Instagram deep link and 9 more apps

An Instagram deep link is just your normal Instagram address: instagram.com/yourname for a profile, or a post's or reel's own link. Tapped in Messages or the phone's own browser, it opens the Instagram app on that page if the app is installed, and Instagram's website if not. TikTok, YouTube, X, Telegram and the other big apps work the same way. Where it goes wrong is inside another app's browser.

That's where follows and sales get lost. A fan taps your Instagram link from your TikTok bio, lands on Instagram's website inside TikTok instead of the app, and may never tap Follow. Below: the link to use for each of ten apps, what happens with no app installed, why links misbehave inside other apps, how to check yours, and how to print a QR code you never have to reprint.

the links that open each app

Each of these apps publishes two small files on its website. One tells iPhones which links its app may open; the other tells Android phones which apps the site trusts (Apple TN3155, Android Developers: Verify Android App Links). As published on 26 October 2026, every one of the ten lists its profile links for its main iPhone app, and every one names its main Android app.

Two things to know before you paste these anywhere:

• They change with your username. TikTok says "changing your username will also change your profile link". Facebook says the same for facebook.com/username and m.me/username, and for instagram.com/username if your profiles are synced.
• A listed link is a link the app may open. Whether it does on one phone also depends on whether the app is installed, the person's settings, and where they tapped it.

If links already break inside one of these apps, its own page goes deeper: Instagram's in-app browser, TikTok's in-app browser, YouTube links not working, Facebook links not working, Threads links not opening, Snapchat links not working, Pinterest links not opening and Telegram links not opening.

Instagram profile, post, reel and message links

Instagram's iPhone file is a long list of rules. It carves out pages such as help, about, sign-up and log-in, then ends with one that lets "all other paths" open in the app (Instagram's file, as Apple serves it to iPhones). So your profile, your posts and your reels all qualify.

• Profile: instagram.com/username. The Instagram app also makes a profile card with "your username, QR code, bio, and profile picture", but only in the phone app, not on a computer (Instagram Help Center: profile card).
• Posts and reels: each has its own link, copied from the post.
• Messages: ig.me/m/username sends someone to "a new or existing thread" with that account, depending on whether they've messaged it before. Meta adds that ig.me links "are currently not supported on Instagram Web", so they're for phones.

will a deep link work if the app is not installed?

Every address in the table is an ordinary https link, so yes: it opens the website instead. Apple says that if the person hasn't installed the app, "the system opens the URL in their default web browser" (Apple: Allowing apps and websites to link to your content). On Android, people without the app "go to your website instead" (Android Developers: About App Links).

Older deep links that use the app's own scheme name instead of https are different. There's no website behind them, so with no app installed the tap goes nowhere. Getting someone through the app store and then to the right screen is deferred deep linking, which needs extra tools inside the app; app link vs deep link vs universal link covers it.

why a deep link opens a web page inside Instagram or TikTok

Inside an app's own browser, the app decides what a tapped link may do, not the phone.

• On Android, an app that runs its own web view can check each tapped link and keep it inside (Android Developers: Build web apps in WebView). On iPhone, the app hosting a web view can accept or reject each navigation (Apple: WKNavigationDelegate).
• TikTok spells out its rule: "When you tap a link on someone's profile, our in-app browser will open the page," and TikTok "no longer supports links that open or log you into other social media apps. You can still add links to your profile that direct people to those platforms' websites" (TikTok Support: Adding a website link to your profile).

So an Instagram link in your TikTok bio opens Instagram's website, inside TikTok. Fans can use the app's own menu to open the page in their browser, but the wording varies by app and fans have to know it's there. What else goes wrong in these browsers, from sign-ins to saved cards, is in why you're logged out after tapping a link in Instagram.

What linkboo does about it:

• On Pro, linkboo's deeplinking shows fans the way out of the app's browser. Depending on the app, their own browser opens by itself, or they press and hold one button to open it. In TikTok, fans press and hold the button. Your linkboo page opens in their own browser, and they tap the link they wanted. Pro also has bio links: a separate one for each app you post on, made in Share › Bio links (Pro includes one; adding more is on the pricing page). After the way out, you choose where each one lands: your page, a version of it, or a single link, such as your Instagram.
• On Free and Pro, the social icons on your linkboo page link straight to each app's own address, with no redirect in between, so in the fan's own browser the phone can open the app.
• On Free, a page opened inside an app stays in that app's browser.

claim your link →

my deeplink isn't redirecting: how to check it works

1. On an iPhone, use Notes. Paste the link into a note and long-press it. If the app is offered as well as the browser, the phone knows the link. Whatever is picked there becomes the default for that site on that phone, so if someone once chose the browser, long-press again and choose the app (Apple TN3155).
2. Don't test by typing. Typing an address into the browser's address bar "will never open the app", in Apple's words.
3. On Android, check the app's settings. Android's screen for this is called Open by default. With Open supported links turned on, the site should be ticked under Links to open in this app (Android Developers: Verify Android App Links). How you reach that screen varies by phone maker.
4. Then test where fans tap. If the link works from Messages but stays a web page inside Instagram or TikTok, the link is fine. The app it was tapped in is the cause.
5. Watch what fans do. linkboo's analytics show clicks on each link and taps on each social icon, so you can see whether fans tap through to your Instagram: the last 7 days on Free, longer ranges on Pro. Pro also counts taps per bio link.

For a fuller check across Safari, Chrome and each app's browser, use the step-by-step deeplink tester.

does deep linking slow down the link?

The deep link itself adds no stop. Apple says a universal link goes "directly to your app without routing through the person's default web browser or your website".

What adds stops is anything in front of it, such as a link shortener or a click tracker. Apple calls a redirect to a universal link "allowed, although not preferred": the person is "routed through the web browser to the app" (TN3155). On linkboo, the social icons have no redirect at all. Links in your list pass through linkboo first so it can count the click.

QR code deep linking: change where a printed code points

A QR code is a link in picture form. Once it's printed, the address inside can't change. Print one that points at your Instagram, and it points there forever.

Point the code at your link.boo address instead. Your page becomes the thing you change: swap links, add a new shop, move your Instagram up, and the printed code keeps working. linkboo doesn't make QR codes, so any QR maker will do.

• Scanning: on an iPhone, open Camera, point it at the code, and "tap the link that appears at the bottom of the screen" (Apple iPhone User Guide). Pixel phones do the same from the Camera app: point it at the code and "tap the link that appears" (Pixel Phone Help). Other Android phones vary by maker. Your page opens in the phone's browser, where the social icons can open the apps.
• Straight to your messages: Meta itself suggests "ig.me links + QR code on product packaging".

smart deep links: do you need one?

"Smart deep link" is a vendor term for a link that picks where to send each person, often with deferred deep linking and click counts built in. App makers use them to send people into their own app. If you're sending fans to apps they already have, you don't need one: the addresses in the table are already deep links. Does Bitly do deep linking? and Branch.io alternatives for small businesses compare the tools for when you do.

related reading

• what is deep linking, in plain words
• app link vs deep link vs universal link, for developers
• track clicks on your Instagram bio link