1835816 - Open links in apps not working properly

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox for Android :: General, defect)

Description

[eclaudiu64]

Attachment: mobizen_20230530_145001.mp4

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Android 11; Mobile; rv:109.0) Gecko/114.0 Firefox/114.0

Steps to reproduce:

• The Open links in apps setting with Never or Ask before opening.

1. Enter this site:
2. Scroll down the page to the bottom.
3. Enter the Play Store link where the external app is.
4. Cannot enter the external application even if we press Open in application.
   • By selecting the Never option under Open links in applications, I assume that you should not be prompted to open the external application again.

Actual results:

The external application does not open even if we click Open.

Expected results:

The external application should open after confirming the opening.

Comment 1

[eclaudiu64]

This is the site where this can be reproduced: https://pluto.tv

Comment 2

[eclaudiu64]

As far as I understand, this error is being worked on through this ticket: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1828454 , but in the ticket I opened the behavior is that when the setting is Ask before opening, when Open is pressed to the application from the Play Store, nothing happens, it does not direct fair or not at all.

Comment 3

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The severity field is not set for this bug.
:jonalmeida, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 4

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

:eclaudiu64; looks like pluto.tv have fixed the link. I couldn't reproduce your issue, can you please let me know if you can still reproduce it? Thanks

Comment 5

[eclaudiu64]

Attachment: mobizen_20230705_094056.mp4

(In reply to Roger Yang [:royang] from comment #4)

:eclaudiu64; looks like pluto.tv have fixed the link. I couldn't reproduce your issue, can you please let me know if you can still reproduce it? Thanks

When Open in-app links is set to Never or Ask to open, the page remains blank after accessing the link. The page should display the app directly, via the browser or directly in the Play Store or also via Mac' App Store.

Comment 6

[eclaudiu64]

Attachment: mobizen_20230705_094127.mp4

With the option also set to Ask before open.

Comment 7

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

Attachment: device-2023-07-05-105558.mp4

Thanks for confirming that the issue is still there. You seem to see a different page than I'm seeing. What I'm seeing is this. Can you please let me know how to reach the site/page you're seeing?

Comment 8

[eclaudiu64]

(In reply to Roger Yang [:royang] from comment #7)

Created attachment 9342374 [details]
device-2023-07-05-105558.mp4

Thanks for confirming that the issue is still there. You seem to see a different page than I'm seeing. What I'm seeing is this. Can you please let me know how to reach the site/page you're seeing?

This is the site: https://static-homepage-en.pluto.tv/coming-soon

Comment 9

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

(In reply to eclaudiu64 from comment #8)

This is the site: https://static-homepage-en.pluto.tv/coming-soon

Thanks! I can reproduce with this page. I'll investigate.

Comment 10

[eclaudiu64]

(In reply to Roger Yang [:royang] from comment #9)

(In reply to eclaudiu64 from comment #8)

This is the site: https://static-homepage-en.pluto.tv/coming-soon

Thanks! I can reproduce with this page. I'll investigate.

I've had this problem before on other sites, but I don't know their site addresses anymore. But if you browse multiple sites, the links to Play Stores cannot be accessed.

Comment 11

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

Looks like on this page, when tapping on the Google Playstore button, it sends us an intent:// with deeplink to the official Pluto TV app first, but if that failed then it quickly sends us a market:// link to take the user to Google Playstore. I'm not sure if this is a good way of doing this. Usually, the first deeplink intent:// should come with market url as well in case the user doesn't have the app.

That said, I think I have a workaround for this problem. I'll test to see if that works well.

Comment 12

[BMO Github Automation]

Attachment: [mozilla-mobile/firefox-android] Bug 1835816 - Do not try to redirect intent even if unsupported by engine (#2724)

Comment 13

[BMO Github Automation]

Authored by https://github.com/rocketsroger
https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-android/commit/1714d5bf9ee7b05cb01b569ae164dbdc5a4295aa
[main] Bug 1835816 - Do not try to redirect intent even if unsupported by engine

Comment 14

[Lorand Janos]

I did manage to reproduce the issue on the latest Beta 116.0b4.
Verified as fixed on the latest Nightly 117.0a1 build (2023-07-13).
With "Open links in apps" set to never, and tapping on "Get it on Google Play", only the above mentioned page opens.
With "Open links in apps" set to Ask before opening, and tapping on "Get it on Google Play", gives the choice to open in app, tapping on open, opens the Playstore where it can be downloaded (it does say "This item isn't available in your country)
Device used: Google Pixel 7 (Android 14).
Marking the ticket as verified.

Comment 15

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The patch landed in nightly and beta is affected.
:royang, is this bug important enough to require an uplift?

• If yes, please nominate the patch for beta approval.
• If no, please set status-firefox116 to wontfix.

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 16

[eclaudiu64]

Still having problems with the open links in apps setting, set to: Never.

Comment 17

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

hi :eclaudiu64, this is a conflict between the users who doesn't want to get redirected to app and users that might not understand that they have "Open links in apps" set to "never". I've confirmed that this issue is still reproducible if the user have the app already installed and set to "never". This link does work correctly if the user does not have the app installed.

Can you please confirm that if the app is not installed, the google playstore link works? Thanks

Comment 18

[eclaudiu64]

I don't have the app installed and I keep getting a message telling me to open the Store, even though I set the setting to "Never".

Comment 19

[eclaudiu64]

(In reply to eclaudiu64 from comment #18)

I don't have the app installed and I keep getting a message telling me to open the Store, even though I set the setting to "Never".

It is the same behavior as in the following ticket: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1836971 

At the moment the opening does not work as it should, with the option set to "Never". Can these errors be checked separately?

Comment 20

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

(In reply to eclaudiu64 from comment #18)

I don't have the app installed and I keep getting a message telling me to open the Store, even though I set the setting to "Never".

Thanks for the clarification. I want to record the results our email discussion here.
I will implement a informative message (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1850400). Once that's completed, we can then never redirect the user to external app, since they will understand that it's due to their setting. Thanks for the input.