issues/243678703

Anh Duy Over a year ago

In Android 13, the app throws an exception: ActivityNotFoundException: No Activity found to handle Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] dat=https://... sel=act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.APP_BROWSER]} }. See issuetracker.google.com/issues/243678703. In my opinion, we can indeed use a try-catch block to catch the exception and then proceed with opening the webview.

Jéwôm' · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-24 08:24:09Z

9

In Kotlin, try using makeMainSelectorActivity :

val defaultBrowser = Intent.makeMainSelectorActivity(Intent.ACTION_MAIN, Intent.CATEGORY_APP_BROWSER)
defaultBrowser.data = Uri.parse("https://yoururl.com/")
startActivity(defaultBrowser)

answered Mar 24, 2020 at 8:24

Jéwôm'

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Comments

Niki Trivedi · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-11 11:21:14Z

0

        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58800240/android-app-link-open-a-url-from-app-in-browser-without-triggering-app-link"));
        Intent chooseIntent = Intent.createChooser(intent, "Choose from below");
        startActivity(chooseIntent);

This will open all the installed web browsers from which user can choose!

answered Nov 11, 2019 at 11:21

Niki Trivedi

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1 Comment

Akhil Soman Over a year ago

I have already tried this. This just redirects back to my app itself because of the App linking.

Rahul Devanavar · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-11 12:07:06Z

0

Unfortunately, we can't exclude any certain URL, since Android doesn't provide that option.

But you can handle using path prefix.

// To handle:
http://myhost.com/v/page1?id=123
// To exclude:
http://myhost.com/v/page2?id=123

then in manifiest

<data android:scheme="http"
      android:host="myhost.com"
      android:pathPrefix="/v/page1" />

answered Nov 11, 2019 at 12:07

Rahul Devanavar

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2 Comments

Akhil Soman Over a year ago

Sorry. I cannot use this. Because the in the url the only change is the "param" portion. And based on the params i have to decide whether to handle it in the app or browser.

Rahul Devanavar Over a year ago

Try opening in custom chrome tab

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