Notes from the front of mobile growth.
Practical guides to mobile attribution and deep linking — plus privacy, fraud, and the bits of mobile nobody warns you about until you ship them.
Featured · 4 min read
The best deep linking tools in 2026: an honest shortlist
Branch, AppsFlyer OneLink, Adjust, LinkTrail or plain Universal Links? What each does best, what it costs, what it gives up, and how to choose.
Ahsan Ali
Writes about deep linking & attribution
How to set up deferred deep linking on iOS
iOS has no install referrer, so deferred deep links need another way through the App Store. Associated Domains, the SDK, the click token, and testing.
Deferred deep link landing on the home screen? Five places the payload gets lost
The link works and the SDK is set up, yet new installs open on the home screen. Five places a deferred deep link loses its payload, and how to find which.
How to set up deferred deep linking on Android
On Android, the Play Install Referrer carries a deferred deep link through the store. App Links, the SDK, consent, and testing it end to end.
Why your attribution numbers don't match across platforms (and which dashboard to trust)
Meta says 120 installs, Google 95, your attribution tool 80, your backend 65. Why the numbers never align, and which dashboard to use for which decision.
Universal Links stopped working after a deploy? Debugging AASA and assetlinks.json in production
Links that worked in TestFlight break in production. The ways apple-app-site-association and assetlinks.json fail after a deploy, and the command for each.
Why Universal Links fail in Instagram, TikTok and other in-app browsers
Your Universal Link opens the app from Notes but not from an Instagram DM. Why in-app browsers swallow links, how to confirm it, and the fixes that work.
Deferred deep linking in Flutter: one Dart API for iOS and Android
Set up deferred deep linking in a Flutter app: the plugin, platform setup for App Links and Universal Links, the iOS paste button, consent and testing.
Deep links for Meta and TikTok ads: what works in each campaign type
Meta and TikTok treat app install campaigns differently from traffic campaigns. Where a smart link works, where the ad's deep link field does, and why.
After the Firebase Dynamic Links shutdown: what transfers, what doesn't, and the cutover order
page.link is gone; a custom domain you owned can be reused. What survives the Firebase Dynamic Links shutdown, and the cutover order that avoids an outage.
iOS 27 Link Tracking Protection and Click IDs: Will iOS 27 Impact Your Attribution?
iOS 27 didn't turn on click-ID stripping in regular Safari, but widened what gets stripped and which scripts are limited. What changed and how to adapt.
How to test deep links before you ship: the pre-release checklist
A deep link that works on your phone proves little. The test matrix, the commands, and the clean-install routine that catch broken links before users do.
Deep linking in React Native: Universal Links, App Links, and the first open
How a deep link reaches a React Native app, the AppDelegate override the stock template leaves out, Expo's config, and links that survive the install.
The Firebase Dynamic Links replacement: a migration guide
Firebase Dynamic Links is shut down. What you lost, how to replace deferred deep linking and smart routing, and how to migrate without breaking live links.
Stop sending paid installs to your homepage
You paid for a tap on a specific product, then dropped the user on your home screen. A deferred deep link carries that intent through the install.
Influencer attribution: giving UGC channels the credit they earn
Influencer attribution that holds up: one link per creator, credit bound server-side, and reports broken out by match type so UGC channels get fair credit.
One link for every channel: smart links for TikTok, email, SMS, and QR
Smart links route every tap by device — TikTok, email, SMS, QR, desktop — one URL that lands users in the right place and tags itself per channel.
Re-engagement deep links that don't dump users on 'Welcome back'
Re-engagement deep links land returning users exactly where they left off — whether the app is still installed or has to survive a reinstall on the way.
Promo codes that survive the install
Deep-linked promo codes survive the install gap: carry the code in the deferred payload, apply it automatically on first open, and guard against abuse.
Web-to-app handoff for a freemium funnel
Web-to-app handoff for freemium funnels: pass onboarding state through the install so users resume mid-flow, and measure the seam that leaks activation.
Managing link verification across multiple apps and bundle IDs
Link verification across several apps: every bundle ID and signing fingerprint in the AASA and assetlinks.json, staging on its own domain, files generated.
Building an install-attribution pipeline with webhooks
Stream install.attributed events into your warehouse, verify the signatures, and reconcile probabilistic, deterministic, and SKAN in one place.
The post-IDFA attribution playbook: signals, scoring, and what to ship next
Mobile attribution after ATT: the matching waterfall, how to score probabilistic matches honestly, and the reporting trap that quietly skews budgets.
Why deferred deep linking still matters in 2026
What deferred deep linking is, why the install gap persists in 2026, and how carrying context through the app stores roughly doubles first-open conversion.
Probabilistic attribution: building a device fingerprint scorer that doesn't lie
How probabilistic matching works: the five device signals, the weights, the precision-recall harness — and the consent requirement most guides skip.
SKAdNetwork 5: what changed and what to ship this quarter
SKAdNetwork 5 migration guide: re-engagement postbacks, coarse conversion values across the new windows, and how it carries over to AdAttributionKit.
Measuring install lift: the growth marketer's incrementality guide
Incrementality testing for mobile installs: a working definition of lift, a clean measurement design, and the three places your ROAS numbers are lying.
App Links vs Universal Links: the practical setup guide nobody wrote
iOS Universal Links vs Android App Links: how AASA and assetlinks.json work, the MIME and cache pitfalls, and a checklist that opens the app every time.
About the blog — common questions
What does the LinkTrail blog cover?
Mobile attribution and deep linking in practice: deferred deep linking, install attribution after App Tracking Transparency, SKAdNetwork and AdAttributionKit, fraud, privacy and consent, incrementality, and migrating off Firebase Dynamic Links.
Who writes the LinkTrail blog?
Ahsan Ali, who works with the teams integrating LinkTrail's iOS, Android, React Native and Flutter SDKs. Every post is listed on the author page.
Where should I start?
With why deferred deep linking still matters for the install gap, the post-IDFA attribution playbook for measurement, or the Firebase Dynamic Links migration guide if you're replacing FDL.