In mobile application development, the need to display web content within the application often arises. For this, there are several options, among which the use of Custom Tabs (for Android) and Safari View Controller (for iOS) stand out. These technologies allow web pages to be opened in a native browser incorporated into the application, providing a smoother and more consistent browsing experience for users.

In this step we are going to install and configure the necessary dependencies to implement Safari View Controller in your project developed in React Native.

With the React Native CLI, we suggest using React-Native-InAppBrowser, a highly flexible dependency that provides a comprehensive solution for integrating a browser web inside your React Native app. When considering the use of React-Native-InAppBrowser-Reborn the following aspects were taken into account:

• It is a dependency that allows to provide an integrated and fluid web browsing experience within the application.
• It has a wide variety of customizable functions to adapt to the specific needs of the application.
• Keeps users within the context of the application, increasing retention and consistency of the experience.

To install it, run the following command in your terminal.

          
npm install react-native-inappbrowser-reborn --save

        

          
yarn add react-native-inappbrowser-reborn

        

Then run the following command to install the dependency.

cd ios && pod install && cd ..

To implement the React-Native-Inappbrowser dependency, follow the example below.

import {
	Button,
	Linking
} from 'react-native';
import InAppBrowser from 'react-native-inappbrowser-reborn';
const ButtonCustomTabs = () => {
		const openUrl = async (url) => {
			if (await InAppBrowser.isAvailable()) {
				InAppBrowser.open(url, {
					// iOS Properties
					dismissButtonStyle: 'cancel',
					preferredBarTintColor: '#453AA4',
					preferredControlTintColor: 'white',
					readerMode: false,
					animated: true,
					modalEnabled: true,
					// Android Properties
					showTitle: true,
					toolbarColor: '#6200EE',
					secondaryToolbarColor: 'black',
					enableUrlBarHiding: true,
					enableDefaultShare: true,
					forceCloseOnRedirection: false, // Animation
					animations: {
						startEnter: 'slide_in_right',
						startExit: 'slide_out_left',
						endEnter: 'slide_in_left',
						endExit: 'slide_out_right',
					},
				});
			} else {
				Linking.openURL(url);
			}
		};
		return ( < Button title = "Press Me"
			onPress = {
				() =>
				openUrl('https://url-to-open.com')
			}
			/> );
		};
		export default ButtonCustomTabs;

Deep Links are a powerful way to allow direct navigation to specific screens or sections of a mobile application.

From our checkout, you can configure Deep Links to return to your application, either by clicking a "Back" link or automatically after completing a successful payment flow, redirecting you back to your application.

For this, we must add the back_urls and auto_return properties when creating the payment preference, as needed.

To learn more, you can visit the documentation on Return URLs.

In order to receive and manage the Deep Link, you must configure in your React Native project the scheme and path that make up the Deep Links you received to redirect to some part of your application. To do this, from Xcode locate your project information and add a new "URL Types".

Enter the identifier of your application and the URL Schemes of the Deep Link.

This will generate the following code in the ios/appname/Info.plist file:

<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
    <array>
        <dict> <key>CFBundleURLSchemes
            </key>
            <array>
                <string>myapp</string>
                <string>com.test.TestExpoBrowser</string>
            </array>
        </dict> 
    </array>

Add the following code to the ios/appname/AppDelegate.mm file

// iOS 9.x or newer
#import < React / RCTLinkingManager.h >
	-(BOOL) application: (UIApplication * ) application
openURL: (NSURL * ) url options: (NSDictionary < UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey, id > * ) options {
	return [RCTLinkingManager application: application openURL: url options: options];
}

Finally, we will see how we can configure our React Native application to receive and manage Deep Links. This will be addressed using the react-native-inappbrowser dependency.

In the case of iOS it is necessary to close the Safari View Controller manually. To do this, you'll need to listen for the url change event from the component that opens the window or application entry point, and then call the method to close the Safari View Controller.

Follow the example below to close Safari View Controller manually using react-native-inappbrowser-reborn.

import {
	useEffect
} from 'react';
import React from 'react';
import MainStack from './navigation/MainStack';
import {
	Linking
} from 'react-native';
import InAppBrowser from 'react-native-inappbrowser-reborn';
import * as RootNavigation from './RootNavigation';

function App(): JSX.Element {
	useEffect(() => {
		Linking.addEventListener('url', event => {
			const {
				url
			} = event;
			if (url !== null && url.includes('myapp://')) {
				InAppBrowser.close();
				RootNavigation.navigate('Congrats');
			}
		});
	}, []);
	return <MainStack / > ;
}
export default App;