My understanding is that in-app browsers are only browsers if browsers don't need to include any privacy. e.g. WKNavigationDelegate seems to allow the surrounding app to capture cookies for any site the user logs into.
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Replying to @jyasskin @othermaciej and
Well, they *are* browsers after all. Of course they do.
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How's that different than if you install Firefox on your Android? (Or Google Chrome on iOS).
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Replying to @tobie @othermaciej and
You are trusting any browser you install with your full browsing data, which is why Firefox, Safari, Brave, etc. use privacy arguments to try to convert Chrome's users. How many users realize that their browser decision isn't keeping them safe when they click a link in an app?
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Replying to @jyasskin @othermaciej and
It's not like they really have a choice.
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They don't and that's not OK. But more to the point, giving a choice will not fix the problem in practice. This is a serious design flaw that users shouldn't need to know or care about.
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Replying to @KenjiBaheux @tobie and
It would be great if more in-app browsers (or even all of them) could be the good kind. Tough problem to take away or restrict existing APIs, but worth it to work on it. In any case, the in-app browsers that are implemented the less good way are still browsers.
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Replying to @othermaciej @KenjiBaheux and
I've been defining browsers as "apps that accept all navigation intents"; that's a bit Android specific (as you can actually replace the default browser there), but it captures the essential difference in responsibility to the user, IMO. These WebView things are franken-browsers.
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Replying to @slightlylate @othermaciej and
Arriving at a sort of agreed-upon definition would be interesting and would help inform conversations. Maybe a
@w3ctag finding? How can we make progress when there's no agreement between browser engineers as towards what we're working?2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @tobie @othermaciej and
Lemmie be super clear: apps that capture clicks to the web and then short both users and developers of privacy, security, and choice (Apple's retrograde policies not withstanding) are *anti-social*. Become a real browser or leave it to the pros.
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...and on that basis, I'd of course welcome a thoughtful treatment by the @w3ctag. Calling out the tradeoffs of "in app browsers" and their better/worse permutations is overdue.
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