Smart links for apps
The phrase covers everything from a platform redirect to a full attribution stack, which makes comparing products harder than it should be.
19 October 2026 ยท PAD team
The four capabilities
When a product says smart link, it means some subset of these. Ask which ones.
| Capability | What it needs |
|---|---|
| Platform routing | a page that reads the user agent |
| In-app browser escape | client-side code and current platform schemes |
| Campaign attribution | correct parameters on the final store URL |
| Deferred deep linking | an SDK inside your app |
Routing
The baseline: iPhone to the App Store, Android to Google Play, desktop to your website. Twenty lines of JavaScript, and every product does it.
The escape
The one that is frequently missing, including from products that advertise themselves as smart links. Without it, routing correctly delivers an iPhone visitor to a store URL that their in-app browser cannot open, which is a correct answer to the wrong question.
Test it rather than trusting the marketing page: create a link, put it in an Instagram story visible only to you, and tap it from your phone.
Attribution
Campaign tokens on the final URL, which is easy to get wrong when there are redirects in between. Check that ct survives to the store by looking at App Store Connect a day later, not by reading documentation.
Deferred deep linking
Opening a specific screen after install requires code in the app. Anything promising this without an SDK is describing something else, usually plain deep linking for people who already have the app.
Choosing
- Bio links and social posts: routing plus escape is enough
- Paid acquisition at scale: add attribution
- Content-specific onboarding after install: you need the SDK, and that is a bigger decision
Create a GoToApp link with your destinations, then test it on the devices and channels you plan to use. Free includes up to three projects.