Linking into other apps
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Learn how to handle and open a URL from your app based on the URL scheme of another app.
Handling linking into other apps from your app is achieved by using the target app's URL. There are two methods you can use to open such URLs from your app:
- Using the
expo-linking
API - Using Expo Router's
Link
component
Using expo-linking API
The expo-linking
API provides a universal abstraction over native linking APIs (such as window.history
on the web) and offers utilities for your app to interact with other installed apps.
The example below opens a the common URL scheme in the default browser of the operating system using Linking.openURL
:
import { Button, View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import * as Linking from 'expo-linking';
export default function Home() {
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
<Button title="Open a URL" onPress={() => Linking.openURL('https://expo.dev/')} />
</View>
);
}
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
alignItems: 'center',
justifyContent: 'center',
},
});
Using Expo Router's Link
component
If your project uses Expo Router, use the Link
component to open a URL. It wraps a <Text>
component on native platforms and an <a>
element on the web. It also uses the expo-linking
API to handle URL schemes.
The example below opens a common URL scheme (HTTPS) in the default browser of the operating system:
import { Button, View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import { Link } from 'expo-router';
export default function Home() {
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
<Link href="https://expo.dev">Open a URL</Link>
</View>
);
}
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
alignItems: 'center',
justifyContent: 'center',
},
});
Common URL schemes
There are built-in URL schemes that provide access to core functionality on all platforms. Here is a list of commonly-used schemes:
Scheme | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
https / http | Open web browser app. | https://expo.dev |
mailto | Open mail app. | mailto:support@expo.dev |
tel | Open phone app. | tel:+123456789 |
sms | Open SMS app. | sms:+123456789 |
Specify Android intents to handle common URL schemes
For Android 11 (API level 30) and above, you must specify the intents your app will handle in the AndroidManifest.xml file. You can accomplish this by creating a config plugin.
The following config plugin example enables linking to email and phone apps by defining the intents:
import { withAndroidManifest, ConfigPlugin } from 'expo/config-plugins';
const withAndroidQueries: ConfigPlugin = config => {
return withAndroidManifest(config, config => {
config.modResults.manifest.queries = [
{
intent: [
{
action: [{ $: { 'android:name': 'android.intent.action.SENDTO' } }],
data: [{ $: { 'android:scheme': 'mailto' } }],
},
{
action: [{ $: { 'android:name': 'android.intent.action.DIAL' } }],
},
],
},
];
return config;
});
};
module.exports = withAndroidQueries;
After creating the config plugin, import the custom config plugin under the plugins
property:
{
"expo": {
"plugins": [
"./my-plugin.ts"
%%placeholder-start%%... %%placeholder-end%%
]
}
}
Tip: On Android, you can useexpo-intent-launcher
to open a specific settings screen on the device. Seeexpo-intent-launcher
API reference to view the list of available intents.
Custom URL schemes
If you know the custom scheme for the app you want to open, you can link to it using any of the methods: Using
expo-linking
API or UsingLink
from Expo Router.
Some services provide documentation on how to use their app's custom URL schemes. For example, Uber's deep linking documentation describes how to link directly to a specific pickup location and destination:
uber://?client_id=<CLIENT_ID>&action=setPickup&pickup[latitude]=37.775818&pickup[longitude]=-122.418028&pickup[nickname]=UberHQ&pickup[formatted_address]=1455%20Market%20St%2C%20San%20Francisco%2C%20CA%2094103&dropoff[latitude]=37.802374&dropoff[longitude]=-122.405818&dropoff[nickname]=Coit%20Tower&dropoff[formatted_address]=1%20Telegraph%20Hill%20Blvd%2C%20San%20Francisco%2C%20CA%2094133&product_id=a1111c8c-c720-46c3-8534-2fcdd730040d&link_text=View%20team%20roster&partner_deeplink=partner%3A%2F%2Fteam%2F9383
In the example above, if the user does not have the Uber app installed on their device, your app can direct them to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store to install it. We recommend using the react-native-app-link
library to handle these scenarios.
Specify custom schemes for iOS
On iOS, using Linking.canOpenURL
to query other apps's linking schemes requires additional configuration in InfoPlist. You can use the ios.infoPlist
property in your app config to specify a list of schemes your app is allowed to query. For example:
{
"expo": {
"ios": {
"infoPlist": {
"LSApplicationQueriesSchemes": ["uber"]
}
}
}
}
If your don't specify this list, Linking.canOpenURL
may return false
even if the device has the target app installed.
Tip: To test the configuration described above from an iOS device, use a development build. It cannot be tested with Expo Go.
Create URLs
You can use Linking.createURL
to create a URL that can be used to open or redirect back to your app. This method resolves to the following:
- Production and development builds:
myapp://
, wheremyapp
is the custom scheme defined in the app config - Development in Expo Go:
exp://127.0.0.1:8081
Using Linking.createURL
helps you avoid hardcoding URLs. You can modify the returned URL by passing optional parameters to this method.
To pass data to your app, you can append it as a path or query string to the URL. Linking.createURL
will construct a working URL automatically. For example:
const redirectUrl = Linking.createURL('path/into/app', {
queryParams: { hello: 'world' },
});
This will resolve into the following, depending on the environment:
- Production and development builds:
myapp://path/into/app?hello=world
- Development in Expo Go:
exp://127.0.0.1:8081/--/path/into/app?hello=world
Using Expo Go for testing?
For apps that require a stable URL (for example, auth provider redirects), use a development build with a custom scheme instead of using Expo Go. For more details on how to create and test a custom scheme, see Linking into your app.
In-app browsers
The expo-linking
API allows you to open a URL using the operating system's default web browser app. You can use the expo-web-browser
library to open URLs in an in-app browser. For example, an in-app browser is useful for secure authentication.
Example of opening a URL in an in-app browser
The example below simulates the behavior of opening a URL in an in-app browser using expo-web-browser
and the default or preferred web browser using expo-linking
:
import { Button, View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import * as Linking from 'expo-linking';
import * as WebBrowser from 'expo-web-browser';
export default function Home() {
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
<Button
title="Open URL with the system browser"
onPress={() => Linking.openURL('https://expo.dev')}
style={styles.button}
/>
<Button
title="Open URL with an in-app browser"
onPress={() => WebBrowser.openBrowserAsync('https://expo.dev')}
style={styles.button}
/>
</View>
);
}
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
alignItems: 'center',
justifyContent: 'center',
},
button: {
marginVertical: 10,
},
});
Additional link functionality on web
To provide additional link functionality on the web, such as right-click to copy or hover to preview, you can use a Link
component from the expo-router
library.
import { Link } from 'expo-router';
export default function Home() {
return <Link href="https://expo.dev">Go to Expo</Link>;
}
Alternatively, you can use the @expo/html-elements
library to use a universal <A>
element:
import { A } from '@expo/html-elements';
export default function Home() {
return <A href="https://expo.dev">Go to Expo</A>;
}
The <A>
component renders an <a>
on the web and an interactive <Text>
that uses the expo-linking
API on native platforms.