3 ms·

Does anyone also find the "App link" a step back ? I thought getting a dialog where to open the Intent in is actually an awesome feature of the Android platform

by tdkl 11y ago

Does anyone also find the "App link" a step back ? I thought getting a dialog where to open the Intent in is actually an awesome feature of the Android platform, now user will get thrown into whatever app will be defined on the server. Also let me check my crystal ball and predict that this will take a long time to be adapted by "big" companies, just like the design guidelines. App permissions and copy/paste changes are welcomed, but I got a sense they finally caved in and just copied how some other mobile OS handles it (which is not bad, since it was always better there).

jsingleton 11y ago
I worry that the new intents may not allow third party apps, as the domain of the link is verified. I hope not only official apps are allowed. Time will tell.
- jophde 11y ago
  I think Google, and to some extent Facebook and Twitter, are terrified of the Intent system. I think they could be leveraged for something extremely powerful outside of the platform or sharing app owners control.
christop 11y ago
Yes, as a user of a third-party Twitter client I immediately thought this isn't a great thing. Just because somebody has Twitter installed (or their carrier pre-installed it), doesn't mean they necessarily want to use the official app. I noticed last week that Google search in Chrome on Android already does something similar — I searched for somebody and got a Twitter profile link. Clicking it led me to the Play Store to install the official Twitter app instead of allowing the intent system to open it in Falcon Pro. Though hopefully that's just related to Google's recent Twitter partnership.
- christop 11y ago
  Looking at the M preview release, I see that Settings > Apps has expanded the "Open by default" section for each app. Now there's a toggle, "Open supported links without asking", with a list of domain names that the app supports. So you can keep the old "which app do you want to use to handle this intent" behaviour by turning off supported links for apps you don't like (e.g. Twitter).

by tdkl 11y ago

jsingleton 11y ago

I worry that the new intents may not allow third party apps, as the domain of the link is verified. I hope not only official apps are allowed. Time will tell.

jophde 11y ago
I think Google, and to some extent Facebook and Twitter, are terrified of the Intent system. I think they could be leveraged for something extremely powerful outside of the platform or sharing app owners control.

christop 11y ago

Yes, as a user of a third-party Twitter client I immediately thought this isn't a great thing. Just because somebody has Twitter installed (or their carrier pre-installed it), doesn't mean they necessarily want to use the official app. I noticed last week that Google search in Chrome on Android already does something similar — I searched for somebody and got a Twitter profile link. Clicking it led me to the Play Store to install the official Twitter app instead of allowing the intent system to open it in Falcon Pro. Though hopefully that's just related to Google's recent Twitter partnership.

christop 11y ago
Looking at the M preview release, I see that Settings > Apps has expanded the "Open by default" section for each app. Now there's a toggle, "Open supported links without asking", with a list of domain names that the app supports. So you can keep the old "which app do you want to use to handle this intent" behaviour by turning off supported links for apps you don't like (e.g. Twitter).