1993107 - YouTube app's "posts" (textual articles) usually don't work - they result in a prompt to return to YouTube, which then sends the user back to Firefox with a blank tab

Status: NEW

(Firefox for Android :: App Links, defect)

Description

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

I think this is a combination of bug 1983915 and bug 1991601, but it's at a new scenario/app not discussed in those bugs, so I figured I'd file separately as a dependent bug to capture the additional symptoms.

Steps to reproduce

1. Have Firefox (or Firefox Nightly) set as your default browser on Android.
2. Open the native YouTube app for Android.
3. Search YouTube for "@nytimes", and tap "View Channel" for The New York Times
4. Underneath the NYTimes "Subscribe" button, there's a carousel of buttons Home | Videos | Shorts ... - scroll that sideways and tap "Posts" (the rightmost button)
5. Tap "Read more" on one of the posts to read the summary, and then tap the https://nyti.ms/[...] link (usually at the end of the summary) to view the full article.

Expected behavior

Browser opens, showing a New York Times article.

Actual behavior

First, a custom tab opens, with URL bar showing just "youtube.com" and with a prompt saying

Open in YouTube
Would you like to leave Firefox to view this content?

If I click "Open", it flickers back to the YouTube app, and over to the "full" Firefox browser (not a custom tab anymore).
At this point, Firefox is usually left stuck at a blank tab with a youtube.com/redirect URL in the location bar, though sometimes it loads the actual article. (If it's stuck, I can get through to the article by reloading the page; but until I do that, I've just got a blank tab.)

Device information

• Firefox version: 143.0.4, 145.0a1
• Android device model: Pixel 10 Pro XL
• Android OS version: 16

For comparison: If I perform the STR with Chrome as my default browser, I simply get a custom-tab that appears with the New York Times article.

Comment 1

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

Attachment: screencast of bug

Comment 2

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

Comment 1 has a screencast showing the bug as described in comment 0.

Moments of interest:
t=3s: Firefox has opened a custom-tab with the unexpected "Open in YouTube" prompt, after I just tapped a link from inside of YouTube.
t=4s: Firefox passes the link back to YouTube, which in turn opens Firefox again. (So we've gone from YouTube->Firefox->YouTube->Firefox)
t=5s: You can see Firefox has now landed on a blank tab with "youtube.com/redirect" in the URL bar.
t=9s: I reload the page, and now finally we load the NYTimes article.

Note that I performed all of this without the NYTimes app installed. The results get a bit more complicated if I have that app installed. I'll attach a screenshot of that to demonstrate as well.

Comment 3

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

Attachment: screencast of STR with NYTimes installed

Here's a screencast of how things look if I have the NYTimes app installed. The experience is nearly the same as described in comment 0 - comment 2, except that now at the end, I get prompted to open the NYTimes app (after being prompted to open the YouTube app).

So, I end up being bounced from YouTube -> Firefox [prompt] -> YouTube -> Firefox [prompt] -> NYTimes

Comment 4

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

Attachment: screencast with Chrome as default browser, for comparison

Here's a screencast of what happens when I have Chrome as my default browser, for comparison:

• A custom tab opens, viewing a youtube.com URL which redirects to a nytimes.com URL.
• the browser doesn't attempt to open any external apps to handle these URLs, despite the fact that (in this screencast) I have both the YouTube and the NYTimes app installed.

(YouTube and NYTimes have of course registered themselves as app-handlers for these URLs, but presumably the characteristics of the navigation here happen to trigger the "remain in browser [custom-tab in this case]" path in Chrome, i.e. bug 1983915 comment 6 bucket "B")

Comment 5

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

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

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 6

[Daniel Holbert [:dholbert]]

(Note, you can also test this bug with the @cnn channel on YouTube; they've got a "posts" section as well, which currently has one entry from a year ago.)

I retested this bug in current Nightly (2025-11-09), because one of the dependent bugs, bug 1991601, has been fixed -- this is somewhat improved now, but not entirely.

• I do reliably still get a custom-tab with an awkward "Open in YouTube" prompt that I described in comment 0 "Actual Results" -- that prompt remains a bit awkward since the invitation-to-open-YouTube appears while I'm already inside of the YouTube app (in a custom tab opened in the context of the YouTube app). But I imagine this might be sorta-expected for now, given that we're being asked to load a youtube.com URL here (technically youtube.com/redirect?...) which presumably trips our "hey, there's a registered app to handle this url" check. I think bug 1983915 might help avoid this specific issue, one way or another.
• Setting that^ awkwardness aside -- when I click "Open" on that^ prompt, the YouTube native app briefly becomes foreground again, and then we switch over to the full Firefox Nightly app, showing a youtube.com/redirect URL in the address bar, but now not-showing any app-launch prompt.
• And then I intermittently see either a "good" or "bad" outcome. The "good" outcome is that this new youtube.com/redirect tab successfully redirects to the actual article (either nytimes.com or cnn.com). The "bad" outcome is that the youtube.com/redirect tab just remains blank with no navigation -- this was the "actual results" in comment 0.

I've seen a single post (e.g. the @cnn post) result in that "good" outcome on some attempts and "bad" outcome on other attempts; I don't know yet why it works sometimes and doesn't other times.

(One other thing that's notable - if you happen to have the native app installed for these news providers (e.g. the NYTimes Android app), then even with the "good" outcome, you end up seeing another app-launch prompt when Firefox loads the nytimes URL. So you start by tapping a link in the native YouTube app, which opens Firefox, and we ask if you want to open that link in YouTube; and if you accept, then you end up back in Firefox, which then asks if you want to open the link in NYTimes; and if you accept, then you finally see the link in the native NYTimes app. That back-and-forth is a bit painful. And this is the best-case scenario when all the links properly load, anyway. :) )