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Passthrough Universal Links

Last updated on Apr 04, 2026

LinkMe supports two types of link behavior on your branded domains: stored links with payloads and passthrough universal links. Both open your app via Universal Links (iOS) or App Links (Android), but the payload and tracking are different.

Stored links (deferred links)

Stored links are created in the Portal and mapped to a specific slug (for example, /promo-spring). When someone taps the link:

  • The link resolves to a stored record in LinkMe.
  • The SDK receives a full payload: linkId, path, utm, custom, and any configured deep link data.
  • Click tokens and deferred-claim flows are recorded for install attribution.
  • Analytics and link metadata (UTM presets, custom data, overrides) are applied.

This is the right choice when you need analytics, attribution, or custom payloads that must be managed per link.

Passthrough universal links

Passthrough links are unknown slugs on your branded domain. LinkMe treats the full path and query as the app route without requiring a stored link.

Example:

https://link.example.com/promo/summer/2025?code=VIP&utm_source=paid

When passthrough is enabled:

  • The app opens as a normal Universal Link/App Link.
  • The SDK resolves the link via /api/deeplink/resolve-url and receives a lightweight payload:
    • path: /promo/summer/2025
    • params: query parameters excluding UTM keys
    • utm: UTM keys detected in the query
  • No linkId or cid is created.
  • No per-link analytics or custom payloads are attached.

This is the right choice when you just want raw routing into the app without provisioning a stored link first.

Non-LinkMe universal links

If your app receives a universal link for a domain that is not connected to LinkMe, the SDK still emits a payload so you can react to it:

  • isLinkMe will be false.
  • url contains the original universal link.
  • path, params, and utm are parsed from the URL (UTM keys are split out).

This gives you a consistent payload shape even when the link is a basic universal link rather than a LinkMe-managed domain.

Toggling passthrough behavior

In App Settings, the Disable path passthrough for unknown slugs toggle controls this feature:

  • Off (default): unknown slugs are treated as passthrough universal links.
  • On: unknown slugs do not pass through to the app and fall back to standard web behavior.

Choosing between them

Use stored links when you need payloads, attribution, or analytics. Use passthrough links when you want the domain to behave like a pure universal link host without creating link records for every path.