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> If FB is supposed to follow iOS settings by opening links in the default browser set by the user, but is intentionally not doing that here so that they can ma

> If FB is supposed to follow iOS settings by opening links in the default browser set by the user, but is intentionally not doing that here so that they can maximize the data they collect, then yeah they'd be breaking rules. Users can't set a default browser on iOS. Apps can choose to open URLs in one of two in-app webviews (the old WKWebView or the newer SafariViewController), or they can use the "universal links" option to allow the system to open a URL (which can be redirected to another native app, should one be available to handle the domain). While SafariViewController is more full-featured (it forces the use of the system default share control and shows the URL), a lot of sketchier apps prefer to use the older WKWebView (where they can better customize the UI, hide system default controls, and hide the URL). Since WKWebView hides the URL, you can somewhat transparently route users through tracking domains (something I already observed Twitter doing), which may also be the vector Meta is using to inject JS. All this said, the visual customization of WKWebView also has a legitimate use: many apps use it for showing regular in-app screens, not just for an internal browser. Well-made third-party apps (Tweetbot for Twitter, Apollo for Reddit) generally let the user choose between SVC or just letting the system handle the URL, because they're not interested in monetizing user data in the same way.

surewe 4y ago
> Users can't set a default browser on iOS. Yes they can, starting with iOS 14: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211336 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211336
- sologoub 4y ago
  That’s just the app itself, not the actual browser engine - under the hood it’s still WebKit (what Safari uses) and not Chrome or any other browser engine: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#Use https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#Use iOS doesn’t allow anything other than WebKit webviews described above. Android does support others, but that’s a different story.
  - surewe 4y ago
    That's not what the question/context was -- it was specifically talking about which app (e.g. Safari, Chrome, Firefox, whatever) is used to open links from apps. No clue why I was downvoted for saying that, which was a perfectly valid answer in that context.

surewe 4y ago

> Users can't set a default browser on iOS. Yes they can, starting with iOS 14: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211336 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211336

sologoub 4y ago
That’s just the app itself, not the actual browser engine - under the hood it’s still WebKit (what Safari uses) and not Chrome or any other browser engine: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#Use https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebKit#Use iOS doesn’t allow anything other than WebKit webviews described above. Android does support others, but that’s a different story.
- surewe 4y ago
  That's not what the question/context was -- it was specifically talking about which app (e.g. Safari, Chrome, Firefox, whatever) is used to open links from apps. No clue why I was downvoted for saying that, which was a perfectly valid answer in that context.