Deeplink handling causes GlobalKey conflicts on Android 15+ when app is backgrounded

[Jayakrishnan-manoj]

Plugin Version

6.15.2

App ID

jp.smartbooks.kodomamo.parentapp

Email

No response

Platform(s)

Android

What did you do?

• The app is already opened and running in the background
• The user launches the app via an AppsFlyer deeplink

What did you expect to happen?

The app should launch from background, handle the deeplink appropriately and shouldn't rebuild the entire app

What happened instead?

The app rebuilds and causes this error:

Duplicate GlobalKey detected in widget tree.
The following GlobalKey was specified multiple times in the widget tree. This will lead to parts of the widget tree being truncated unexpectedly, because the second time a key is seen, the previous instance is moved to the new location. The key was:
- [LabeledGlobalKey<NavigatorState>#8a497]
This was determined by noticing that after the widget with the above global key was moved out of its previous parent, that previous parent never updated during this frame, meaning that it either did not update at all or updated before the widget was moved, in either case implying that it still thinks that it should have a child with that global key.
The specific parent that did not update after having one or more children forcibly removed due to GlobalKey reparenting is:
- HomePage(dependencies: [MediaQuery], state: _HomePageState#7413f)
A GlobalKey can only be specified on one widget at a time in the widget tree.
When the exception was thrown, this was the stack:
#0      BuildOwner.finalizeTree.<anonymous closure> (package:flutter/src/widgets/framework.dart:3317:15)
framework.dart:3317
#1      BuildOwner.finalizeTree (package:flutter/src/widgets/framework.dart:3342:8)
framework.dart:3342
#2      WidgetsBinding.drawFrame (package:flutter/src/widgets/binding.dart:1183:19)
binding.dart:1183
#3      RendererBinding._handlePersistentFrameCallback (package:flutter/src/rendering/binding.dart:475:5)
binding.dart:475
#4      SchedulerBinding._invokeFrameCallback (package:flutter/src/scheduler/binding.dart:1397:15)
binding.dart:1397
#5      SchedulerBinding.handleDrawFrame (package:flutter/src/scheduler/binding.dart:1318:9)
binding.dart:1318
#6      SchedulerBinding._handleDrawFrame (package:flutter/src/scheduler/binding.dart:1176:5)
binding.dart:1176
#7      _invoke (dart:ui/hooks.dart:312:13)
hooks.dart:312
#8      PlatformDispatcher._drawFrame (dart:ui/platform_dispatcher.dart:427:5)
platform_dispatcher.dart:427
#9      _drawFrame (dart:ui/hooks.dart:283:31)
hooks.dart:283
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Any other relevant information

The issue doesn't occur in iOS and in Android 12 or below. The issue occurs only when the app was opened the first time without the deeplink and backgrounded and then it is opened with the deeplink. The issue was reported on a Pixel 6A running Android 15.
I've checked the assetlinks.json file.
I'm using auto_route for Navigation.

[github-actions]

👋 Hi @Jayakrishnan-manoj and Thank you for opening this issue.
Please contact AppsFlyer support through the Customer Assistant Chatbot for assistance with troubleshooting issues or product guidance.
To do so, please follow this article.

[pazlavi]

Sounds like it's related to your app logic or auto_route package.
We don't use any GlobalKey in our plugin, which doesn't affect the UI.

Please open a support ticket if additional help is required regarding the AppsFlyer SDK.

[Jayakrishnan-manoj]

@pazlavi But the issue doesn't occur in lower versions of Android or on iOS . I've raised an issue in auto_route as well. Only on higher versions of Android, when the app opens from the background using a link, this occurs. Are there any changes in app launch behaviour in higher android versions?

[pazlavi]

The difference in behavior between newer and older Android versions, especially about deep links, makes sense.
Starting with Android 12+, Google has made notable changes to how Activities are launched and resumed, particularly when it comes to:

• Backgrounded apps being resumed via deep links or App Links
• How intent delivery behaves under various launchMode configurations (for example, singleTask, singleTop)
• Ensuring more consistent task reuse, rather than starting new instances

These changes can cause subtle issues when apps are resumed using a deep link, especially if the deep link handling code unintentionally rebuilds the widget tree or recreates navigation layers with duplicate GlobalKeys.

The AppsFlyer Flutter plugin does not use GlobalKey or directly manipulate your widget tree or routing logic. The SDK forwards deep link data (via onAppOpenAttribution or onDeepLinking) for you to handle within your Flutter app.

On newer Android versions, the app is likely resumed with a new intent (via onNewIntent()), and something in your app logic or navigator setup is inadvertently re-instantiating the navigation stack, leading to the GlobalKey conflict.

[github-actions]

This issue is stale because it has been open for 60 days with no activity.

[github-actions]

This issue was closed because it has been inactive for 14 days since being marked as stale.