React-Native Linking AddEventListener not working

Question

Hi I was trying to use React-Native's Linking library to listen to Linking changes and I followed the instructions on https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/linking.html. I can open external URL using openURL but Linking.addEventListener doesn't seem to work for me. I copied the code snippet:

componentDidMount() {    Linking.addEventListener('url', this._handleOpenURL);  },  componentWillUnmount() {    Linking.removeEventListener('url', this._handleOpenURL);  },  _handleOpenURL(event) {    console.log(event.url);  }

it doesn't give me an error but the _handleOpenURL is not called when the app opens up a external URL.

I wonder why is this case and what should I do to fix it?

Answer 1

This is because Linking have a specific method when the app start through a intent.

Try with this:

componentDidMount() {   Linking.getInitialURL().then((ev) => {     if (ev) {       this._handleOpenURL(ev);     }   }).catch(err => {       console.warn('An error occurred', err);   });   Linking.addEventListener('url', this._handleOpenURL); } 

Answer 2

I had the same problem that I managed to fix for 2 days. Here are my steps, I hope it will help to the next one that needs to manage to fix this problem.

1. Go to the React Native Documentation for your version (IMPORTANT) - https://facebook.github.io/react-native/versions
2. Go to Linking API documentation (Follow the steps)

In my case, I just added this method

// iOS 9.x or newer #import <React/RCTLinkingManager.h>  - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application    openURL:(NSURL *)url    options:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey,id> *)options {   return [RCTLinkingManager application:application openURL:url options:options]; } 

After that, the event listener will work properly. Check the IOS version there is a snippet for 8.x and bellow.