Deep Linking (App Wake-up) Techniques and Data Tracking in Xianyu

Background: To increase DAU, external traffic acquisition requires app wake-up (deep linking) to open the target app and display specific content.

Overview: Wake-up (唤端) opens an app via a link and loads the desired page, e.g., clicking a product in a browser opens the Xianyu app to the product detail.

Common schemes: URL Scheme and Universal Links.

URL Scheme: Uses a custom scheme (e.g., fleamarket://item?param=value ) to trigger the app. It can be invoked via window.location.href, iframe, or JS bridge.

Trigger methods: (1) window.location.href (iOS), (2) iframe (Android), (3) JS bridge (e.g., Alipay).

Success detection: Show download prompt on failure, or monitor page blur time to infer success.

Universal Links: iOS 9+ direct links that launch the app if the domain is associated; otherwise the web page loads.

Download solutions: Redirect to App Store for iOS; for Android, route to appropriate market or direct APK download.

Restoration: After download, match stored parameters (server‑side or local) to open the original target page.

Data protocol: Defines fields such as channel, spmstr, source, materialId, type, extend (e.g., xianyu_growth_channel.spmstr-source-materialId-type.extend ).

SDK: Auto‑fills fields like channel (from UA), spmstr, and type (0 for direct wake‑up, 1 for download restoration, 2 for clipboard restoration).

Reporting: Front‑end appends protocol to links, client parses and reports, backend stores, BI visualizes funnel metrics.

Success rate calculation: success rate = end‑page PV / wake‑up PV, with definitions for denominator and numerator.

Business application: A link‑hijack module abstracts wake‑up logic, allowing developers to add a single module for all external traffic scenarios.

Conclusion: Xianyu aims to build a streamlined, data‑driven wake‑up system that simplifies development and maximizes business value.