Open Web Advocacy

In-App Browsers subvert user choice, stifle innovation, trap users into apps, break websites and enable applications to severely undermine user privacy🪲🕵️

In-App Browsers hurt consumers, developers and damage the entire web ecosystem👎

👇Read our regulatory submission
https://open-web-advocacy.org/blog/in-app-browsers-the-worst-erosion-of-user-choice-you-havent-heard-of/

In-App Browsers: The worst erosion of user choice you haven't heard of - Open Web Advocacy

Open Web Advocacy
Mar 26, 2024 at 8:49amWeb
Show threadAbazigalMar 26, 2024
@owa so let me get this straight - being booted out of an app like say, a mastodon client, every time I wish to read an article in app, is supposed to make for a better user experience?
Show threadOpen Web AdvocacyMar 26, 2024
@Abazigal not quite. If you read an article, it should be loaded using your default browser within the app. Have a read of the submission, remote-tab in-app browsers are good.
Show threadDrew 🐘Mar 26, 2024

@owa @Abazigal The linked article would be much more convincing if it explicitly called out this ability as an enabling factor:

"Mandating that non-browser apps utilise a users' default browser for third-party websites, will unlock a more vibrant and equitable digital landscape. [The essential character of existing in-app experiences can be replicated with remote-tab functionality of all major browsers. Therefore the barrier to compliance would be low.]"

Show threadOpen Web AdvocacyMar 27, 2024
@dvogel @Abazigal Thanks for the feedback, we have updated the article with text to explain this more clearly.
Show threadAbazigalMar 27, 2024
@owa Thank you getting back to me as well. I was genuinely perplexed by this as well. Perhaps I have been so conditioned to apps opening in either safari view or their own browser that for that moment, I just couldn’t fathom it supporting a web view of another browser.
Show threadGabe KangasMar 26, 2024
@owa I get super annoyed when I get kicked out of an app when I tap on a link. In-app browsers are a good thing. It lets me make a quick choice if that link matters to me or not. Usually, if it's something I care about long term after a quick in-app preview, I'll open it in a browser of my choice. Especially with iOS Handoff, it's a seamless process where I can open that link on the desktop and continue on, if that's something I choose to do.

It's clear you hate native apps. That's fine. But I do ask that you and the army you're building is not used to take functionality away from a platform I find useful, and take down the entire ecosystem out of spite, simply because they're not web apps. Choice is good.
Show threadOpen Web AdvocacyMar 27, 2024

@gabek Thanks for the feedback. Our stance in our paper is that in-app browsers that respect the user's choice of default browser are fine.

We have added the following text to the article to help clarify this:

"Remote tab in-app browsers such as Android Custom Tabs are a potentially ideal solution for most users. Android Custom Tabs by default invokes the user's default browser and prevents the app injecting JavaScript."

Show threadOpen Web AdvocacyMar 27, 2024
@gabek "This is an interesting middle ground where the user (and the app) can benefit from not leaving the app context while still respecting the user's choice of default browser and preserving the user's privacy. However, currently it is possible for the hosting Native App to lock Android Custom Tabs to a particular browser and override the user's choice of default browser. This ability needs to be removed."
Show threadOpen Web AdvocacyMar 27, 2024
@gabek "While iOS's remote tab in-app browser SFSafariViewController prevents the app injecting JavaScript, it is locked to Safari (or more specifically the WkWebView) and thus overrides the user's choice of default browser."
Show threadOpen Web AdvocacyMar 27, 2024

@gabek hi Gabe! We don’t hate native apps at all, we just hate native apps the undermine user choice, privacy and the web.

Remote tab in-app browsers that respect user choice keep the properties you want, but respect user choice and privacy.

We agree that many users like being able to easily return to the app & without leaving a new tab in their browser, and we’re not looking to change that one iota.

Please read our regulatory submission, all of the nuance is explained in full!