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Show HN: Branch Deepviews – Autogenerated app content previews with deep links (branch.io)
14 points by mada299 on Aug 13, 2015 | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments



We started as app developers ourselves set to fix the problems we were facing building our own app, and the ability to surface content was our biggest challenge.

You’ve know the problem - generic interstitials that prohibit people from using the mobile website with the intention of driving an app install. A user clicks on a link and is taken to a full page advertisement for the app. It’s basically the worst.

Thousands of apps use Branch deep linking to route users to the right page after they install the app. We wanted to take this to the next level and give app developers the ability to route users to the right page before they install. What started out as a suggestion from a few developers in the Branch community has turned into a full-fledged product offering.

Branch Deepviews are previews of your native app content that are:

- dynamically created - automatically formatted - fully customizable - desktop or mobile web compatible

Every Deepview comes loaded with a download call-to-action (CTA), powered by a deferred deep link, that will route users to the App Store and give them a personalized post-install experience. If a user already has the app, the Deepview will not be shown and the user will be taken directly to the content in the app after they click on the link. Moreover, because now every piece of content in your app has a webpage, we automatically add Apple Universal Link tags as well as Google App Indexing tags, Facebook AppLinks tags, making your app content discoverable.

Let us know what you think. Don't hold back.


Very cool. Having made mobile splash pages in this past, pretty sure this will save a ton of time on projects going forward.

Is there a way to customize the site? I want to maintain a consistent UI/UX.


Hi Charlie, yep. Right now we have three templates you can choose from, but they are all open source so you can create your own. Happy to help you with that if you contact us at support@branch.io


How will this work with iOS 9's deep linking functionality?


Hi jreed91, our links already support/work with iOS9. Deepviews have Apple Universal link tags embedded in them by default.




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