1004140 - Revisit how we handle URLs that can be opened in other apps

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: General, defect, P5)

Description

[Ian Barlow (:ibarlow)]

From time to time I have been hearing feedback that people aren't crazy about how we handle URLs that can be opened in other Android apps. Things like Youtube links, for example. I tend to agree with the feedback, our approach feels decidedly... un-Android-like.

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From IRC: I feel like we should consider loosening our stance on app open intents and helper apps. It seems to me like we would be better off initially letting users choose a default app to open something in (using the "Complete action with" chooser). From there, if they choose another app they get sent there, and if they *do* choose Firefox we could still leave the "open in app" helper thing in the title bar.

So for example, the first time I hit a youtube URL, we let android ask what app you'd like to open this in. Compared what we do now which is keep them in Firefox

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The purpose of this bug is to try this interaction, and explore how well it works -- Finkle alluded that there may be additional complexities due to Gecko.

Comment 1

[Aaron Train [:aaronmt]]

Tracking? Re: 'discoverability in people want to launch apps but don't know how' chatter going on recently

Comment 2

[Mark Finkle (:mfinkle) (use needinfo?)]

Let's get some prototypes and UX flows. We should start thinking about changes, but no rush.

We are getting telemetry on the Android guy (Ralph) so we should get an idea of how many people are using it. We could also think about using some contextual hints to get people looking at Ralph.

Comment 3

[Brad Lassey [:blassey] (use needinfo?)]

filter on [mass-p5]

Comment 4

[BMO Automation]

We have completed our launch of our new Firefox on Android. The development of the new versions use GitHub for issue tracking. If the bug report still reproduces in a current version of [Firefox on Android nightly](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.fenix) an issue can be reported at the [Fenix GitHub project](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/). If you want to discuss your report please use [Mozilla's chat](https://wiki.mozilla.org/Matrix#Connect_to_Matrix) server https://chat.mozilla.org and join the [#fenix](https://chat.mozilla.org/#/room/#fenix:mozilla.org) channel.