by Jason Hicks, GM, Measurement Solutions, Kochava
Google’s decision to fully deprecate Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL) on August 25, 2025, has left many app developers and marketers facing an uncomfortable reality. For those businesses that haven’t migrated, their deep links are now broken. Companies that relied on FDL for directing users into apps, deferred deep linking, or powering marketing campaigns, are feeling the impact. Customer journeys are disrupted, conversions are slipping, and ultimately, user frustration is growing. What does this mean? Simply, businesses that haven’t yet made the switch must act immediately to restore functionality and protect their brand experience.
The importance of FDL
Released in 2016 as part of the Firebase platform, Firebase Dynamic Links have long enabled app developers to create deep links that seamlessly direct users to specific content or actions within an app, regardless of whether the app was installed on the end user’s device. This functionality enabled friction-free user experiences. Dynamic Links also offered advanced tracking and analytics capabilities to measure the performance and impact of different linking strategies, providing insights vital to user journey optimization.
Impact for businesses
Google’s decision is a turning point. The deprecation of FDL marks a major shift for organizations using dynamic deep linking. It’s no longer about planning a migration, it’s now about fixing broken links quickly and ensuring marketing operations get back on track.
FDL was originally introduced to help direct users to specific in-app content, regardless of whether they had installed the app. With its shutdown, any links still in use have stopped working. For marketers, this means wasted money, lost conversions, and damage to user trust.
What should businesses do?
For those businesses that have not found an alternative, we first advise you to begin with an audit of your now-defunct Firebase Dynamic Links. It’s important to know which links were in use, how much traffic they drove, and what user journey they supported. This information is vital to rebuilding those experiences in a new solution. Following this, we recommend choosing a solution that won’t break the bank or reveal limitations down the road. It’s also just as important to prioritise the user experience by ensuring links behave consistently.
Beyond being an urgent short-term issue, the end of Firebase Dynamic Links is also a chance for businesses to rethink how they manage app links. Deep links are more than just a way to get users into an app. They play a role in customer experience, tracking, and marketing performance. Moving to a stronger solution now means businesses can avoid the same problem later if another platform shuts down. It also gives teams the chance to review how links are being used, clean up old campaigns, and set up a process that is easier to manage in the future. The goal is not only to fix what is broken but also to build a system that will last. Businesses that treat this change as maintenance will keep losing ground. Businesses that treat it as an upgrade will protect their apps and improve how customers engage with them.
