Device Targeting

One short link, different destinations depending on the visitor's device. Device targeting routes iOS users to the App Store, Android users to Google Play, and desktop visitors to your website — automatically, from a single link.

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Definition

Device targeting in URL shorteners routes visitors from a single short link to different destination URLs based on their detected device operating system. In Cuttly, this is implemented as alternative mobile redirects — a per-link setting that defines separate destination URLs for iOS, Android and other (desktop) visitors.

The device OS is detected from the User-Agent HTTP header at the moment of the click. The visitor is immediately routed to the appropriate destination — the process is invisible and adds no perceptible latency.

Setup guide: How to Add Alternative Redirects for Mobile Links.

The Primary Use Case: App Store Routing

The most common device targeting configuration is app store routing — one short link that sends each visitor to the correct app store for their device:

Without device targeting, teams create and maintain separate App Store and Play Store links for every campaign — doubling link management overhead and fragmenting analytics. With device targeting, one branded short link handles all three traffic types correctly from a single URL distributed across all channels.

Other Device Targeting Use Cases

• Mobile-optimised content. When different content formats serve mobile and desktop audiences better — a mobile-first landing page vs a feature-rich desktop experience — device targeting routes each visitor to the appropriate version from one link.
• Platform-specific downloads. Software, files or resources with separate iOS and Android versions — one link, correct download per platform.
• Deep link with install fallback. Existing app users can be routed to specific in-app content (deep link) while new users go to the app store for installation — depending on OS.

How Device Detection Works

Device type is detected from the User-Agent HTTP header sent with every browser request. Cuttly reads this header at the redirect step:

• iOS signals (iPhone, iPad, iPod in the UA string) → routes to the iOS destination
• Android signals → routes to the Android destination
• All others → routes to the default destination

Detection accuracy is very high for standard browsers. Edge cases include: newer iPadOS versions where the UA may present as desktop Safari; non-standard browsers with unusual UA strings; and bots that may spoof mobile UAs.

Analytics with Device Targeting

Every click on a device-targeted link is recorded in Cuttly analytics regardless of which destination the visitor was routed to. The device breakdown in analytics (iOS vs Android vs desktop) is visible for all links — providing audience device profile data alongside the routing functionality.

Related Terms

• Deep Linking
• Headers & User-Agent
• Link Rotation
• Click Tracking
• Link Analytics