# Accelerate iOS Development Using Deep Links

DevFeed: [Accelerate iOS Development Using Deep Links](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/accelerate-ios-development-using-deep-links-20022.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://technology.doximity.com/articles/accelerate-ios-development-using-deep-links>)

Author: Doximity

Published: 2023-03-13T09:18:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Doximity](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/doximity.md>)

Topics: [Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/development.md>), [iOS](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ios.md>), [Mobile](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mobile.md>), [simulator](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/simulator.md>), [App](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/app.md>)

Tags: [debug](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/debug.md>), [demo](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/demo.md>), [guide](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/guide.md>), [guides](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/guides.md>), [how-to](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/how-to.md>), [ios-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ios-development.md>), [simulator](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/simulator.md>), [ui](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ui.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial explains how to use Alfred workflows to organize deep links and launch them on running iOS simulators. It uses Apple Maps Guides as an example and shows how the workflow can document deep links, select one, and choose a simulator.

## Source excerpt

Do you work on a large app with lots of deep links and dynamic content? This article will show you how to manage and leverage those deep links so you can spend more time coding and less time navigating the app. Here on the News team at Doximity, we have lots of content to manage, including articles, comments, and collections of articles. The problem compounds when considering that articles have a lot of different variations, and some of those variations are uncommon. The variety can make it hard to test the entire app, and a real pain when trying to debug a problem on a specific piece of content. Fortunately, most of that content is accessible via a deep link with the correct IDs. Unfortunately, that often means keeping a list of links in a notes document or sending a link to yourself in Slack. It's even worse when using the simulator since you cannot access those tools easily. That's where Alfred comes in. Alfred is an application launcher and productivity application that includes a rich set of tools for creating custom workflows. An Alfred workflow can organize deep links and launch them on any running simulator. Let's use Apple Maps as an example, as it's available on all simulators and supports deep linking to Guides. (Provided by Apple, Guides are curated collections of related points of interest. They can be accessed with a deeplink in the format maps://?pg=<guide id>). Apple Maps has many Guides with different combinations of features to test. Finding a particular guide using the in-app search can take a lot of time. The Alfred workflow becomes both documentation of the various guides and a fast way to navigate to them. In the demo below, a hotkey triggers the workflow. Note that the workflow prompts to select a simulator when there are multiple running. The Alfred workflow consists of 4 work performing steps and some glue. The image below shows the Alfred workflow (which can be downloaded at the bottom of this article). The green steps cover selecting the d