Android Deep Linking if user does NOT have the app installed
So I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to deep link a user who does not have the app currently installed. Here's what I'm trying to do: 1) User clicks deep link on website in mobile browser. 2) User is taken to the app store to install the app 3) Once installed, the user is taken to the deep link to specific content within the app.
The closest thing I've found so far is with Android App Install Banners, but that's not exactly what I'm looking for. Is this even possible?
Here's a link with the Android App Install Banners near the bottom of the page: https://medium.com/@ageitgey/everything-you-need-to-know-about-implementing-ios-and-android-mobile-deep-linking-f4348b265b49#.evsxzudwj
Answer
What you are trying to accomplish is known as deferred deep linking.
Vanilla iOS does not support deferred deep linking at all. Android can do it with the Android Google Play referrer, but it is unreliable and doesn't work at all from Chrome (the most popular Android browser by far).
To do this, you'll likely want to investigate a (free) third-party service like Branch.io (full disclosure: I am on the Branch team) or Firebase Dynamic Links. The Branch platform abstracts all the technical details and edge cases away, so all you need to worry about is defining a set of key/value parameters (for example: articleID: story123) when you create a link. Branch makes sure those parameters are returned to you inside the app the first time it launches after the user clicks the link, whether or not the app was installed when the link was clicked. You can then use the values to route/customize however you wish.
For a full explanation of what is involved in building this yourself, try this blog post.