1930302 - Fenix address bar changes to show non-navigable URL when tapping certain external-app-launching links

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox for Android :: Browser Engine, defect, P1)

Description

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

Steps to reproduce

1. Be sure you don't have the Instagram native app installed. (Uninstall it, if you've got it.) EDIT: disregard this step - on further testing, I found this isn't necessary -- this bug reproduces regardless of whether or not Instagram-the-app is installed.
2. Visit https://instagram.com in Firefox Nightly on Android.
3. Tap the big "Open in Instagram" button. (This will probably launch the Google Play store.)
4. Switch apps back to Firefox.

Expected behavior

URL bar should still show instagram.com

Actual behavior

URL bar shows intent://instagram.com/_n/m... (can't see the rest of it after that, but the full URL can be seen if you tap the address bar -- it's quite long)

Device information

• Firefox version: Nightly 134.0a1
• Android device model: Pixel 6a, Pixel 8
• Android OS version: 15

Any additional information?

This seems to be a regression, with regression range https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=ea780f8940f5&tochange=8301e6902b9a

In there, I suspect bug 1914797 as having caused this change, since it had to do with the timing/logic around updates to what we show in the address bar during navigation.

Comment 1

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

Attachment: screencast of bug reproducing when Instagram is not installed (notice the address bar contents changing right away when I tap the "open in instagram" button)

Comment 2

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

(In reply to Daniel Holbert [:dholbert] from comment #0)

1. Be sure you don't have the Instagram native app installed. (Uninstall it, if you've got it.)

I just updated comment 0 to strike this out -- this bug reproduces if you've got the app installed, too.

(I had previously noticed that the bug reproduces and is extra-noticeable when you have the Instagram app installed-but-never-yet-launched, because then you hit bug 1930300 and the address-bar-change ends up being the only thing that you see. I just confirmed it reproduces when you have the Instagram app installed and launched/functional, too.)

Comment 4

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

Attachment: screencast of bug reproducing when Instagram *is* installed (notice the address bar contents changing right away when I tap the "open in instagram" button)

Comment 5

[Cathy Lu [:calu]]

Fenix address bar also changes to show "mailto:" URL, urls to open the phone app below, etc.

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjOnLfHptyJAxWtLtQBHZLEMgMYABAFGgJvYQ&co=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzpy3x6bciQMVrS7UAR2SxDIDEAAYASABEgJpHvD_BwE&sph=&sig=AOD64_1m_WFYTEe4nt5-2T06UHq-C0yj2Q&ved=2ahUKEwiouLHHptyJAxUo4ckDHQiYBbYQgQ16BAgSEAo&adurl=

Comment 6

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

Setting Fx133 to disabled since the regressing patch in Bug 1914797 was backed out of beta.

Comment 7

[killercontact1.7.4.0]

Reproducible with Aliexpress. At first, everything is normal, then Aliexpress tries to force app load with the aliexpress:// URI scheme on every page, trying to redirect to the corresponding app activity. "Open links in app" is disabled in Fenix settings. As a result, the URL changes to a string such as aliexpress://product/detail?productId= that is of no practical use, though the page is not redirected to app.

Comment 8

[killercontact1.7.4.0]

(In reply to killercontact1.7.4.0 from comment #7)

Reproducible with Aliexpress. At first, everything is normal, then Aliexpress tries to force app load with the aliexpress:// URI scheme on every page, trying to redirect to the corresponding app activity. "Open links in app" is disabled in Fenix settings. As a result, the URL changes to a string such as aliexpress://product/detail?productId= that is of no practical use, though the page is not redirected to app.

P.S. it is not disabled, set to "always ask", but the dialog never shows on Aliexpress.

Comment 9

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

If Firefox is showing you aliexpress:// in Firefox's URL bar at all, then that specific cosmetic issue is this bug.[1] If you're seeing additional odd/unexpected behavior while using the Aliexpress webapp, then that's probably worth filing a new bug for with more details. (please do - thanks!)

(If I understand you correctly, you're expecting to see an open-in-app dialog, but you're not getting one. If so, that's neither Bug 1882137 nor this bug here; hence, a new bug would be good. Bug 1882137 is tangentially about these dialogs -- specifically about what happens if you cancel out of them, which is different from what you're talking about, I think.)

[1] For what it's worth I'm not yet seeing "Aliexpress tries to force app load with the aliexpress:// URI scheme on every page" in my own Firefox Nightly on Android, unless I explicitly tap the "open" bar on the site's "install our app" banner, which causes an aliexpress:// URI to briefly flash in my URL bar. But if you & I are seeing different behaviors from the site, it's conceivable that that's just geolocation-dependent, or login-dependent (I'm not logged in), or there's some other external factor involved. Anyway, probably not worth trying to sort out the difference in observed behavior here; those sorts of details would be great to sort out on the bug report that you'll perhaps file about this.

Comment 10

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

Setting Fx134 to disabled since the regressing patch in Bug 1914797 was backed out of central.

Comment 11

[Cathy Lu [:calu]]

This should be resolved by the patch being backed out. Closing as WORKSFORME.