Firebase Dynamic Links shut down on 25 August 2025. Existing links return
- The
page.linkdomains Google provisioned could not be kept or
transferred, so every link built on one is dead — in emails already sent, in posts already published, on packaging already printed.
If you are reading this because links stopped working, the short version is that there is no direct replacement and you need to pick a path.
What Google actually recommends
Google's own deprecation FAQ is unusually blunt: there will be no direct replacement. It points to two directions.
Native platform linking. Android App Links and iOS Universal Links. Both are free, both are maintained by the platform owners, and both open your app directly when it is installed. Neither carries context through an install.
A third-party provider. Google recommends this for teams who need feature parity, because deferred deep linking is the thing native linking does not do.
The capability you lose
The distinction that matters is what happens when the app is not installed.
A verified deep link on an uninstalled app just opens the browser. The user sees your website, maybe finds the store, installs, opens the app — and lands on the home screen. Whatever they were trying to reach is gone.
Deferred deep linking holds that destination across the install. It is the difference between an invite that works and one that dies on the home screen.
What migration actually involves
- Inventory where your links live. Emails, ad creative, QR codes in
print, referral flows, partner sites. The ones in print are the reason to move to a domain you control.
- Stand up verification files.
assetlinks.jsonfor Android,
apple-app-site-association for iOS, both on a domain you own.
- Pick your billing proxy. Either build the device detection and store
redirect yourself, or use a platform that hosts it.
- Re-point everything you can. Anything digital can be updated. Anything
printed cannot — which is the argument for a link you can re-point later.
The lesson worth taking
The painful part of this migration was not the technology. It was that the links lived on a domain nobody controlled.
A link on your own domain survives a vendor change. You swap the routing behind it and every printed QR code, every old email, every partner link keeps working. That is worth more than any individual feature.
Frequently asked questions
- When did Firebase Dynamic Links shut down?
- 25 August 2025. Google announced the deprecation in 2023 and gave more than a year of notice. Since the shutdown, existing Dynamic Links no longer resolve, and the automatically provisioned page.link domains could not be kept or transferred.
- Did Google build a direct replacement?
- No. Google's own FAQ says there is no direct replacement and recommends either native platform linking — App Links on Android, Universal Links on iOS — or a third-party deep linking provider. Native linking alone does not give you deferred deep linking.
- What breaks if I only move to App Links and Universal Links?
- Verified links open your app when it is already installed, which covers re-engagement. They do not carry context through an install, so a new user who taps a link to a specific screen lands on your home screen after installing instead. That is the capability most teams lose.
- Can I keep my page.link domain?
- No. Google confirmed those domains could not be kept or transferred once the service shut down. Any link using one is dead, which is why migrating to a domain you control matters more than the tool you pick.
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