How to Use Waze Deep Links

Waze Deep Links allow users on your website to open the Waze app through an embedded link, ensuring a seamless transition between your site and the Waze app for navigation to your business or event.

Let’s see how Waze Deep Links work on websites and apps.

Embedding Waze in Websites and Apps – Deep Links

Waze supports an API that allows developers to open the Waze app (or a Waze web page) through an external URL. This URL can be accessed from another mobile app or a mobile web page.

The base URL structure for using Waze Deep Links looks like this:

https://waze.com/ul

In practice, this URL will appear as a standard link, like this:

<a href="https://waze.com/ul">Navigate to Business</a>

Using this URL, the Waze app can find an address, mark an address on the map, or start a navigation session to that address, based on the parameters you pass with that URL.

How Do These Deep Links Work?

Whether Waze opens the app or a web page when the link is clicked depends on the device:

• Desktop – Waze will open a web page.
• Mobile Device (with Waze app installed) – The Waze app will open.
• Mobile Device (without Waze app installed) – Waze will open a web page.

Using Waze Deep Links

You can use the following URL to launch the Waze app with specific parameters through third-party apps, email, SMS, or any other linking option.

https://waze.com/ul?param_name=value[&param_name=value]

Here are examples of common Waze Deep Links actions:

1. Navigate to Specific Location

To navigate to a specific location, follow these steps:

• Open Waze Live Map and search for the location you want to navigate to.
• Click the share icon below “Your Location” (see image)
• In the opened screen, click “Share your drive” and copy the URL.

Note: The zoom level you use on Waze Live Map will be reflected in the embed code (URL). You can adjust the zoom using the zoom parameter.

In any case, the URL you received is the one you need to embed on your site. When the user clicks on it, the app (or web page) will open in navigation mode to the chosen address.

Example

The following example focuses on navigating to Times Square in New York:

https://www.waze.com/ul?ll=40.75889500%2C-73.98513100&navigate=yes&zoom=17

2. Navigate to Favorite Location

You can navigate to saved favorite addresses in the Waze app:

• Work – work
• Home – home

Use the following URL to navigate to a favorite location you specified above:

https://waze.com/ul?favorite=favorite&navigate=yes

Example

Here’s an example that sets navigation to a favorite location (work in this case):

https://waze.com/ul?favorite=work&navigate=yes

3. Search

To search for an address, use the following syntax:

https://waze.com/ul?q=search_terms

The values you pass in the parameters must be URL-encoded. For example, replace spaces with %20.

Example

The following example searches for the address “66 Acacia Avenue”:

https://waze.com/ul?q=66%20Acacia%20Avenue

If you add a utm_source parameter (related to UTM Parameters) to your deep link, Waze can associate usage with specific partners. If an integration issue occurs, that utm_source helps Waze follow up with the partner and provide a better experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Waze Deep Links:

Summary

Waze Deep Links offer a simple way to send users from your website or app straight into the Waze app for navigation. The API uses a clean URL structure with a handful of parameters for location, search, favorites, and zoom level.

For a related topic, see how to add Google Maps in WordPress using the Maps API.