Appy

Smart links and web-to-app

What is a Smart App Banner?

Short answer

A Smart App Banner is Apple’s built-in banner that promotes your iOS app at the top of your website. You switch it on with one meta tag, apple-itunes-app. Tapping it opens the app if it’s installed or its App Store page if not. It only appears in Safari on iOS.

Setting it up

Add the meta tag to the head of each page that should show the banner, with your App Store ID in app-id. An optional app-argument passes a URL to the app, so it can open the matching screen. Safari draws the banner itself, so there’s nothing to design. Apple only shows it when the device supports your app and the app is available in the visitor’s country, and it can’t appear inside a frame.

The coverage gap

Because only Safari on iOS shows it, the banner misses Android visitors, iPhone users on Chrome and everyone who opens your site inside an in-app browser.

JavaScript web banners fill the gap: they show in any browser and can link through a smart link. Appy’s Pro plan includes one.

ExampleMeta tag
<meta name="apple-itunes-app" content="app-id=123456789">
Read moreWeb-to-App Funnels: Turn the Traffic You Already Have into InstallsA practical guide to routing website visitors into your app with smart links and scan-to-continue QR codes.

Related terms

  • Web-to-app

    Web-to-app is the practice of moving people from your mobile website, emails or desktop pages into your app. The usual tools are app banners, smart links, QR codes on desktop pages and deep links that open the same page the person was looking at, so nobody has to start over.

  • Universal Links

    Universal Links are Apple’s https links that open an installed iOS app directly instead of the website, available since iOS 9. They need the Associated Domains entitlement in the app, such as applinks:example.com, and an apple-app-site-association file on the domain. Without the app, the same link simply opens the website.

  • In-app browser

    An in-app browser is the built-in browser that apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and LinkedIn use to open links without sending people out of the app. Because it keeps them inside, Universal Links and App Links often don’t open your app from there, and people land on a web page instead.

All glossary terms

One link for every phone

Create a free smart link and QR code that sends iPhones to the App Store, Android phones to Google Play and desktops to your website.

Create a free link