how to use app links to pass parameter to android playstore to be retrieved when app is installed

Question

I'm developing a social android trivia game. When a user challenges to a game a friend, who doesn't have my trivia game installed, i'd like to send him a custom url to download the app from the market containing a parameter of the inviting user id.

when the app is run for the first time, i need to be able to receive the parameter passed to the market, in order to identify the user and show him the game he was challenged to. i couldn't figure out how to do this with app links and didn't find any appropriate example.

any help would be greatly welcomed! Thanks, Ido

Solution

To send data to the Android Market, you have to build an uri like this one:

market://details?id=my.package.name&referrer=someDataToTransfer

To get this data back, you should implement an INSTALL_REFERRER Receiver.

<receiver android:name="my.package.MyReceiver"
          android:exported="true">
   <intent-filter>
   <action android:name="com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER"></action>
   </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Here is a short tutorial that will explain you how to fully implement this solution.

And if you want to test it without writting any code, checkout my app: Install Referrer on GitHub or on the Play Store

Comments

[Ido]

thanks for the reply. this is a good alternative solution to app links. I've decided to implement it as I was having problems with app links

[Simon Marquis]

@user3241315 don't forget to upvote/validate this answer if it was the one you use ;)

[Ido]

thanks:) that is the method i used and it works well. Simon Marquis do you know if its possible to customize the url i pass to the market or i need to use their parameters?