Help How can I make every browser default to itself when clicking a link?

[Dave Rado]

I use several browsers on my phone, because they're all good at some things and bad at others - and between them they do a good job at everything.

But whenever I click on a link in any of my browsers, I get asked which browser I want to open the link in. OBVIOUSLY I want to open the link in the browser that I'm currently using - that's why I'm currently using that browser - because I WANT to use it. It seems so ridiculously obvious to me that I simply can't understand why the Android developers apparently think I need to be asked every single time.

If I click the "Always" button, rather than the "Just once" button, then I can't use either of my other two browsers ever again, because from then on, any link I ever click on in any browser will always opens that link in the browser that I happened to have had open *when I selected the "Always" option* - whereas, obviously, I want it to open all links in whichever browser I am using *when I click on the link*.

In order to get it to behave sensibly again, I have to go into Application Manager and clear all my Defaults for all three browsers, and I have to select the "Just once" button from then on, every single time I open any link. This behaviour is *unbelievably* infuriating.

On my PC, if I'm in Firefox, and I click on a link, that link opens in Firefox. If I'm in Chrome and I click on a link, the link opens in Chrome. I don't have to tell Windows which browser to open every single link in, it just knows. It seems so totally obvious to me that this is what ANYONE would want to happen that I'm flabbergasted that the Android developers don't realise this.

I'm sure that this maddening behaviour only started relatively recently, so I presume it was introduced in a fairly recent version of Android.

Does anyone know of any way of getting around this, i.e, of forcing my phone to open all links in whichever browser I happen to be using *at the time that I click on the link*?

Also, does anyone know whether the Android developers have been made aware of how infuriating this behaviour is?

Dave

 

[AZgl1500]

you and me both, I think it is asinine that a browser will not continue to open new links and stay within itself.

 

[Dave Rado]

Is there any way of finding out whether the Android developers have been made aware of how infuriating this behaviour is?

 

[lunatic59]

But whenever I click on a link in any of my browsers, I get asked which browser I want to open the link in.

I don't see this (Nexus 6/Android 6.01). I tried Chrome and Dolphin browsers and when I click a link in either, it stays in that browser and takes me to the link. Are you only using Chrome and Firefox?

 

[Dave Rado]

I don't see this (Nexus 6/Android 6.01). I tried Chrome and Dolphin browsers and when I click a link in either, it stays in that browser and takes me to the link. Are you only using Chrome and Firefox?

I don't use Firefox on my phone, I use it (and Chrome) on my PC. On my phone (which is a Samsung Galaxy S2, which runs Android 4.1.2, which is the latest version of Android for that phone) I use the built in browser, plus Chrome, plus Photon.

Your version of Android is astonishingly different from mine, though. I suppose that must have something to do with the fact that the S2 is an old phone, although the Android version on it still gets updated from time to time and it was updated quite recently, which is when the problems I reported began. And AZgl1500 posted to say he has the same problem as I do.

dave

 

[lunatic59]

I have an old S2 sitting around at home. I'll see if I can recreate the problem this evening.

 

[svim]

I don't see this (Nexus 6/Android 6.01). I tried Chrome and Dolphin browsers and when I click a link in either, it stays in that browser and takes me to the link. Are you only using Chrome and Firefox?

Same with me. On my S3/4.4.2 using Firefox when I tap on links they just open on Firefox. If I long press on a link it'll open in a new tab.

 

[Dave Rado]

I have an old S2 sitting around at home. I'll see if I can recreate the problem this evening.

Did you try it on your S2?