Issue Summary

When a user clicks on a link in an email campaign the link launches in Safari web experience instead of the iOS mobile app.

Environment/Product

• iOS devices 

Root Cause & Resolution

There are multiple factors that can prevent a link from opening in the mobile app on iOS devices. Please review the following before contacting Firstup Support.

The link is accessed from outside the native Apple Mail app or Safari.

iOS devices can typically only open "universal links" (links that should open in-app) if the link is accessed from within one of the following applications:

• Apple's native Mail app
• Safari app (such as signing into Gmail via Safari)

When a link to Firstup is accessed from any other application on an iOS device the links may open in the mobile browser instead of the Firstup mobile app. For example, accessing a link via the Facebook app, Gmail app, or Slack app will take the user to the mobile web experience.

The links in the email campaign are wrapped.

iOS devices cannot recognize a "wrapped" URL as associated with a mobile app and will open the link in the mobile web experience instead. For example, Proofpoint "wraps" URLs with URL Defense by placing https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/... before URLs such as the onfirstup.com. We have also seen Outlook's Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) wrap URLs. 

To resolve, please coordinate with your IT team to prevent anti-spam software from wrapping Firstup URLs. With Proofpoint or Advanced Threat Protection, for example, you should be able to allowlist (aka whitelist) *.onfirstup.com and *.firstup.io.

The mobile app is not installed.

If the mobile app is not installed, users will be taken to the web experience in their mobile browser when they click on a link. On the landing page of the web experience, the user can click on the download buttons to download and install the mobile app.

The user is not signed into the mobile app.

Links can only open in-app if the user is signed in. The user should be registered and signed in before expecting links to content to open directly in the mobile app. 

The device has an unstable network connection.

Unstable network connections can cause an issue for iOS devices with recognizing a link as associated with an installed mobile app. If on an unstable connection, restricted bandwidth, or corporate wi-fi, please try connecting to a different network and then access the link.

Android Note

Android devices are not subject to all of the iOS restrictions outlined above. For details on Android, please refer to the article about links on Android devices.