Deferred deep linking

Deferred deep linking delivers a link's payload to a user who tapped it before installing your app. The link sends them to the store or your fallback. After install, Grovs matches the click to the install and delivers the payload on first launch. It's automatic: there's no separate API.

How the payload arrives

Through the same callback as a regular deep link, on the first launch after install:

Platform	Callback
iOS	grovsReceivedPayloadFromDeeplink(link:payload:tracking:) on your GrovsDelegate. See iOS Deep Linking.
Android	The Grovs.setOnDeeplinkReceivedListener listener, or the openedLinkDetails flow. See Android Deep Linking.
Flutter	The onDeeplinkReceived stream. See Flutter Deep Linking.
React Native	The Grovs.onDeeplinkReceived callback. See React Native Deep Linking.

Handle deferred and direct opens the same way.

Common pitfalls

Installing before tapping the link

If you install the build first and tap the link afterwards, that's a direct deep link. The deferred path never runs. This is the most common testing mistake.

Test in this order:

1. Uninstall the app from the test device.
2. Tap the Grovs link on that device. It redirects to the store page or fallback URL.
3. Install and launch the app on the same device. A development build from Xcode or Android Studio is fine here: what matters is that the tap came first.
4. The payload arrives in your delegate or listener shortly after the SDK initializes.

Listener registered too late

The deferred payload arrives early in the first launch. A delegate or listener set up later, for example on a deeper screen, misses it.

Register the handler at app entry:

• iOS: set Grovs.delegate at app startup. Recover missed payloads with Grovs.lastReceivedPayload or Grovs.allReceivedPayloadsSinceStartup. See Retrieving past payloads.
• Android: register the listener in your launcher activity.
• Flutter and React Native: subscribe in your root component.

Click and install in different environments

A test-environment link opened before installing a production build (or the reverse) records the click and the install in different environments, so they never match. Match the link's environment to the build's useTestEnvironment. See Test vs production environment mismatch.

Click and install on different devices

Matching connects a click to an install on the same device. Tapping on your laptop and installing on your phone produces no payload. Run the whole flow on one device.