diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/app/TransactionDetails/Transaction/WaterfallContainer/Waterfall/index.tsx b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/app/TransactionDetails/Transaction/WaterfallContainer/Waterfall/index.tsx
index 889b6950470fb..d56e8f784a094 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/app/TransactionDetails/Transaction/WaterfallContainer/Waterfall/index.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/app/TransactionDetails/Transaction/WaterfallContainer/Waterfall/index.tsx
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@ import React, { Component } from 'react';
 import { StickyContainer } from 'react-sticky';
 import styled from 'styled-components';
 import {
+  APMQueryParams,
   fromQuery,
   history,
-  QueryParams,
   toQuery
 } from 'x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/url_helpers';
 import { IUrlParams } from '../../../../../../store/urlParams';
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ export class Waterfall extends Component<Props> {
     );
   }
 
-  private setQueryParams(params: QueryParams) {
+  private setQueryParams(params: APMQueryParams) {
     const { location } = this.props;
     history.replace({
       ...location,
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/FilterBar/DatePicker.tsx b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/FilterBar/DatePicker.tsx
index 97f2ea13d3337..14c63c60cf736 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/FilterBar/DatePicker.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/FilterBar/DatePicker.tsx
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 
 import datemath from '@elastic/datemath';
 import { EuiSuperDatePicker, EuiSuperDatePickerProps } from '@elastic/eui';
-import { memoize } from 'lodash';
 import React from 'react';
 import { connect } from 'react-redux';
 import { RouteComponentProps, withRouter } from 'react-router-dom';
@@ -21,36 +20,20 @@ interface Props extends RouteComponentProps {
   dispatchUpdateTimePicker: typeof updateTimePicker;
 }
 
-interface DatePickerParams {
-  rangeFrom: string;
-  rangeTo: string;
-  refreshPaused: boolean;
-  refreshInterval: number;
-}
-
-const APM_DEFAULT_TIME_OPTIONS: DatePickerParams = {
-  rangeFrom: 'now-24h',
-  rangeTo: 'now',
-  refreshPaused: true,
-  refreshInterval: 0
-};
-
 class DatePickerComponent extends React.Component<Props> {
   public refreshTimeoutId = 0;
 
-  public getParamsFromSearch = memoize((search: string) => {
-    const query = toQuery(search);
-    if ('refreshPaused' in query) {
-      query.refreshPaused = toBoolean(query.refreshPaused);
-    }
-    if ('refreshInterval' in query) {
-      query.refreshInterval = toNumber(query.refreshInterval as string);
-    }
+  public getParamsFromSearch = (search: string) => {
+    const { rangeFrom, rangeTo, refreshPaused, refreshInterval } = toQuery(
+      search
+    );
     return {
-      ...APM_DEFAULT_TIME_OPTIONS,
-      ...query
-    } as DatePickerParams;
-  });
+      rangeFrom: rangeFrom || 'now-24h',
+      rangeTo: rangeTo || 'now',
+      refreshPaused: toBoolean(refreshPaused),
+      refreshInterval: toNumber(refreshInterval) || 0
+    };
+  };
 
   public componentDidMount() {
     this.dispatchTimeRangeUpdate();
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/DiscoverLinks/DiscoverLink.tsx b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/DiscoverLinks/DiscoverLink.tsx
index 2a86655c88607..5b89f29f34f67 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/DiscoverLinks/DiscoverLink.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/DiscoverLinks/DiscoverLink.tsx
@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@
 
 import React from 'react';
 import { KibanaLink } from '../KibanaLink';
-import { QueryParamsDecoded } from '../url_helpers';
+import { APMQueryParams, RisonDecoded } from '../url_helpers';
 import { QueryWithIndexPattern } from './QueryWithIndexPattern';
 
 interface Props {
-  query: QueryParamsDecoded;
+  query: APMQueryParams | RisonDecoded;
   children: React.ReactNode;
 }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/DiscoverLinks/QueryWithIndexPattern.tsx b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/DiscoverLinks/QueryWithIndexPattern.tsx
index f184e5df82242..64bcc8cf43ba7 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/DiscoverLinks/QueryWithIndexPattern.tsx
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/DiscoverLinks/QueryWithIndexPattern.tsx
@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@ import {
   getAPMIndexPattern,
   ISavedObject
 } from 'x-pack/plugins/apm/public/services/rest/savedObjects';
-import { QueryParamsDecoded } from '../url_helpers';
+import { APMQueryParams, RisonDecoded } from '../url_helpers';
+
+type Query = APMQueryParams & RisonDecoded;
 
 export function getQueryWithIndexPattern(
-  query: QueryParamsDecoded,
+  query: Query,
   indexPattern?: ISavedObject
 ) {
   if ((query._a && query._a.index) || !indexPattern) {
@@ -20,7 +22,6 @@ export function getQueryWithIndexPattern(
   }
 
   const id = indexPattern && indexPattern.id;
-
   return {
     ...query,
     _a: {
@@ -31,8 +32,8 @@ export function getQueryWithIndexPattern(
 }
 
 interface Props {
-  query: QueryParamsDecoded;
-  children: (query: QueryParamsDecoded) => ReactElement<unknown>;
+  query: Query;
+  children: (query: Query) => ReactElement<unknown>;
 }
 
 interface State {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/url_helpers.ts b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/url_helpers.ts
index 6ff3263545812..ee7bc8d86c19d 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/url_helpers.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/components/shared/Links/url_helpers.ts
@@ -13,16 +13,19 @@ import chrome from 'ui/chrome';
 import url from 'url';
 import { StringMap } from 'x-pack/plugins/apm/typings/common';
 
-export function toQuery(search?: string): QueryParams {
+export function toQuery(search?: string): APMQueryParamsRaw & RisonEncoded {
   return search ? qs.parse(search.slice(1)) : {};
 }
 
-export function fromQuery(query: QueryParams) {
+export function fromQuery(query: APMQueryParams & RisonEncoded) {
   const encodedQuery = encodeQuery(query, ['_g', '_a']);
   return stringifyWithoutEncoding(encodedQuery);
 }
 
-export function encodeQuery(query: QueryParams, exclude: string[] = []) {
+export function encodeQuery(
+  query: APMQueryParams & RisonEncoded,
+  exclude: string[] = []
+) {
   return mapValues(query, (value, key) => {
     if (exclude.includes(key as string)) {
       return encodeURI(value);
@@ -31,7 +34,7 @@ export function encodeQuery(query: QueryParams, exclude: string[] = []) {
   });
 }
 
-function stringifyWithoutEncoding(query: QueryParams) {
+function stringifyWithoutEncoding(query: APMQueryParams & RisonEncoded) {
   return qs.stringify(query, undefined, undefined, {
     encodeURIComponent: (v: string) => v
   });
@@ -94,7 +97,7 @@ export interface KibanaHrefArgs {
   location: Location;
   pathname?: string;
   hash?: string;
-  query?: QueryParamsDecoded;
+  query?: APMQueryParams & RisonDecoded;
 }
 
 export function getKibanaHref({
@@ -116,7 +119,7 @@ export function getKibanaHref({
   return href;
 }
 
-interface APMQueryParams {
+interface APMQueryParamsRaw {
   transactionId?: string;
   traceId?: string;
   detailTab?: string;
@@ -129,6 +132,23 @@ interface APMQueryParams {
   kuery?: string;
   rangeFrom?: string;
   rangeTo?: string;
+  refreshPaused?: string;
+  refreshInterval?: string;
+}
+
+export interface APMQueryParams {
+  transactionId?: string;
+  traceId?: string;
+  detailTab?: string;
+  flyoutDetailTab?: string;
+  waterfallItemId?: string;
+  spanId?: string;
+  page?: string | number;
+  sortDirection?: string;
+  sortField?: string;
+  kuery?: string;
+  rangeFrom?: string;
+  rangeTo?: string;
   refreshPaused?: string | boolean;
   refreshInterval?: string | number;
 }
@@ -138,14 +158,11 @@ interface RisonEncoded {
   _a?: string;
 }
 
-interface RisonDecoded {
+export interface RisonDecoded {
   _g?: StringMap<any>;
   _a?: StringMap<any>;
 }
 
-export type QueryParams = APMQueryParams & RisonEncoded;
-export type QueryParamsDecoded = APMQueryParams & RisonDecoded;
-
 // This is downright horrible 😭 💔
 // Angular decodes encoded url tokens like "%2F" to "/" which causes the route to change.
 // It was supposedly fixed in https://github.com/angular/angular.js/commit/1b779028fdd339febaa1fff5f3bd4cfcda46cc09 but still seeing the issue
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/store/urlParams.ts b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/store/urlParams.ts
index 04837c970a35c..0d08577c1dc0f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/store/urlParams.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/apm/public/store/urlParams.ts
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ export function urlParamsReducer(state = {}, action: AnyAction) {
         detailTab: toString(detailTab),
         flyoutDetailTab: toString(flyoutDetailTab),
         spanId: toNumber(spanId),
-        kuery: legacyDecodeURIComponent(kuery as string | undefined),
+        kuery: legacyDecodeURIComponent(kuery),
 
         // path params
         processorEvent,
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ export function urlParamsReducer(state = {}, action: AnyAction) {
   }
 }
 
-export function toNumber(value?: string | string[]) {
-  if (value !== undefined && !Array.isArray(value)) {
+export function toNumber(value?: string) {
+  if (value !== undefined) {
     return parseInt(value, 10);
   }
 }
@@ -102,13 +102,8 @@ function toString(str?: string | string[]) {
   return str;
 }
 
-export function toBoolean(value?: string | boolean) {
-  if (value === 'true' || value === true) {
-    return true;
-  }
-  if (value === 'false' || value === false) {
-    return false;
-  }
+export function toBoolean(value?: string) {
+  return value === 'true';
 }
 
 function getPathAsArray(pathname: string) {