How to put your app link in your Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn bio

Why a store URL in your bio loses people

If your bio links to the App Store, every Android follower who taps it lands on a page for an app they can't install. A Google Play link does the same to iPhone owners. Some will search the other store. Many won't.

A smart link fixes that with one address. It also gives you one place to change things later. When you launch on a new store, or move your website, you edit the link once and every bio, pinned post and old caption keeps working.

If you don't have one yet, here's how to make one link for both stores. It takes a few minutes and it's free.

Instagram: up to five links

Every Instagram account can add up to five links to its bio. Instagram added this in April 2023. To add one in the app:

1. Go to your profile and tap Edit profile.
2. Tap Links, then Add external link.
3. Paste your smart link and give it a title, such as Get the app.
4. If you have more than one link, drag the app link to the top.

When there are several links, Instagram shows the first one on your profile and hides the rest behind a tap, so the order matters. See Instagram's help page on profile links for the current steps.

TikTok: one link, if your account qualifies

TikTok's help centre says you can add a website link to your profile if you have 1,000 followers or more, or a registered business account. Third-party guides disagree about which business accounts qualify, so check in the app. If Edit profile shows a Links option, you can add one.

TikTok gives you a single link, which makes a smart link more useful here than anywhere else. If you need more than the app link, for example a newsletter or a shop, use a link-in-bio page with the app as its first button. A URX Bio Page at urx.si/@yourapp is included free, and its button can point to your smart link.

LinkedIn: contact info, buttons and company pages

LinkedIn is the least obvious of the three, and it changed recently.

• Personal profile: you can add up to three websites in your Contact info. Open Contact info in your intro, choose Add website, paste the smart link and pick a website type.
• The old profile link is gone: LinkedIn has removed the option to add a hyperlink to your intro that Creator Mode used to offer.
• Custom button: a select group of Premium subscribers can add a button, such as Visit website, to their profile.
• Company Page: pages can show a custom button such as Visit website or Sign up. Point it at the smart link if the page is for your app.

On LinkedIn, the link in your posts matters as much as the one on your profile. Use the same smart link in launch posts so readers on any phone can install from the post itself.

Test inside each app, not just in Safari

Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn usually open links in their own in-app browsers. These behave differently from Safari and Chrome, and the differences are poorly documented. Deep-linking vendors report that Universal Links often don't open the installed app from inside these browsers. Some also report App Store pages failing to open from Instagram on iPhone. We couldn't find an official statement from Apple, Meta, TikTok or LinkedIn either way, so treat each report as something to test.

The easiest test is to send the link to yourself in a DM on each app and tap it there. Use an account that doesn't follow you too, if you can, so you see what a stranger sees.

See which bio brings people in

Once the link is live, you'll want to know which platform sends the most visitors. URX reads the in-app browser as well as the referrer, so taps from Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn show up as separate sources in your click analytics, even when the app hides the referrer.

For tidier reports, add a utm_source to each bio: urx.si/yourapp?utm_source=instagram on Instagram and urx.si/yourapp?utm_source=tiktok on TikTok. URX passes these on to Google Play inside its referrer parameter, so they can appear in your Play Console acquisition reports too. Our guide to tracking which post brought your installs covers the store side. X works the same way, with a Website field under Edit profile.

Store routing, a Bio Page and these source reports are on the Free plan. If you want the link to open your installed app instead of the store, that's deep linking, on Pro. Claim your free link and put it in your bio today.