Short.io provides Android targeting to open a mobile application after clicking a short link.

Today, on the Short.io blog, we will show how to create a short link that opens the mobile Google Photos app on the specific page.

When using mobile targeting, visitors will end up on a specific photo or album after clicking a short URL. As a result, you can use the Google Photos mobile short link to redirect visitors straight to a photo album, which can improve user experience. The advantage of the feature is that instead of opening photos in a browser, visitors are already logged in to their accounts, allowing them to end up on the app page.

The features of mobile links are similar to deep links. The main difference is that you can apply deep links to your mobile app because their setting requires modifying the app code. Mobile links, on the contrary, can be used for all mobile apps. They are accessed via app package names. The most important requirement is for the app to be installed on the visitor's phones. If not, the link will be opened in the browser or in App Stores.

Preconditions: Shorten a link on Short.io. or click Edit near the shortened one.

  • Android

  1. Open the "Android targeting" tab.

  2. Specify a link to a photo/photo album. Example: https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMG90QEXE_m5NPXYy0Im5SymwtKzvsKXysEXgB7

  3. Specify the application package name: com.google.android.apps.photos.

  4. Save.

shortio-android-targeting

After clicking a short URL, the Google Photos mobile application page will be opened for Android visitors.

Note: You can replicate the same scenario with any Google Photos link.

Conclusion

The use cases described above are just examples of how you can use Android targeting. Apps such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Gmail can also make use of this feature, but make sure these apps are installed on your users' mobiles. Otherwise, the link will serve an error.

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What did you learn?

  • google photos deeplinks
  • open google photos automatically
  • how to redirect users to googple photos app
  • mobile links for google photos

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