Deep Links/Link to Current Screen

Glide apps are essentially just bookmarks. When you click on a URL, I believe iOS will always open the Safari app and not associate that link with some bookmark you have on your home screen. I may be wrong and if I am, then yeah, I would love that, since that’s exactly how native apps like twitter work (open a twitter link and it opens the twitter app). But I don’t think PWAs have the same kind of ability for technical reasons. But I could be wrong.

We’ll have to wait for the ones that know!

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I think we’re getting in a pretty heated debate over something that nobody is obligated to use. Either you use it or you don’t depending on your use case. Has anybody even tested it’s functionality yet to see how it works? I haven’t, so I have no idea if a link would open the app or the browser. I kind of doubt it since going to the direct url of my installed app on my phone does not redirect to the installed instance of the app. Regardless, it’s a nice gateway for it to open in the browser to a specific screen, or profile or content if somebody doesn’t have the app installed yet. I think of it like Facebook. You can access it through the website or through the app. Both function pretty similarly and depending on the link structure, it gets you to the same content either way. Maybe some people are OK with it opening in a browser window. Maybe some people aren’t. Lot’s of people have been begging for it and have a need to get direct access to specific content within their app, so I think it will serve them well.

I also have no idea how this will work with sign in enabled apps or how it would work on IOS. I’m not an Apple guy. Give it a shot in staging and see how it reacts. Regardless of how it functions, I think it will be a pretty good first step for deep linking into an app.

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Just for inspiration

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:grinning:

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links to screen, for me = more productivity ! sometimes users could access the same screen via different paths… so at the end of each path I need to recreate that same screen, which hopefully won’t happen again with screen links!

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Hehe, I keep getting notifications for this thread on my desktop while I’m working. Figured I’d chime in. :wink:

I’m legit curious about this feature. No attempts at :cloud_with_rain: from me. I want to be able to post :star_struck: too. @Robert_Petitto’s suggestion has given me at least one decent idea.

I suppose I could just go check it out myself in staging. But I’m a lazy bum.

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@John_Cabrera incorrect John. You keep writing essays. I’m always impressed

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If link to screen can be used in an email notification it will be indescribably valuable for me…One use case in my app…an employee creates a new performance objective, submits to manager for approval, and in the email is a link directly to the page to approve it. I have been quite concerned about the bad experience of sending an email like that without the deep link and letting the user find the exact page in the app!

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@Krivo I hearted this contribution of yours… but like every limitation iOS has over android, this is such a bummer to read. But I guess we’re all getting used to it.

Easy solution, you could always UPGRADE to Android. :grin:

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You now have me thinking about certain types of content screens that wouldn’t be accessible within the app-styled version but only through web browser, and would be acceptable (perhaps even preferred) in that form… yet still relevant to the larger platform.

One could have screens with visibility conditions like “If [email] is not signed in user”, which would make that screen only viewable by the public and could be styled to be very specific to browser based viewing.

For a sign-in app like mine though, it would need to be restructured so that it’s public with optional sign-in.

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You’re right! Let me draft up that email letting my users know about that simple solution too! :wink:

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Hey, it would be a cost savings for them. I paid $250 US new for my phone. Does everything I want it to do without lag and has a massive 5000mah battery, so the charge lasts forever. I could upgrade every 6 months and still come out ahead over 2 years. :wink:

In all seriousness, I do bite my tongue most of the time over the Android/IOS debate, so I’ll shut up now.

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Oh man, I don’t want to derail the main topic, but now I’m thinking about making my app public, adding a new tab to it with visibility condition “if [email_column] is not signed in user” and doing the opposite for all of my other tabs. And on that new tab putting the sign-in component. Then when a new user accesses the app, they’re met with just one tab and one screen requesting they sign in for the main app to take shape.

Would basically function as a mostly closed version like my current app, while allowing me to have certain public pages within my current app accessible without a user needing to sign in. There’s still a chance some users would go to the root address of the site after viewing a piece of public content… then sign in there from their browser and have the site in their browser. But I could probably add directions on that page for them to install the app proper. Visibility conditions per device type would be amazing, of course.

Okay, I’m starting to see some interesting possibilities.

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Booo

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He sees the light!

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Give it a shot in staging and see how it reacts.

I feel like I’m missing something fundamental here, but I don’t see the option when editing an app in staging dot heyglide dot com.

Look for the special value components in a form.

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