How to Open Links Directly in an App

What is "Open in app"?

Normally, a link to something like an Amazon product or a Spotify track opens in the phone's mobile browser, even when the person already has the app installed. That's a worse experience — and for shopping and media links, it converts far worse than the native app.

Open in app (also known as app deep linking) turns a single link into one that opens your content inside the native app. Tap an Amazon link and the Amazon app opens straight to the product. Tap a Spotify link and the track starts playing in Spotify. If the app isn't installed, the person is sent to the app store to get it — or to the normal website. On a desktop, the link opens the website as usual.

Best of all, it works without any SDK or changes to the destination app — Linkly handles the technical details for you.

How it works

When someone taps your link on a phone, Linkly serves a lightweight page that tries to open the destination inside the app:

• App installed → it opens directly to your content.
• App not installed → it falls back to the app store to install it (or to the website).
• On desktop → it opens the website normally.

This is what makes it work from places where links usually break out to the browser, like the link in bio on TikTok and Instagram.

Supported apps

Linkly recognises links from many popular apps and fills in the technical settings for you automatically, including:

Amazon (all regional stores), YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitch, Netflix, Vimeo, IMDb, eBay, Etsy, AliExpress and Yelp.

For any other app, you can enter the app's link details by hand under Edit app link details.

When you need it — and when your phone already handles it

Modern phones can already open some links in the app on their own. On iOS this is called Universal Links, and on Android it's App Links: when you tap a big-brand link (like Amazon or YouTube) in Safari, Chrome, the Camera / QR scanner, or Messages, the operating system opens the app directly — no help needed.

So in those "clean" contexts you don't need Open in app for the major apps. If you scan a QR code and the app opens, that's your phone doing it — the same would happen with the feature switched off.

The gap is social apps. The mini-browsers inside TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat deliberately ignore Universal Links and App Links. So a normal link tapped from a link in bio opens your page in that cramped in-app browser instead of the real app — which looks worse and converts worse.

That's exactly where Open in app steps in. Linkly only takes over inside these in-app browsers and stays out of the way everywhere else — so your phone's own app-opening keeps working normally, and turning the feature on never makes your other links worse.

How to test it properly

Because your phone already opens apps from QR codes and Safari, don't test with a QR scan or by pasting into Safari — the app will open whether or not the feature is on. Instead:

• Put your short link in a TikTok or Instagram bio (or send it in a DM) and tap it from inside that app.
• With Open in app off, it opens your page in the in-app browser.
• With it on, it opens the native app.

That's the real-world test that shows the difference.

Deep links vs app store redirects

These two features sound similar but do different things:

• An app store redirect sends iPhone users to the Apple App Store and Android users to Google Play. It's about getting people to install an app.
• Open in app goes a step further and opens your specific content inside an app the person already has installed — with the app store as the fallback.

Many marketers use both together.

Where it works best

• Link in bio on TikTok and Instagram, where normal links open in a limited in-app browser.
• Affiliate and shopping links — the Amazon app converts much better than the mobile web.
• Music and video promotion — open a track or video straight in Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube.
• QR codes on print and packaging — the same code opens the app on a phone and the website on a desktop.