Open Android app through deep link if it's installed or fall back to web if not installed

Question

I'm trying to create a web page that automatically opens an Android app but only if app is installed. In case it's not it should redirect to another web page.

The app is already in production and is properly handling deep links like example://content?id=42. The format of the link could not be changed.

What I've already tried

1) Redirects and timeout:

window.location.replace('example://content?id=42');
setTimeout(function() {
    window.location.replace = 'http://example.com/content?id=42';
}, 500);

Works fine for iOS but for Android it redirects to example:// immediately and thus gives me ERR_UNKNOWN_URL_SCHEME. Seems to be no go for Android.

2) iframe approach. Impossible in rencent Chrome versions. Also doesn't seem to work in Samsung browser.

3) Intents with S.browser_fallback_url. Works well but in Chrome only. Doesn't work in Opera and Samsung browser... most probably nowhere else but Chrome 25+.

Answer 1

use http://example.com/content?id=42 as the link and add the intent filter to your activity in manifest

<intent-filter>
    <data android:scheme="http" android:host="example.com" />
    ...
</intent-filter>

However, a list of app registered, e.g. browsers, will show up when the link is first accessed on the machine.