react-native-android-appcheck

Tool to check for install status of apps on Android

Why?

Linking.canOpenURL works well for "Deep Links" with custom schema (e.g. exampleapp://), however it is less useful when an app only implements "App Links" with domain verification (i.e. android:autoVerify="true"). See this Android documentation page: https://developer.android.com/training/app-links/verify-site-associations#the-difference

Since a browser is capable of opening general HTTPS URLs, Linking.canOpenURL('https://applink.exampleapp.com') will always return true, whether or not "exampleapp" is installed.

One real-world example of this is Apple Music on Android. On iOS, the music:// schema can be queried for, but on Android (>= 6.0), only an "app link" is available. In this case, custom schemas are present, but the autoVerify attribute 'locks' the intent-filter to the https domains. Android versions lower than 6.0 are probably still able to query for the custom schemes (autoVerify implemented in 6.0/Marshmallow).

Status

• Android:
  • Testing functionality
• iOS:
  • No support planned
• react-native:
  • supported versions ">= 0.60.5"

Installation

0. Setup Swift and Kotlin

• Modify android/build.gradle:

  buildscript {
    ext {
      ...
  +   kotlinVersion = "1.3.50"
    }
  ...
  
    dependencies {
  +   classpath("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin:${kotlinVersion}")
      ...

1. Install latest version from npm

$ npm i react-native-android-appcheck -S

Demo

Android | iOS :---------------------------------------------:|:---------------------------------------------: ??? | ???

Example

import checkPackage from 'react-native-android-appcheck'

(async function() {
  const isInstalled = await checkPackage('com.chat.fakeapp');
  console.log(`App is installed: ${isInstalled}`);
}());

Reference