Advertisement

Google's URL shortener deep links directly to iOS and Android apps

You know those goo.gl shortcuts you regularly come across on Twitter or Facebook and other places online? They now open the exact pages they link to either on the website's official app or on your browsers. For instance, if you click on a shortcut that links to a Google Maps page showing how to go from San Francisco to LA by land, it will automatically launch the navigation app if it's installed and load those step-by-step directions. If you haven't downloaded the app to your device, it will launch a browser instead. This change affects both new and old goo.gl shortcuts, so long as the website or app developer took steps to set up App Indexing for Android and iOS. Yup, that means the new feature works on both iOS and Android devices, and you can try it out for yourself right here: https://goo.gl/BpMdqp