On this page
Firebase Dynamic Links is deprecated and shutting down. Linkboo is the drop-in replacement that adds the escape flow Firebase never offered.
That's the wedge. Google announced the deprecation of Firebase Dynamic Links in 2023, with the shutdown phased through 2025. The service that thousands of apps used for deferred deep linking, install-attribution routing, and short-URL handoffs is going away. Apps depending on FDL need to migrate, and the alternatives split between enterprise MMP/SDK products (Branch, AppsFlyer, Adjust) and lighter-weight options.
Linkboo is the lighter-weight option, specifically for creators and small businesses whose use of FDL was actually a creator-economy use case dressed up as a deep-linking integration — a single URL in a bio, a single click destination, no MMP, no full attribution stack. Linkboo replaces the link-routing function and adds the in-app browser escape flow Firebase never had.
If you're comparing the two, you're probably either a developer migrating off FDL and weighing the alternatives, or a creator who relied on FDL for short-link bio routing and realizing the service is going away.
What Firebase Dynamic Links did well
FDL was a real product and the migration story isn't "FDL was bad." Crediting what it did:
Free at significant scale. FDL was free for most use cases — no per-click pricing, no MMP contract, no enterprise tier. For developers building hobby apps, indie launches, or small business apps, the cost-zero baseline was genuinely useful.
Deferred deep linking that worked. When a user clicked an FDL URL without the app installed, FDL routed them through the App Store or Play Store, and after install opened the app to the right content. The handoff worked, and worked across iOS and Android.
Google ecosystem integration. FDL slotted into Firebase Auth, Firebase Analytics, and Google Tag Manager cleanly. For apps already in the Firebase stack, FDL was the natural choice.
Short URLs. FDL generated short URLs (page.link/...) suitable for SMS, social bios, and email — without the link looking like a tracking parameter soup.
Universal-link and app-link compatibility. FDL handled the iOS / Android divergence at the URL-routing level. Developers didn't have to maintain two separate URL formats.
Documentation and developer experience. Firebase's docs and SDK quality made FDL approachable for solo developers and small teams who couldn't justify the integration overhead of an MMP.
FDL filled a real gap — light-weight deep linking for developers who didn't have MMP budget. The deprecation is leaving that gap unfilled in the Google ecosystem. The migration is a real headache for anyone who built around it.
What linkboo does differently
Linkboo isn't trying to be a Firebase Dynamic Links replacement at the SDK level. If your FDL usage was inside a serious mobile-app stack with engineering resources, the migration target is Branch.io, AppsFlyer OneLink, or Adjust — those are the MMP-grade replacements covered in our migration writeup.
Linkboo is the replacement for the lighter use case: developers and creators who used FDL as a bio-link or share-link tool, with a single URL going to a single destination (a specific app screen, a web fallback, or both). For that use case, linkboo replaces the link-routing function and adds something FDL never had: the in-app browser escape flow.
The in-app browser logged-out problem is what your audience hits when they tap your bio link from TikTok or Instagram: the link opens inside the platform's in-app webview, the destination doesn't recognize them because the cookies live in Safari's jar, and the conversion fails. FDL didn't address this — FDL handled the app-install gap but not the in-app-browser-handoff gap. Linkboo handles the latter.
The mechanism is in the technical guide. Detection runs at click time, the escape technique fires before the destination loads, the viewer arrives in their real browser with their cookies intact.
For developers migrating off FDL whose use case was bio-link-shaped, linkboo is the drop-in replacement that does both jobs — the routing FDL did, plus the escape FDL didn't.
Side-by-side
| Firebase Dynamic Links | linkboo | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Deprecated, shutdown 2025 | Active product |
| Primary buyer | Developers needing free deep linking | Creators, small businesses, developers with bio-link use case |
| Core mechanism | URL routing with deferred deep linking | Bio page + in-app browser escape on every link |
| In-app browser handling | None | Detection + bounce to default browser on every link |
| App-install routing | Yes (deferred deep linking) | Web-destination focus; app-install routing not the primary mechanism |
| Requires SDK | Yes (Firebase SDK) | No |
| Pricing | Free (legacy) | Free under 1K clicks/month |
| Migration target | Various, depending on use case | Drop-in for bio-link FDL usage |
| Best for | n/a (shutting down) | Creator bio link, light-weight FDL replacement |
(See Firebase's current shutdown timeline on their deprecation announcement.)
Use the enterprise FDL replacements if...
This is the honest scoping section — Linkboo is not the right replacement for every FDL use case. If your FDL deployment is serious-mobile-app-stack-shaped, the right target is an enterprise MMP, not linkboo.
Use Branch.io if your FDL usage was inside a native mobile app at scale with paid acquisition. Branch is the most-direct technical equivalent to FDL's deep-link routing at the SDK level. See /vs/branch-io.
Use AppsFlyer OneLink if you already have AppsFlyer as your MMP. OneLink is bundled in. See /vs/appsflyer-onelink.
Use Adjust if you're in the AppLovin / Adjust ecosystem. See /vs/adjust.
These are real enterprise migrations. Linkboo isn't competing for that buyer.
Use linkboo if...
This is where linkboo is the right answer for FDL migrators.
Use linkboo if your FDL usage was a single URL in a social bio. Creator-economy use case, bio link in TikTok / Instagram, single destination. Linkboo replaces the routing and adds the escape flow. No SDK migration required — just swap the URL.
Use linkboo if your destinations are third-party web properties. Amazon Storefronts, Spotify pre-saves, OnlyFans, Patreon, Shopify, Substack, Etsy. The escape flow puts viewers in their real Safari or Chrome where their cookies live. See the destination router.
Use linkboo if you used FDL because it was free and you don't have MMP budget. Linkboo is free under 1,000 clicks per month, flat monthly tiers above. The pricing matches the buyer.
Use linkboo if you're a creator or small business, not a mobile-app team. The product surface is shaped for you. Drag-and-drop bio page, no engineering required, escape flow on every link.
Use linkboo if you also have TikTok or Instagram bio-link traffic. The in-app browser problem on those platforms is the gap FDL never addressed. Linkboo addresses it directly.
The migration is the moment to upgrade the layer
Firebase Dynamic Links shutting down is a forced migration, but it's also an opportunity. FDL routed clicks and handled the app-install gap. It didn't address the in-app browser handoff. If your audience comes from social media, that handoff is silently costing 30%-70% of conversions on authenticated web destinations.
You're already going to migrate. Migrating to a like-for-like replacement keeps the old gap. Migrating to linkboo (for bio-link use cases) closes the gap.
See the migration guide for the full walkthrough — what to swap, what to test, how to roll out.
Other tools to consider
If you're earlier in the comparison, we wrote the honest listicle of in-app browser escape tools — concedes where each one wins.
In the deep-link SDK adjacent lane, the lateral comparisons are /vs/branch-io, /vs/appsflyer-onelink, and /vs/adjust.
the bottom line
Firebase Dynamic Links is going away. For enterprise mobile-app use cases, the replacement is Branch, AppsFlyer, or Adjust. For creator / bio-link use cases, the replacement is linkboo, which does the routing FDL did plus the in-app browser escape FDL never offered. The migration is forced; the choice of replacement is the moment to either preserve the old gap or close it.
If you want to see what the in-app browser leak is costing your bio-link traffic, run the revenue-loss calculator. Three inputs, one number.
Drop-in FDL replacement with escape flow — free under 1K clicks/month →