Aug 19, 2022

Adjust LinkMe: for privacy-centric deferred deep linking on iOS

Adjust’s LinkMe solution offers marketers a handy tool for supporting deferred deep linking on iOS 15+. In instances where a user chooses to use Apple’s Private Relay feature, you can be confident that Adjust’s privacy-centric solution offers a smooth deep linking experience and your attribution insights remain untouched.

The impact of Private Relay

During WWDC 2021, Apple announced the beta release of iCloud Private Relay. This feature is available on-demand for iCloud+ subscribers in certain regions who browse in Safari. In short, Private Relay is a private VPN that masks users’ IP addresses. This means that no one, including Apple, can see who you are or what sites you’re visiting.

Since a user’s IP address is used for deferred deep linking and is a data point considered for probabilistic matching, Adjust offers a solution that honors data privacy without breaking the user experience or the integrity of your data.

Adjust’s comprehensive solution

With Adjust LinkMe, you can have total confidence running campaigns as you always have. Even for end-users who have activated Private Relay, deep linking operates smoothly for an unbroken web-to-app experience.

Leveraging native iOS functionality to remain on-device and using Adjust’s own trackers for continued attribution insights, you can be sure of privacy compliance and measurement accuracy. This means:

  • Continued engagement of users who interact with your ads
  • Increased ROI as you drive users to target content within your app
  • Privacy-centric measurement that foregrounds your end-user’s data choices

How it works

LinkMe leverages iOS’s built-in pasteboard. When a user interacts with a link, Adjust copies click tracker information to the system pasteboard and adds a LinkMe parameter. The Adjust SDK reads the link from the system pasteboard after the user downloads the app from the App Store and opens it.

Here’s what it looks like from the user’s perspective:

An infographic demonstrating how a deferred deep link works with Adjust LinkMe
  1. The user clicks on your ad with an Adjust tracker behind it.
  2. The user is directed to the LinkMe landing page and opts to copy the link content.
  3. The user is redirected to the App Store, where they can download your  app.
  4. The user opens the app, and an Apple prompt asks the user if the app can paste the copied content from Safari.
  5. The content opens, and Adjust is able to report attribution information.

Get started using LinkMe

For a full breakdown of what you need to start using Adjust’s LinkMe solution, visit our Help Center. This includes clear instructions for your app developer about what needs to be set in the Adjust SDK. For any questions about this feature, reach out to support@adjust.com.