How smart app links work
A plain-English explanation of device detection, server-side redirects, and store routing — what happens between someone tapping your smart link and landing in Google Play or the App Store.
1. Creating the link
You give Kunshort AppLinks three things: the name of your app, and the public listing URL from each store you are on. Both store URLs are optional individually — one is enough — but supplying both is what makes the routing worth doing.
In return you get a short URL of the form applinks.kunshort.com/<code> and a high-resolution QR code that encodes it. There is no account to create, no SDK to add to your app, no DNS record to change, and no verification file to host. Nothing about your app or your infrastructure changes.
- 1
Add your store links
Paste the Google Play and Apple App Store URLs for your app, along with the name you want visitors to see. One store URL is enough — the second can be added later by creating a new link.
- 2
Get one smart link and a QR code
A short link is generated instantly, together with a high-resolution QR code that encodes it. No account, no confirmation email, no waiting.
- 3
Share it everywhere
Put the one link in your bio, your ads, your email footer, your press kit, and your packaging. Every visitor is routed to the store their device can actually install from.
2. What happens on a tap
When someone opens your short link, their browser sends a request that includes a User-Agent header — a string every browser sends that identifies the operating system it is running on. Our server reads that header, looks up which store URL you supplied for that platform, and answers with an HTTP redirect straight to it.
The important word is server-side. The decision is made before any HTML reaches the device, so the visitor never sees an intermediate page load, flash, and then bounce them elsewhere. From their perspective they tapped a link and arrived at the App Store. No JavaScript runs in their browser to make that happen, which also means it works when scripts are blocked.
Because this is plain HTTP, it works everywhere a link works: inside the Instagram and TikTok in-app browsers, in email clients, in messaging apps, from a QR scan, and from a URL someone typed by hand off a poster.
3. The routing table
Every possible visitor resolves to one of four outcomes. Notice that none of them is an error page.
| Detected signal | Platform | Destination | If unavailable |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone, iPad, iPod | iOS | Your Apple App Store URL | Preview page, if no App Store URL was supplied |
| Android phone, tablet, or in-app browser | Android | Your Google Play URL | Preview page, if no Play URL was supplied |
| Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS | Desktop | The link’s preview page | — |
| Crawlers, bots, unknown clients | Unrecognised | The link’s preview page | — |
4. The preview page
Every link also has a human-readable page at /link/<code>. It carries your app name, a button for each store you supplied, the short URL with a copy button, and the QR code with a download button.
This page does two jobs. It is the destination for desktop visitors, so a laptop reader can scan straight to their phone rather than losing the link. And it is what social platforms and chat apps crawl, so pasting the link produces a real preview card with your app name instead of a bare URL.
5. Where the QR code fits
The QR code encodes your short link — not a store URL. That indirection is the whole point on printed material: a scanned code goes through the same device detection, so one printed code serves both platforms, and the artwork stays correct even though the audience scanning it is split.
For print, keep the code at least 2 × 2 cm for arm’s-length scanning and add roughly a centimetre of width for every extra 10 cm of scanning distance. Leave the quiet zone — the blank margin around the code — clear, and keep high contrast between the code and its background. If you want a logo in the middle, the standalone QR generator handles that.
6. What this is not
Being precise about the boundary saves you time. A smart app link routes people to a store listing. It is not a Universal Link or an Android App Link, and it does not open a specific screen inside an app that is already installed — that requires configuration on a domain you own, with an apple-app-site-association file on iOS and an assetlinks.json file on Android, plus handling in the app itself.
It is also not deferred deep linking, attribution, or an analytics product. There is no SDK, no per-user identifier, and no advertising profile built from the people who tap your link. If you need install attribution across an ad network, you need an MMP; if you need one link that installs your app, this is it.
7. Glossary
The terms that come up whenever app links are discussed, and how they relate to each other.
- Smart link
- A single URL that resolves to different destinations depending on who opens it — most commonly by operating system, as here.
- Deep link
- A link that opens a specific screen inside an installed app rather than its home screen. Store routing and deep linking are related but separate: routing gets the app installed, deep linking navigates within it.
- Universal Link (iOS)
- Apple’s mechanism for letting an HTTPS URL on a domain you own open your app directly when it is installed, verified through an apple-app-site-association file hosted on that domain.
- App Link (Android)
- Android’s equivalent verified-link mechanism, declared with an assetlinks.json file and an intent filter so your domain’s URLs open your app instead of the browser.
- User-Agent
- A header every browser sends that identifies its platform and version. It is what makes server-side device routing possible without running any code in the visitor’s browser.
- Quiet zone
- The blank margin required around a QR code — roughly four modules wide. Without it, scanners struggle to locate the code, which is the most common cause of a printed code that “doesn’t work”.
- Error correction (QR)
- Redundancy built into a QR symbol that lets it survive damage or obstruction. It is what allows a logo in the centre of a code to remain scannable.
- Fallback URL
- Where a visitor goes when no platform-specific destination applies — here, the link’s own preview page, so the journey continues instead of ending in an error.
8. Routing questions
How does the link know which store to open?
When the short link is opened, the request is resolved on our server and the browser’s User-Agent header is inspected before any page is sent back. iPhone, iPad, and iPod signatures route to your App Store URL; Android signatures route to your Google Play URL. Because the decision happens server-side, the visitor never sees an intermediate page flash before the redirect.
What happens on a desktop browser?
Desktop and any other non-mobile visitor is shown the link’s preview page instead of being redirected. That page carries your app name, a button for each store you supplied, and a scannable QR code — so someone reading on a laptop can move to their phone in one scan rather than losing the link.
What if someone opens the link inside Instagram, TikTok, or another in-app browser?
In-app browsers still send a User-Agent that identifies the underlying operating system, so routing works the same way: an Instagram browser on Android is still Android. This is exactly the case where a smart link earns its keep, because pasting two raw store URLs into a social bio is not an option.
Will the link open my app directly if it is already installed?
The link forwards to the store listing, and the store app takes over from there — on a device that already has your app installed, the listing shows an “Open” button. Routing straight into a specific in-app screen requires a Universal Link or App Link configuration on your own domain, which is a separate setup from store routing.
Does the redirect hurt my SEO or my app store ranking?
No. The short link is a plain server-side redirect and is excluded from indexing, while the human-readable preview page at /link/<code> is indexable and carries your app name, description, and structured data. Store rankings are computed by Apple and Google from store-side signals and are unaffected by how a visitor arrived.
See it work on your own app
Paste your store URLs and open the result on a phone — it takes about a minute and costs nothing.
Create your link