Need help with Google Drive integration on mobile devices
I’ve got a website where users can log in and connect to their Google Drive accounts. It’s working great on desktop and even when I test it on my phone. But I’m stuck on one thing.
Right now, when a user taps on a document, it opens in a new browser tab. What I really want is for it to open in the Google Drive app instead. Is this even possible?
I’m not sure if there’s a way to tell the website to hand off the document to the app on mobile devices. Has anyone done this before? Any tips or tricks would be super helpful!
hey there! i’ve actually dealt with this before. you can use the ‘googledrive://’ URI scheme to open files directly in the app. just construct a link like ‘googledrive://open?id=FILE_ID’ and it should work on mobile. might need to fiddle with it a bit, but thats the general idea. good luck!
As someone who’s worked on similar integrations, I can share a few insights. While using the ‘googledrive://’ scheme is a good start, it’s not always reliable across different devices and OS versions. I’ve found that implementing a combination of approaches works best.
One effective method is to use Google’s Smart App Banners for iOS and App Indexing for Android. These allow you to provide a seamless experience where the app opens if installed, or prompts the user to install it if not.
Another trick is to use the Google Drive API’s ‘webViewLink’ property when fetching file metadata. This link is designed to work well on mobile devices, often defaulting to the app if installed.
Remember to thoroughly test on various devices and OS versions. Mobile ecosystems can be finicky, and what works on one device might not on another. It’s also crucial to have a fallback option that opens the file in a web view if all else fails.
I’ve implemented something similar in one of my projects. The key is using deep linking. You’ll need to modify your URLs to use the ‘googledrive://’ scheme, as Bob mentioned. However, it’s not foolproof across all devices and OS versions.
A more robust approach is to use Google’s intent system on Android and custom URL schemes on iOS. You’ll need to detect the user’s device and serve the appropriate link format. For Android, use ‘intent://drive.google.com/open?id=FILE_ID#Intent;scheme=https;package=com.google.android.apps.docs;end’. For iOS, the ‘googledrive://’ format should suffice.
Remember to fall back to the web version if the app isn’t installed. This ensures a seamless experience for all users.