Closed Bug 1872631 Opened 2 years ago Closed 1 year ago

google review id link results in 404

Categories

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect, P2)

Product:
Web Compatibility
Component:
Site Reports
Version:
Firefox 121
Platform:
All
Android
Type:
defect

Tracking

(Webcompat Priority:P2, Webcompat Score:6, firefox143 verified)

Status:
VERIFIED FIXED
Project Flags:
Webcompat Priority P2
Webcompat Score 6
Tracking Flags:
Tracking Status
firefox143 --- verified

People

(Reporter: solaceten, Unassigned)

References

(Blocks 1 open bug,
URL
)

Details

(Keywords: webcompat:contact-complete, webcompat:site-report, webcompat:site-wait)

User Story

platform:android
impact:feature-broken
configuration:general
affects:all
outreach-assignee:jrmuizel
outreach-contact-date:2025-08-25
outreach-response-date:2025-09-08

Steps to reproduce:

  1. go to google my business and click on reviews "get more reviews"
  2. copy the short url and send in email
  3. open email on phone and url launches the google review page in firefox
  4. receive 404 not found that's all we know

Actual results:

Also the same issue as noted here:
https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/16767

Example URL to open in fenix

Direct URL: https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJj61dQgK6j4AR4GeTYWZsKWw

Note: Direct url of google review page. This is not working when you open it in Firefox android browser but the same works fine in all other browsers without any issues.

Expected results:

should be working but appears to be a bug.

The exact error is:

  1. That’s an error.

The requested URL /local/writereview?placeid=ChIJj61dQgK6j4AR4GeTYWZsKWw was not found on this server. That’s all we know.

Component: General → Mobile
Product: Fenix → Web Compatibility

This seems to be server-side UA sniffing, as this fails on Desktop with the Firefox Android UA string as well. We could spoof, but flipping from a Firefox UA to a Chrome UA might upset the account management, as this is behind authentication. I've emailed Google folks, and I'll give them a bit of time before exploring intervention options.

Keywords: webcompat:site-wait
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Priority: -- → P2

Any update or work around? This is causing me a few headaches as we've just printed and distributed many of these QR code links to Google Reviews.... and all our clients are complaining about 404s....

Thanks

Flags: needinfo?(solaceten)

@denschub (Dennis Schubert)

Any update?

Flags: needinfo?(solaceten)

If there is an update, it will be posted here.

Component: Mobile → Site Reports
Severity: -- → S3
User Story: (updated)
Depends on: 975444
Duplicate of this bug: 1937028
Webcompat Priority: --- → P2
Webcompat Score: --- → 6

I've emailed Google folks, and I'll give them a bit of time before exploring intervention options.
It's been 1.5 years. I hope this doesn't come across as pushy, but maybe mail them again please :)
It might be time to start thinking about intervention options soonish like spoofing the UA. as shitty as this feels to me. Spoofing the UA would only hit Nightly and then Beta first which would give Google some more time to get this fixed on their end.

The user experience has been ruined by this for over 4.5 years now :/
https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/16767
Further links I collected: https://github.com/webcompat/web-bugs/issues/160116#issuecomment-2943252286

since, I can't edit, my last message was supposed to quote like this. Sorry for the spam:

I've emailed Google folks, and I'll give them a bit of time before exploring intervention options.

It's been 1.5 years. I hope this doesn't come across as pushy, but maybe mail them again please :)
It might be time to start thinking about intervention options soonish like spoofing the UA. as shitty as this feels to me. Spoofing the UA would only hit Nightly and then Beta first which would give Google some more time to get this fixed on their end.

The user experience has been ruined by this for over 4.5 years now :/
https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/16767
Further links I collected: https://github.com/webcompat/web-bugs/issues/160116#issuecomment-2943252286

Duplicate of this bug: 1984432

The severity field for this bug is set to S3. However, the following bug duplicate has higher severity:

:denschub, could you consider increasing the severity of this bug to S2?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Flags: needinfo?(dschubert)
User Story: (updated)
Keywords: webcompat:contact-in-progress

Google fixed this.

Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 1 year ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED

I can confirm the fix using the latest nightly.

Verified, works as expected with the RC build.

Tested with:

  • Browser / Version: Fenix 143.0-candidate build 1
  • Operating System: Google Pixel 5 (Android 14)
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED

Yes I can confirm this works great now. Thanks everyone, can't believe it takes so long for Google to respond and fix it.

Flags: needinfo?(dschubert)
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