Deep Linking Implementation in React Native
Article Summary
Nikhil Khadilkar from Razorpay reveals why their team rejected React Navigation's built-in deep linking solution and built their own custom handler instead. The reason? Complex use cases that required more control than off-the-shelf solutions could provide.
Razorpay's engineering team needed to implement deep linking across their React Native payments app for marketing campaigns, user retention, and seamless web-to-mobile transitions. They evaluated third-party solutions (Appsflyer, Branch, Firebase) and ultimately chose a hybrid approach combining Appsflyer onelinks with native Universal Links and App Links.
Key Takeaways
- Built custom deep link handler instead of using React Navigation's solution
- Hybrid approach: Appsflyer for deferred linking, Universal Links for content sharing
- URL structure supports navigation, modals, and future actions via ACTION parameter
- Provider pattern solved deep linking for logged-out users after authentication
- Testing in staging failed repeatedly, worked perfectly first try in production
Razorpay successfully implemented scalable deep linking by building a custom handler that separates routing logic from presentation, supporting multiple link sources and complex navigation scenarios including logged-out user flows.
