webviews for clicking arbitrary links in apps like instagram or gmail are absurdly restrictive. i lose my context, cookies, and regular tools (bookmarks are gone, sharing often overridden, etc)
This is why https://developer.apple.com/documentation/safariservices/sfs... exists and why the blog post advocates for using it.
That was a great update, but still not a true browser. No tabs, no bookmarks. Why should the website be restricted to one tab? Just open Safari and be done with it.
Please tell every newspaper to publish this so Apple puts a stop to this. I have no idea why they allow this. All apps should use Safari unless they’re a browser and this rated “18+”
Well I like when browsing reddit that when I open links they are sandboxed. The in-app browser in that case has an easy button to open to get to my normal safari if I want to.
Apps in general are awful for users. I do all my mobile social media browsing on the web where I have much more control over things like copying text, saving images, zooming, adblockers, privacy tools, etc.
surprised this is at the top of HN. isn’t it obvious that every app does this? tiktok, snapchat, even linkedin all open links in their built-in browser and can track what you’re doing. click open in safari if you’re doing anything more than visiting a single page.
> this is the same company that just gave police DMs that aided in an abortion investigation They were served a warrant. I'm no friend of Facebook/Meta, but any company served a warrant is going to turn over what they have.
I don't think the GP is saying that Meta should have ignored a lawful order. I think they're saying that they shouldn't have put themselves in the position of being able to render that information, and only have done so because it's profitable for them to do so.
It’s really painful to see all of these encryption holes in every product we use daily. Apple claims privacy, yet your whole phone sits unencrypted on their server ready to be served to anyone who asks (assuming you back up your phone to iCloud)
Websites need cookie notices, but apps can track your full web usage (albeit within the in-app browser) without any such notice or opt in? Doesn't seem like this would be legal. Anyone know how this could be compliant in the EU? It's also frustrating that on an android device you can't simply disable in-app browsers globally.
The EU+UK e-privacy "cookie" rule applies to apps in the same way as anything else that's sending/receiving data over a public network (e.g. the Internet): all storage of information to, or reading of information from, the end-user device requires their free, informed and specific consent, unless it's a technical necessity for the service they requested, or certain limited (technical) purposes like load balancing. How strictly this is enforced by regulators has waxed and waned over time and from one country to another. Civil litigants, however, have had pretty good results in the courts (or just threatening litigation) - e.g. the Lloyd and Vidal-Hall cases against Google in the UK
Apps that use Safari View Controller cannot view the page - of course Facebook doesn't use SVC for this reason. While you're right that the Facebook/Instagram app can spy on links opened within the app, it can't plant cookies in your web browser - so those go both ways.
I thought Facebook/Instagram used a WebView for their in-app browser on both iOS and Android? Which means they can do anything they want, including exfiltrate your browsing.
GP a was referring to a specific “web view” implementation that offers an almost-complete browser implementation and security on iOS. Facebook does not use this but a regular WebView
Please tell every newspaper to publish this so Apple puts a stop to this. I have no idea why they allow this. All apps should use Safari unless they’re a browser and this rated “18+”
Well I like when browsing reddit that when I open links they are sandboxed. The in-app browser in that case has an easy button to open to get to my normal safari if I want to.
I’d much rather seen a system-wide “container” implementation a-la-Firefox instead. Safari is pretty good at this but not as good as Firefox. I really want my real-life accounts be segregated from the rest of the internet. Reddit should never be able to know what other sites I use.
I don't think the GP is saying that Meta should have ignored a lawful order. I think they're saying that they shouldn't have put themselves in the position of being able to render that information, and only have done so because it's profitable for them to do so.
It’s really painful to see all of these encryption holes in every product we use daily. Apple claims privacy, yet your whole phone sits unencrypted on their server ready to be served to anyone who asks (assuming you back up your phone to iCloud)
My understanding is that iCloud backups are encrypted[1].