As answered by Magus :
the full path must me specified
Abstract states can be used to add a prefix to all child state urls. But note that abstract still needs a ui-view for its children to populate. To do so you can simply add it inline.
.state('app', {
url: "/app",
abstract: true,
template: '<ui-view/>'
})
For more information see documentation : https://github.com/angular-ui/ui-router/wiki/Nested-States-%26-Nested-Views