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Article Mobile App Deep Linking for Third-Party Navigation

Mobile App Deep Linking for Third-Party Navigation

So you've got your techs out in the field, and they're constantly switching between FieldPulse and Google Maps or Apple Maps to get to their next job. The app supports deep linking to external navigation tools, but there are some quirks worth knowing about — yeah, this one tripped me up too when I first looked at it.

What Deep Linking Actually Does

Deep linking lets your technicians tap an address in FieldPulse and automatically open that location in their preferred navigation app. No copy-pasting, no manual entry, no "wait what was that street number again."

Supported apps:

  • Google Maps (default on Android, available on iOS)
  • Apple Maps (iOS only)
  • Waze (both platforms)

How It Works in Practice

When a technician opens a work order and taps the address field, they get a prompt asking which app to use. The URL scheme looks something like this under the hood:

comgooglemaps://?daddr=123+Main+St,+Seattle,+WA

Or for Apple Maps:

http://maps.apple.com/?daddr=123+Main+St,+Seattle,+WA

FieldPulse handles the encoding and URL construction automatically — you don't need to worry about spaces or special characters.

Setting the Default Navigation App

Technicians can set their preferred app in Settings > Navigation Preferences on mobile. If they don't set a preference, the OS will ask every time (which gets old fast on a 12-job day).

Edge Cases That'll Bite You

A few things worth noting:

  • Multiple stops: FieldPulse currently sends only the destination, not the full route. If you're using route optimization, your tech still needs to manually sequence multi-stop days.
  • Offline addresses: If the device is offline when they tap the address, the deep link is queued and will fire when connectivity returns — but only if the target app handles that gracefully. Google Maps caches better than Waze in my experience.
  • Custom URL schemes: Some enterprise MDM setups block non-standard URL schemes. If deep links silently fail, check with your IT team whether comgooglemaps:// or waze:// are restricted.

Related: In-App Map View

If you just need to see where a job is relative to others, the Dispatch Board has a map overlay that doesn't require leaving FieldPulse. But for turn-by-turn navigation, deep linking is the way to go.

See Also

  • Installing the FieldPulse Mobile App (iOS)
  • Installing the FieldPulse Mobile App (Android)
  • Mobile App Deep Linking for Third-Party Navigation — wait, that's this article
  • Route Optimization: How It Works

Last updated March 2026. Deep link behavior may vary slightly by OS version — ping me if you hit something weird.