PSA: You Can Control How Links Open Apps on Android

When you open a file or link, Android often asks you which app you want to "open it with." While this can be handy most of the time, it can also easily become annoying. Allow me to show how to take back control for easier navigation.

Android phones used to have a little pop-up that asked which app you wanted when you tapped a link somewhere. For example, when opening an epub file, every epub reader on your phone shows up on that pop-up. You could pick a different app to open that ebook every time, or you could set a default one. They're called app links.

What I've laid out is a reasonable way to handle links. It makes sure every time you click a link, you go exactly to the app you want. You should only have to tap a Spotify or YouTube link once for the app to open. Link handling on Android doesn't work that way anymore (more on that in a few).

Android 12 introduced an "App Link Verification" feature that lets websites (not us) decide how to open a link automatically. That means a link (like Spotify) begins in the browser first.

It Takes Three Taps to Open Spotify

A friend of mine recently texted me a Spotify recommendation on Telegram. I tapped the shared link, and it loaded the web version of Spotify inside Telegram's in-app browser. Tapping the play button on this web version opened the link in the default browser. Once again, I tapped the play button in the default browser, and it (finally) opened the Spotify app. It took three taps and two web pages to open a Spotify link in the Spotify app.

On newer versions of Android, when you tap a "verified" link (like Spotify), the default browser acts as the middleman. It redirects you to the relevant app, bypassing the classic "Open with" dialog. You can see the list of a handful of verified links for each app in the system settings by tapping the "Open By Default" menu in the app list.

Why Everything Opens in The Browser First

The trouble is that not all official links are included in the list of verified links. Sometimes, tapping an official link will take you to the browser or the Play Store instead of launching the app. For example, I have the Slack app installed but when I tap a Slack link in any other app, it takes me to the Slack website in the browser, asking me to log in. When I tap Slack Android on the website, it takes me to the Play Store. Even though it’s the official link, supposedly, it doesn’t count as verified because, behind the scenes, that particular Slack link type isn’t included in the verified list.

By default, all “unverified links” open in the default browser (Google Chrome is a common one). The default browser then launches the relevant external app.

This whole design takes control away from you because you can’t choose which of your supported apps should open that link. For example, if you tap an unverified location link in your messaging app, it’d open in the browser instead of redirecting to the ride-sharing or map app of your choice. Or if you tap a Reddit link in Chrome, it’ll redirect to the web version of Reddit on Chrome instead of taking you to the Reddit client on the phone.

Unless you manually select a different browser, the browser of the manufacturer’s choice handles all “unverified” links.

There's no perfect way to bring back the link functionality older Android phones had. The best you can do is install a third-party app and use it as the middleman. You'll have to set it as the default browser, though. Once that's done, you can use the app to set a default browser. It's pretty neat, but it's not as seamless or bug-free as the native handler.

You’ll need to install a third-party “link handler” app that acts as the default browser and lets you set defaults when you click a link (just as it was in older Android versions). There are any number of link-handling apps you can download from the Play Store. I’ve tested Link Eye and Better Open With. Both work equally well, although Better Open With is more feature-rich, so that's the one we'll be using here.

To set it up, install the Better Open With app from the Google Play Store and open it. Then, set this app as the default browser. To do that, open the Settings app and go to the “Default Apps” settings. Usually, it’s in Settings > Apps > Default Apps. In Default Apps, select the Browser and set it to “Better Open With.”

The next time you tap a link, Better Open With should pop up on the bottom with a timer, allowing you to pick your preferred app. You can select a link and open it with the Better Open With selector.

You can set defaults for file and content types (Android 12 and up still lets you control these links natively, by the way). You can also change the layout of the app selection pop-up, and disable or change the countdown timer and its position in the Better Open With settings. You can set any app as the “preferred” or default app by tapping the star icon next to it.

The pop-up menu lets you set default apps, too. Unless you install a new app that handles that exact type of link (for example, a ride-sharing app that works with Google location pins), the default will stay active.

You can’t control link handling in the Settings app anymore, but you can at least restore some of that functionality with third-party apps.