In mobile application development, the need to display web content within the application often arises. For this, there are several options, among which the use of Custom Tabs (for Android) and Safari View Controller (for iOS) stand out. These technologies allow web pages to be opened in a native browser incorporated into the application, providing a smoother and more consistent browsing experience for users.

In this step we will install and configure the necessary dependencies to implement Custom Tabs in your project developed in Java or Kotlin.

If you use Android Native to develop your application, the first thing you need is to install this dependency in the build.gradle file.

dependencies {
    ...
    implementation "androidx.browser:browser:1.4.0"
}

The next step is to implement the Custom Tab. To do this, you just need to instantiate them. Below we share an example of a simple Custom Tab.

The following code can be placed when opening an activity or performing an action on it, where the url value is equal to the init url of our checkout.

          
String url = "URL-PREFERENCE";
CustomTabsIntent intent = new CustomTabsIntent.Builder()
       .build();
intent.launchUrl(MainActivity.this, Uri.parse(url));

        

          
val url = "URL-PREFERENCE"
    val intent = CustomTabsIntent.Builder()
        .build()
    intent.launchUrl(this@MainActivity, Uri.parse(url))

        

Deep Links are a powerful way to allow direct navigation to specific screens or sections of a mobile application.

From our checkout, you can configure Deep Links to return to your application, either by clicking a "Back" link or automatically after completing a successful payment flow, redirecting you back to your application.

For this, we must add the back_urls and auto_return properties when creating the payment preference, as needed.

To learn more, you can visit the documentation on Return URLs.

To set up a native Deep Link on Android, go to the Android /app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml file and declare which activity will be available as a Deep Link. Below we share an example of what an activity with Deep Link looks like.

<activity
   android:name=".Congrats"
   android:exported="true"
   android:label="@string/deeplink"
   android:theme="@style/Theme.MyApplication.NoActionBar" >

   <intent-filter>
       <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
       <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
       <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
       <!-- Accepts URIs that begin with "yourapp://congrats" -->
       <data android:scheme="yourapp"
           android:host="congrats" />

   </intent-filter>
</activity>

In the intent values, you must define the activity as browsable by other applications. With the scheme and host values, you can set the application's Deep Link to a specific activity.

Remember that this Deep Link will be used on all back_urls you prefer. In the cycles of the activity that was exposed (e.g. onCreate, onResume) you will be able to enter your business logic after payment.