I have an embedded admin app that links to product pages. I used to be able to rewire the “back” button from the product page accessed via my app to return to my app using a “return_to” query parameter.
Shopify has spiffed up the back button on product pages (and others) and this hack no longer works. Does anyone know if Shopify make it possible to customise that back button? This would seem like a nice thing for App Bridge to support if it doesn’t already.
Please let me make sure I understand.
Before the recent change to the “back” button:
However, now the “Back” button no longer navigates the user back to their previous route, and instead navigates the user to product index.
Is my understanding correct?
Yes, that’s correct. The back button has also moved up into the search bar and for shopify admin pages shows the name of the page to be returned to (for example, an order page in the image I shared). Earlier this year the back button was just a back arrow, if I recall correctly.
Anyway, yes, the functionality I’m after is to have that button (the order # button in the image I shared) return to my app.
It looks like the back button (called dynamic-back-button in the page source) is configured according to a LocalStorage variable called dynamic_back_state. When it goes to order #1008 (attached image) in my test store, the variable is the JSON {"title":"#1008","icon":"order","show":true,"parentPath":"/store/efrus-test-store3/orders/12123871773053","searchParams":""}.
It doesn’t look like it can be configured from an app, however. If anyone has an idea I’d love to hear it. It seems like something that ought to be configurable via app bridge, but I can’t find anything that looks like it would do it. Perhaps this is something shopify would consider implementing. It’s useful in my app to be able to click into admin products and return easily to the directing page in my app.
Here’s the announcement of the improved back button and bread crumbs: Improved admin navigation - Shopify Changelog
Definitely seems like app bridge could be updated to let this work with apps.
@Bill-Shopify Apparently I had an issue relating to the prior “back” behaviour on GitHub – I’ve just updated it based on the recent changes. Nobody at shopify has replied to the issue (opened in March) – would be nice if they could look at it.
You’re right — Shopify recently redesigned their admin UI (evident from the “Summer '25” tag and updated back button UI), and this broke the commonly used return_to workaround for embedded apps.
In the past, apps would inject a return_to parameter in product or order edit URLs, like this:
/admin/products/1234567890?return_to=/apps/my-app
This allowed overriding the back button behavior so merchants would return to your embedded app after editing. But in the new Shopify admin experience, the back button seems decoupled from the URL — it behaves more like an internal navigation action (SPA-like behavior), not influenced by query parameters.
As of Shopify Summer ’25 update, the back button behavior is not customizable directly via query parameters like return_to. The admin shell (top bar, navigation) is increasingly abstracted and likely React-driven, where navigation is handled internally and not based on URL fragments.
Shopify App Bridge provides navigation helpers, like Redirect and History, but they only work within your app’s iframe. They don’t override Shopify admin’s native back button in the top shell.
No current App Bridge feature allows customizing or overriding the admin shell’s back button.
You can add a custom “Back to App” banner or button on the product page via an admin link extension, or through App Bridge ResourcePicker or modals. This doesn’t override the back button, but gives users a way back.
Example:
import {Redirect} from ‘@shopify/app-bridge/actions’;
const redirect = Redirect.create(app);
redirect.dispatch(Redirect.Action.APP, ‘/your-app-page’);
You can place this button on a modal, resource picker, or a custom Admin Link extension.
You’re not alone — many developers have raised this limitation. You can submit feedback to Shopify or contact Partner support requesting:
Ability to override admin back button behavior for embedded apps via App Bridge or query parameters.
return_to hack no longer works in Summer '25 Shopify admin.
No official way (yet) to override the new back button via App Bridge.
You can’t customize the back button behavior in the new admin UI.
Use modals, admin link extensions, or in-app redirects as a workaround.
