🚀 “The Power of Linking in React Native: Open Apps, Websites & More”

Photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash

In this guide we will talk about the power of Linking Api in React Native. It is used to handle deep linking , open external URL’s , navigate to app settings , initiate phone calls and send emails etc.

🚀 Importing Linking

To use the Linking API, you need to import it from React Native:

import { Linking } from 'react-native';

🚀 Opening External Links

You can use the openURL() method to open a link in the default browser.

const openWebsite = () => {
  Linking.openURL('https://www.google.com');
};

🚀 Checking If a URL Can Be Opened

Before opening a URL, you can check if it is supported using canOpenURL().

const openUrlSafely = async (url: string) => {

  const supported = await Linking.canOpenURL(url);

  if (supported) {
    await Linking.openURL(url);
  } else {
    console.log(`Cannot open URL: ${url}`);
  }

};

🚀 Opening Specific Apps

You can open apps like dialer, email, WhatsApp, etc. by using specific URL schemes.