Possibly another scummy behavior from fucking Meta.
So I try my best to avoid url tracking. I set the default browser on my android phone to this app: https://github.com/TrianguloY/UrlChecker
I also made sure to turn off the “Open supported links” settings from aps like Instagram.
So usually, if someone shares Instagram links to WhatsApp, usually with the url tracking, I can clean them up first using UrlChecker before opening it in Instagram app.
Recently I noticed if I tap on Instagram links, WhatsApp will immediately open it in Instagram, ignoring Android’s default browser setting to open the link with UrlChecker first.
I thought something was broken, but if I open non-instagram links, those will open UrlChecker app.
Can you please help check if the behavior is the same on your side? So I can be sure that I’m not crazy. Thanks!
You can circumvent it using Intent intercept apps, so unless Whatsapp specifically looks for the APK and call it directly (and just use normal intent URL schemes) then you can simply redirect that request.
Don’t such apps require root permission to work? If an app directly specifies an other app for opening the link, I don’t think you could intercept (or even detect) it with an other app on a regular phone.
Most apps just use a custom intent scheme and thus you can in fact intercept
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aboutmycode.betteropenwith
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.tasomaniac.openwith.floss/