I've long held that this is one of those areas that if Apple really cared about privacy they'd disallow in-app browsers. They'd add the rule that an app that is not a browser must list in its manifest 10 or fewer domains that its webview is allowed to access. All the rest would be denied.
This would mean many apps like the Facebook App, Messenger, Google Maps, GMail, Line, WeChat, Slack, Discord, etc would effectively not be allowed to open links to the entire internet but only domains directly related to the app and would be a privacy win.
They'd have to have some wording that would have to distinguish between a browser app and a non-browser app but i'd argue that's probably not that hard to do.
novok · 4m ago
They also know if they did that, they would get even more epic play store style lawsuits from facebook, google and more and be forced to let it happen by law, in an even worse way.
eru · 12m ago
Couldn't Facebook just proxy external websites through their own domain?
add-sub-mul-div · 11m ago
If they cared about privacy they could also not sell search traffic to Google for billions of dollars a year. But to be fair, for billions of dollars I would stop caring about privacy too.
kg · 52m ago
The adventure involved in disabling Facebook's in-app browser is genuinely funny to me. Some people worked hard to bury it like that.
etchalon · 37m ago
Just so I'm clear, this article's contention is that, because Apple doesn't restrict in-app browsers in the same way they do iOS Safari, they're just pretending to be mad at Facebook?
wnevets · 30m ago
Is it that hard believe after Apple & Google conspired to artificially suppress developer wagers?
This would mean many apps like the Facebook App, Messenger, Google Maps, GMail, Line, WeChat, Slack, Discord, etc would effectively not be allowed to open links to the entire internet but only domains directly related to the app and would be a privacy win.
They'd have to have some wording that would have to distinguish between a browser app and a non-browser app but i'd argue that's probably not that hard to do.