Universal Links on Shopify, Webflow, Wix and Squarespace: Which Builders Can Host the AASA File

Why the link opens your website

A Universal Link is an ordinary https link that iOS hands to your app instead of Safari. Android calls its version an App Link. Before either phone opens a yourbrand.com link in your app, it downloads a file from yourbrand.com that names the app. No readable file, no app: the link opens the website.

On a site builder, that file is usually what’s missing. Your developer did the app side. The website side needs a file at a fixed address, and the builder decides what you can put there.

The address both phones check

iOS checks this URL on each domain your app lists. Android checks assetlinks.json in the same folder.

What each builder lets you host

From each builder’s own help pages and developer docs, October 23, 2026.

Builder by builder

Webflow. Since December 16, 2024, Webflow serves any well-known file. In the Assets panel, create a folder named well-known, upload the files and publish. Uploads must end in .json, .txt or .md, so name the iOS file apple-app-site-association.noext.txt and Webflow drops the extension. assetlinks.json goes in as it is. New files need a Premium Site plan (or a legacy Business Site plan) and don’t work on webflow.io staging domains.

Framer. In Site Settings, open Hosting, then Files. Add each file with the path /.well-known and publish. Framer lists both files by name and accepts files without an extension. It’s on the Pro and Enterprise plans. Framer doesn’t say which content type an extensionless file gets, so check it after publishing.

Shopify. Shopify doesn’t document a way to upload either file. It generates both on your custom domain, never on *.myshopify.com, once your app is registered: in a custom app’s Storefront API settings, or through the MobilePlatformApplication API, whose scope Shopify Support has to enable. The iOS file ends in /*, so every store URL except /admin and two payment callbacks opens the app. A developer asked for path control in May 2026; on October 14 Shopify had no update to share.

Wix. Wix doesn’t document a way to serve files at /.well-known/ (checked October 2026). Its help center says a verification file can’t currently be added at the root of a domain, in a feature request that is still collecting votes.

Squarespace. No documented way either. Its help page on files says the CDN assigns file URLs and they can’t be changed. The workaround on its forum is a URL mapping with a 301 redirect, which Apple and Google both reject.

The subdomain route

If your builder says no, or Shopify’s catch-all is more than you want, leave the website where it is. Point a subdomain such as links.yourbrand.com at a static host like Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages or Firebase Hosting; all four let you set response headers per path. Apple’s TN3155 suggests a separate subdomain for a related case anyway: a link from one yourbrand.com page to another doesn’t open the app from the browser, while a link to a different subdomain does.

Two things change. The links you share must point at the subdomain; links to yourbrand.com pages still open the website. And the app needs an update: applinks:links.yourbrand.com in Associated Domains, and an autoVerify intent filter for the host on Android. Give every other path on the subdomain a destination too, like a redirect to your website, so people without the app don’t hit a 404.

The three files

Swap in your own IDs and fingerprint. The generator fills them in for you.

{
  "applinks": {
    "details": [
      {
        "appIDs": ["ABCDE12345.com.yourbrand.app"],
        "components": [
          { "/": "/*", "comment": "Every link on this subdomain opens the app" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

[{
  "relation": ["delegate_permission/common.handle_all_urls"],
  "target": {
    "namespace": "android_app",
    "package_name": "com.yourbrand.app",
    "sha256_cert_fingerprints": ["14:6D:E9:83:...:3F:CF:44:E5"]
  }
}]

/.well-known/apple-app-site-association
  Content-Type: application/json
/.well-known/assetlinks.json
  Content-Type: application/json

Setting up links.yourbrand.com

Netlify as the example. Other hosts follow the same steps with their own record values.

Or skip the file entirely

A Universal Link isn’t the only way into your app. An Appy link on Pro ($9.99/month) carries your app’s URL scheme deep link, such as yourapp://product/42, next to your store addresses. In Safari and Chrome it tries the app, then the store. In in-app browsers like Instagram’s it shows a page with an Open the app button, a store button and the steps to open Safari or Chrome. Computers get your website. Nothing goes on your site.

It isn’t a Universal Link on your domain, though. The link lives on appy.to, and yourbrand.com/product/42 still opens the website. Apple strongly recommends Universal Links over schemes, partly because nothing stops another app from registering yours. On Business, a custom domain like go.yourbrand.com carries your links but only redirects; Universal Links and App Links on your own domain through Appy are Enterprise. With the subdomain above, a Pro link can use https://links.yourbrand.com/product/42 as its deep link, and phones without the app still reach the store.

Check it before you share a link

Read next

• Complete guide to Universal LinksThe app side: entitlements, intent filters and paths.
• Universal Links open Safari?The usual causes once the file is in place.
• Android App Links not verifiedA five-minute diagnosis with adb.
• Custom domainsYour own link domain on Business, app links on Enterprise.

Universal Links on site builders: questions