To open a link call openURL.

Linking.openURL(url)
.catch(err => console.error('An error occurred ', err))

The preferred method is to check if any installed app can handle a given URL beforehand.

Linking.canOpenURL(url)
.then(supported => {
  if (!supported) {
    console.log('Unsupported URL: ' + url)
  } else {
    return Linking.openURL(url)
  }
}).catch(err => console.error('An error occurred ', err))

URI Schemes

Target App	Example	Reference
Web Browser	https://stackoverflow.com
Phone	tel:1-408-555-5555	Apple
Mail	mailto:[email protected]	Apple
SMS	sms:1-408-555-1212	Apple
Apple Maps	http://maps.apple.com/?ll=37.484847,-122.148386	Apple
Google Maps	geo:37.7749,-122.4194	Google
iTunes	See iTunes Link Maker	Apple
Facebook	fb://profile	Stack Overflow
YouTube	http://www.youtube.com/v/oHg5SJYRHA0	Apple
Facetime	facetime://[email protected]	Apple
iOS Calendar	calshow:514300000 [1]	iPhoneDevWiki

[1] Opens the calendar at the stated number of seconds since 1. 1. 2001 (UTC?). For some reason this API is undocumented by Apple.

You can detect when your app is launched from an external URL.

componentDidMount() {
  const url = Linking.getInitialURL()
  .then((url) => {
    if (url) {
      console.log('Initial url is: ' + url)
    }
  }).catch(err => console.error('An error occurred ', err))
}

To enable this on iOS Link RCTLinking to your project.

To enable this on Android, follow these steps.