
Deep linking in React Native - eMaeL
https://arsfutura.co/magazine/deep-linking-in-react-native
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pbreit
I always thought “deep linking” was the dumbest phrase, definitely for
websites, maybe less so for SPAs.

It’s just “linking”!! And it should be trivial to implement.

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yodon
"Linking" is already used to describe both object file linking (which is
unrelated to deep linking) and html anchor linking (which is related to but
different from mobile app deep linking). If you want a generic term, one can
of course use the word linking to refer to deep linking, but it's often
valuable to have a more specialized term that distinguishes links to
functionality in mobile apps from links to anchors in web pages.

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cnorthwood
In HTML, "linking" is a contraction of "hyperlinking". I guess deep linking
and hyperlinking have a significant cross-over, maybe to the point where it's
not a useful distinction?

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yodon
Flat head screws and pan head screws have similar cross-over in that both are
screws. To someone who thinks assembling IKEA cabinets counts as woodworking,
the term screw is enough. To someone involved in actual manufacturing, the
more specialized terminology remains important. Specialists will always have
reason to use more precise language than generalists.

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dbbk
Very cryptic rejection of Universal Links in the final paragraph here...
anyone know what they're talking about?

> However, I would not really recommend implementing support for this in your
> React Native app. It can bring potential complications and not-so-many
> benefits for a React Native app.

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eMaeL
There are a few reasons I would recommend deep linking over implementing
support for universal link into your app. Firstly, universal links are
somewhat more complicated to set up than classic deep links and might make the
development process more difficult. Their functionality is also somewhat
similar to deep links. Secondly, they only work for iOS which cuts the number
of viable users by a significant amount. Generally speaking, I would recommend
implementing universal links after your system of deep links is constructed,
in case you want to invest extra effort into your iOS application. Overall, it
is definitely not an unuseful feature, I would just prefer deep linking for
React Native.

