What is a dynamic link?

What Firebase Dynamic Links did

One link opened the app on the right screen when it was installed, sent people to the right store for their device when it wasn’t, and could open a web page instead. It also carried the destination through the install, so new users continued where the link pointed.

After the shutdown

Since August 25, 2025, every Firebase Dynamic Link returns a 404 error, including the ones printed on packaging or sitting in old emails. They can’t be revived; what’s left is to replace them wherever you still control the placement.

The usual replacements are Universal Links and App Links on your own domain, or a smart link service that handles store routing for you. In the broader sense, a smart link or a dynamic QR code is also a dynamic link: it picks the destination when it’s tapped.

Related terms

• Smart link

  A smart link is one link, often with a matching QR code, that checks the device tapping it and sends each person to the right place: iPhones to the App Store, Android phones to Google Play or another store, desktops to your website, and straight into the app when it’s already installed.

• Deferred deep link

  A deferred deep link is a deep link whose destination survives the app install. Someone without the app taps it, goes to the store, installs, and on first launch the app opens the screen the link promised, such as a product, an invite or a promo code, instead of the home screen.

• Deep link

  A deep link is a link that opens a specific screen inside a mobile app, such as a product page, an article or a saved cart, instead of a web page or the app’s home screen. It can be a custom URI scheme, an iOS Universal Link, an Android App Link or a deferred deep link.