Deep Linking with 'Open Link' (Activity Starter Function)

This post will explain how to open a link from your Thunkable X app either in the corresponding app or in the device’s browser. For example, a link to twitter.com/thunkable will open up the account in the device’s Twitter app if the Twitter app is installed, or else will open the link in the device’s main browser if Twitter is not installed.

This is called Deep Linking, and was a function of the Activity Starter in Thunkable Classic.

Thunkable X makes deep linking extremely easy with the open link block, which can be found in the Control blocks menu.

openlink

This block will be demonstrated with a social media Screen that can be integrated into your app. Here is a link to this app.

Layout

The Layout for this app is super simple. We have a Label and three Buttons. The Vertical Layout of the Screen is set to space-around.

The Buttons are each 100*100px, with a Border Radius of 50 (half of 100). This creates circular Buttons. Read Domhnall’s post about circular Buttons here.

100100

100100b

The Background Images of these Buttons were set to the logos of three social media brands: Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. I specifically looked for round .png versions of these logos online so that I knew they would fit my circular Buttons perfectly. These Buttons have also been named Twitter, Youtube and Instagram, as we will see in the blocks.

The Blocks

100100blocks

These blocks are extremely simple. When the user clicks on a branded social media Button, they will find Thunkable’s account on that platform. If they have the corresponding app installed, the app will be opened. If they don’t, the web page will be opened in their browser.

And that’s it! We know that users who are looking for the Activity Starter might not recognise that this is the block they want right away, but hopefully everyone will find this function to be really convenient and effective in their apps.

Happy Thunking!

3 Likes

@jane is it possible to do this the other way around and deeplink to open a thunkable app? Without publishing an app I don’t think there is a way to test it? It would be good to authenticate outside of the app to a tool which manages subscriptions (until Thunkable can do it) and then redirect to the app to carry on…

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@jane Is it also possible to do this with files that are in the thunkable app itself, like a pdf file or something, but have it open in the default pdf viewer app for that phone?
The PDF viewer built into the thunkable app doesn’t zoom in enough for my purposes and audience, so I thought this might work, deep linking the buttons that show the title of each document to the default pdf app on the users phone.

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Is it possible to stop deep linking or opening installed app altogether?

Thanks

@seth What is the context of you wanting to stop deep linking? If you don’t want to use it then don’t use the “Open Link” block, its that easy.
Kudos,
chickenpotpie123

I have a discord widget, but when the user clicks to connect the app opens.

I think I will leave it to be honest.

@seth Oh ok… yeah, the authentication process probably has to go through the Discord app itself… just my thought.
Probably not something you can fix… but who knows! Keep looking into it, and sorry I couldn’t be of more assistance!
Good luck with your widget!

Thanks!

I have made two separate sections, one a link to join the server and the other a widget to see who it is your channel.

bumping this please?

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Hi there,

It is not currently possible to open a Thunkable app via deep linking.

hi. then how about just launching thunkable app?
like youtube:// or nflx://

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Hi, it is like webviewer component. so, what is the difference between the two?

Is it still not possible to open a Thunkable app via deep linking?

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