07-How To Integrate Branch.io With Your Magazine App

The following Marketing Tools and Integrations require Branch.io in order to work:

+ One-Tap App Install Links (OTAI)

+ MagsFast Sales & Promotional Links

Your first step is to create your Branch account and then add our team as admins to your account.

Go to Branch.io and sign up for a free account.

When you first create your Branch Account, Branch will try and help you setup the domains for your account. NB! Skip those steps completely and only follow the steps provided in this help doc. We have very specific information that you need to use in order to integrate your app with Branch.

Once setup, send an admin invite to the following two emails:

To set this up in the Branch Dashboard: Go to Account Settings in the left-sidebar menu

In the Top Nav bar, select Team

In the next screen, click on + Add Team Member button.

In the pop-up that appears, add one of the above emails and click on Search User

In the next screen, under First Name and Last Name:

use TECH SUPPORT or MAGCAST SUPPORT respectively.

Under Access level, choose ADMIN.

Then click on INVITE.

Next, setup your MagCast App Name in your Branch account.

Staying in the Account Settings section, click on APP in the Top Nav.

In the next screen, scroll down to the About Your App toggle and enter your App Name.

Then click on Save Settings at the bottom of the page.

Steps 03A and 03B show how to integrate Branch with your MagCast App, so that they can communicate with each other.

Firstly, open the Branch Settings in your MagCast dashboard.

Go to Apple Setup –> then select Branch.io Settings from the menu.

At the top of the Settings pop-up you will see a set of fields.

This information is sourced from your Branch account.

Next open your Branch account, click on Account Settings in the left-sidebar menu.

Ensure that the APP tab is enabled.

You should see the following fields.

Copy the Branch Key.

TIP! We recommend using Chrome while completing this section, so that you can copy the keys easily.

Go back to MagCast and paste the key in to the Branch Key field.

Go back to Branch and copy the Branch Secret.

Go back to MagCast and paste the key in the Branch Secret Field.

Go back to Branch and copy the App ID.

Go back to MagCast and paste the ID in the Branch AppID Field.

Lastly, go back to your Branch account and ensure that the timezone setting is set to (GMT+00:00) Etc/UTC

NB! Go back to MagCast and make sure that you have this Timezone selected –
(GMT+00:00) Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

Next we are going to copy over the App information from your MagCast account to your Branch account.

In Branch, click on Link Settings in the left-sidebar menu.

In MagCast, keep the Branch Settings open.

The first Link settings needed are for your iOS APP.

Scroll to Information copied TO Branch.io section.

Under the iOS fields, copy iOS URI Scheme and iOS Bundle Identifiers.

Go to back to Branch, enable the iOS section and paste these settings in the iOS APP fields provided.

TIP! You may need to check Enable Universal Links in order to see the Bundle Identifiers field. The Apple App Prefix can be found in your Apple Developer Portal.

Once logged in, go to Membership in the left-sidebar menu > then copy the Team ID

The next set of Link settings needed, are for your ANDROID APP.

Go back to MagCast, in the Branch.io Settings scroll to Information copied TO Branch.io section. Under the Android fields, copy Android URI Scheme and Android Bundle Identifiers.

Go to back to Branch, enable the Android section and paste these settings in the Android APP fields provided.

NB! The Android Bundle Identifier must be pasted into the SHA256 Cert Fingerprints field. 

You may need to check Enable App Links in order to see the SHA256 Cert Fingerprints field.

The final step is to setup your Link Domain

Go back to MagCast, in the Branch.io Settings scroll to Information copied TO Branch.io section. Locate the Link Domain section and copy the ID provided.

Go to back to Branch –> Link Settings

Scroll to Link Domain at the very bottom of the page.

Click, to put your Link Domains in an editable state.

Replace the 4 letters (before the ‘.’ and ‘-‘) with the Link Domain numbers copied from your MagCast dashboard. NB! The rest of the link must not be altered in anyway. Only the 4 letters at the start of the link should be updated.

Once done, click on Save and make sure the numbers match what you copied from MagCast.

There is one final tweak needed in your App ID.

Open Apple Developer Portalin a new tab.

Above link will take you directly to your App’s Bundle ID, once logged in.

Click on your App ID

In the next screen you will see a list of settings. At the bottom of the page click on EDIT.

In the next screen, check Associated Domains setting.

A pop-up will appear asking you to confirm, click on OK.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on DONE.

Next go to Provisioning Profiles in the left-sidebar menu.

Click on your apps Provisioning Profile in the dashboard, then click on EDIT.

In the next screen, click on GENERATE.

A new Provisioning Profile will generate. In the next screen click on DOWNLOAD.

The ‘.mobile’ Provisioning Profile will now download on to your computer.

Next, login to your MagCast Account and go to Profile in the Setup menu.

Scroll down to Step 3: Upload your .mobileprovision File and upload the ‘.mobile’ file you just downloaded from your Developer Portal.

If you see the ‘status=ok’ in the page url, then your upload was successful.

That’s it! Now once you rebuild your iOS and Android apps your new build will include the Branch.io framework and information needed to take advantage of these features.