diff --git a/app/main.js b/app/main.js
index eb867a2d7..cac430513 100644
--- a/app/main.js
+++ b/app/main.js
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ let daemonStopRequested = false;
 // this is set to true and app.quit() is called again to quit for real.
 let readyToQuit = false;
 
+// If we receive a URI to open from an external app but there's no window to
+// send it to, it's cached in this variable.
+let openUri = null;
+
 function checkForNewVersion(callback) {
   function formatRc(ver) {
     // Adds dash if needed to make RC suffix semver friendly
@@ -110,9 +114,16 @@ function getPidsForProcessName(name) {
 
 function createWindow () {
   win = new BrowserWindow({backgroundColor: '#155B4A', minWidth: 800, minHeight: 600 }) //$color-primary
+
   win.maximize()
   // win.webContents.openDevTools();
   win.loadURL(`file://${__dirname}/dist/index.html`)
+  if (openUri) { // We stored and received a URI that an external app requested before we had a window object
+    win.webContents.on('did-finish-load', () => {
+      win.webContents.send('open-uri-requested', openUri);
+    });
+  }
+
   win.on('closed', () => {
     win = null
   })
@@ -303,3 +314,17 @@ function upgrade(event, installerPath) {
 }
 
 ipcMain.on('upgrade', upgrade);
+
+if (process.platform == 'darwin') {
+  app.on('open-url', (event, uri) => {
+    if (!win) {
+      // Window not created yet, so store up requested URI for when it is
+      openUri = uri;
+    } else {
+      win.webContents.send('open-uri-requested', uri);
+    }
+  });
+} else if (process.argv.length >= 3) {
+  // No open-url event on Win, but we can still handle URIs provided at launch time
+  win.webContents.send('open-uri-requested', process.argv[2]);
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 45142bbaa..af8cc1393 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -32,11 +32,19 @@
       },
       "backgroundColor": "155B4A"
     },
+    "protocols": [{
+      "name": "lbry",
+      "role": "Viewer",
+      "schemes": ["lbry"]
+    }],
     "linux": {
       "target": "deb"
     },
     "win": {
       "target": "nsis"
+    },
+    "nsis": {
+      "perMachine": true
     }
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/ui/js/app.js b/ui/js/app.js
index 85f8891a6..ee7a65f17 100644
--- a/ui/js/app.js
+++ b/ui/js/app.js
@@ -88,13 +88,22 @@ var App = React.createClass({
       downloadComplete: false,
     });
   },
+
   componentWillMount: function() {
+    if ('openUri' in this.props) { // A URI was requested by an external app
+      this.showUri(this.props.openUri);
+    }
+
     window.addEventListener("popstate", this.onHistoryPop);
 
     document.addEventListener('unhandledError', (event) => {
       this.alertError(event.detail);
     });
 
+    ipcRenderer.on('open-uri-requested', (event, uri) => {
+      this.showUri(uri);
+    });
+
     //open links in external browser and skip full redraw on changing page
     document.addEventListener('click', (event) => {
       var target = event.target;
@@ -136,6 +145,11 @@ var App = React.createClass({
   componentDidMount: function() {
     this._isMounted = true;
   },
+  componentWillReceiveProps: function(nextProps) {
+    if ('openUri' in nextProps && (!('openUri' in this.props) || nextProps.openUri != this.props.openUri)) {
+      this.showUri(nextProps.openUri);
+    }
+  },
   componentWillUnmount: function() {
     this._isMounted = false;
     window.removeEventListener("popstate", this.onHistoryPop);
@@ -152,13 +166,13 @@ var App = React.createClass({
       pageArgs: term
     });
   },
-  onSubmit: function(uri) {
+  showUri: function(uri) {
     this._storeHistoryOfNextRender = true;
     this.setState({
       address: uri,
       appUrl: "?show=" + encodeURIComponent(uri),
       viewingPage: "show",
-      pageArgs: uri
+      pageArgs: uri,
     })
   },
   handleUpgradeClicked: function() {
@@ -275,7 +289,7 @@ var App = React.createClass({
       this._fullScreenPages.includes(this.state.viewingPage) ?
         mainContent :
         <div id="window">
-          <Header onSearch={this.onSearch} onSubmit={this.onSubmit} address={address} wunderBarIcon={wunderBarIcon} viewingPage={this.state.viewingPage} />
+          <Header onSearch={this.onSearch} onSubmit={this.showUri} address={address} wunderBarIcon={wunderBarIcon} viewingPage={this.state.viewingPage} />
           <div id="main-content">
             {mainContent}
           </div>
diff --git a/ui/js/main.js b/ui/js/main.js
index 610ca8594..ef63fc055 100644
--- a/ui/js/main.js
+++ b/ui/js/main.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import SplashScreen from './component/splash.js';
 import SnackBar from './component/snack-bar.js';
 import {AuthOverlay} from './component/auth.js';
 
-const {remote} = require('electron');
+const {remote, ipcRenderer} = require('electron');
 const contextMenu = remote.require('./menu/context-menu');
 
 lbry.showMenuIfNeeded();
@@ -19,6 +19,18 @@ window.addEventListener('contextmenu', (event) => {
   event.preventDefault();
 });
 
+let openUri = null;
+
+function onOpenUriRequested(event, uri) {
+  /**
+   * If an external app requests a URI while we're still on the splash screen, we store it to
+   * later pass into the App component.
+   */
+   openUri = uri;
+};
+ipcRenderer.on('open-uri-requested', onOpenUriRequested);
+
+
 let init = function() {
   window.lbry = lbry;
   window.lighthouse = lighthouse;
@@ -30,7 +42,8 @@ let init = function() {
 
   function onDaemonReady() {
     window.sessionStorage.setItem('loaded', 'y'); //once we've made it here once per session, we don't need to show splash again
-    ReactDOM.render(<div>{ lbryio.enabled ? <AuthOverlay/> : '' }<App /><SnackBar /></div>, canvas)
+    ipcRenderer.removeListener('open-uri-requested', onOpenUriRequested); // <App /> will handle listening for URI requests once it's loaded
+    ReactDOM.render(<div>{ lbryio.enabled ? <AuthOverlay/> : '' }<App {... openUri ? {openUri: openUri} : {}} /><SnackBar /></div>, canvas)
   }
 
   if (window.sessionStorage.getItem('loaded') == 'y') {