Every channel that opens a link inside its own browser can break the App Store handoff. Pick the one you are dealing with.
Traffic and conversion ads on Facebook and Instagram send the tap into an in-app browser, where the App Store link can die. Here is why it happens and how one link fixes it without touching your creatives.
TikTok opens links in its own in-app browser, and the App Store link can end on an empty screen. What breaks, what still works, and how one link gets the tap out.
The link in your Instagram bio opens in Instagram's own browser, where an App Store link can end on an empty screen. One link fixes it, no SDK.
In a web-to-app funnel the ad and the landing page work fine. The Download button at the end is what fails, after the click is already paid for.
An attribution link measures the tap, it does not change where the tap runs. Its last step is still the App Store, and inside an in-app browser that step can fail — while your dashboard reports a healthy click.
Link-in-bio pages open inside the social app's browser, so the store link on them hits the same wall. A GoToApp link on the button fixes it.
You pay per post and never learn how many taps ended on an empty screen. A GoToApp link makes creator traffic measurable and gets it to the store.
A link in an email or a push opens in whatever browser the app embeds. If that is an in-app browser, the store handoff can fail.
Delivery depends on which app the link opens in, and the spread is wide. These are our own numbers, not an industry estimate. Sample: 606 taps through our own links, 3–5 August 2026. Every link reports back when a tap fails to leave the in-app browser, so these are counted, not modelled.
| Source | Reached the store | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 99% | 3 taps stalled, 2 of them recovered by pressing the button | |
| 81% | 35 stalled, 17 recovered — this is where the system asks for confirmation | |
| TikTok | 86% | small sample, but the pattern matches Facebook |
| Plain browser | 100% | nothing to escape from, the store opens directly |
It reads where the tap came from and takes the route that survives there: the external browser out of Instagram and Threads, the store's own scheme where that is what works, an immediate button where the system asks for confirmation. If everything is blocked, the tap still ends on a visible button instead of a blank screen.
No SDK and no changes in the app. You swap one address for another.
An attribution link can be the destination. We hand the tap over and leave your parameters alone.
Each link reports when a tap failed to leave the in-app browser, so the dashboard shows delivery, not just clicks.
Free while you try it: up to three apps, unlimited links under each, full routing and per-source stats. The paid plan buys a shorter address.