Presenting content to an online system user promoting interaction with an application based on installation of the application on a client device

A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• obtain an advertisement at an application of an online system on a client device to present to a user via the client device, the advertisement including a particular page of a third-party application;
• determine whether the third-party application is installed on the client device;
• responsive to determining that the third-party application is not installed on the client device, present the advertisement to the user, the advertisement including an installation link to install the third-party application;
• responsive to receiving a user selection of the installation link to install the third-party application, initiate, by the application of the online system, a thread on the client device that periodically collects application installation information to determine whether the third-party application has been successfully installed on the client device, a determination based on a comparison between an application identifier of the third-party application and application identifiers of applications stored on the client device;
• receive an indication from the thread that the third-party application has been installed on the client device;
• responsive to receiving the indication that that the third-party application has been installed on the client device, provide a notification promoting interaction with the installed third-party application for presentation to the user via the client device, the notification including a deep link comprising one or more instructions communicated to the third-party application that, when executed by the third-party application, configures the third-party application to a specific state within the third-party application corresponding to the particular page;
• and
• responsive to receiving a selection of the notification from the user via the client device, causing the one or more instructions to be executed by the third-party application for presenting the particular page of the third-party application to the user on the client device.