Force navigation to a model-driven application instead of browser

[Julien2]

Hello,

I want to send a direct link to the users to launch the model-driven that we created. As per the below documentation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/mobile/mobile-deep-links#supported-urls-parameters-for-...

 Below is the URL that we need to construct to achieve it which I already did:

ms-apps://<org-url>_<app-id>?tenantId=<tenant-id>&isShortcut=true&appType=AppModule&openApp=true&restartApp=true&forceOfflineDataSync=true

The problem is when sending the email covering the link with a href element:

<a href="ms-apps://<org-url>_<app-id>?tenantId=<tenant-id>&isShortcut=true&appType=AppModule&openApp=true&restartApp=true&forceOfflineDataSync=true">Click here</a>

In outlook web it works perfectly:

In Outlook Mobile the "Click here" is not clickable as below:

What will be the workaround to resolve the above issue? Can someone try to replicate the same scenario and let me know the outcome?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

[LinnZawWin]

I tried to replicate that and it is not showing as a hyperlink even on the Outlook web. Not sure what went wrong for me. ☹

Here's the HTML body of my email sent from the flow.

<p><a href="ms-apps://<<EnvironmentName>>.crm6.dynamics.com_<<AppGUID>>?tenantId=<<TenantGUID>>&amp;isShortcut=true&amp;appType=AppModule&amp;openApp=true&amp;restartApp=true&amp;forceOfflineDataSync=true">test link</a>&nbsp;</p>

[Julien2]

@LinnZawWin 
It seems really strange why it is not working on both platforms. Is it a bug from Outlook itself?

I have even tried your link and below are the results from mobile:

[LinnZawWin]

@Julien2 

It could be the issue from Outlook mobile app itself. Have you tried sending it out to different emails and open in other email apps (Gmail, Native iOS Mail, etc.)?

[Julien2]

@LinnZawWin 

I tested on both Gmail and Native iOS Mail I got the same results. I think the URL provided by Microsoft cannot be included in an <a href element so we need to find an alternative approach to resolve it. 

[JDG__]

I ran into this exact issue this week and was wondering if anyone has managed to find a solution. When using the complete link in the email, it does open Power Apps. So indeed there might be something wrong with the <a href element.

[wwweber]

Seeing as it is a model-driven app, which are responsive in mobile web-interfaces. Would it be possible to link to the application itself without using deeplinking?

[JDG__]

Do you mean to the web application? Yes of course that's possible but I think we're looking at a way to implement what the Microsoft documentation is describing.

[wwweber]

exactly. I always make links directly to the web application on model-driven apps and besides the set-up for that being more simple it also has always worked. Also across all platforms independent on whether a user has the particular application installed on their devices. 

Of course using the features describer in the Microsoft documentation is nice. I would just always consider the use-case and whether a function becomes more of a show-stopper even though the technical aspect appeals to me. It's ultimately about creating the most value for the end-users.

[JDG__]

I did some more research and it seems it's just not possible to direct link to an app from most mobile email clients.  They just remove the link. Will be resorting to linking to only the web client.