Open Radar

 
Summary:
Safari Private Browsing mode opens Universal Links without concern for user privacy

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Install the Twitter app and login
2. Open Safari
3. Enable Private Browsing Mode
4. Send a text to the phone (or write a note) containing “https://twitter.com/allowe/status/651284694193975296”
5. Tap the link to the off-color joke

Expected Results:
I expect the link to open in Safari’s Private Browsing Mode, since I have expressed that I don’t want to be tracked right now.

Actual Results:
The link is opened in the Twitter app, which allows the Twitter corporation to track my affinity for off-color jokes, and possibly associate me with drug use. This is because I’m logged in to the Twitter app, even though I am not logged in to Twitter in Safari’s Private Browsing mode.

(This is a basic example, but the potential for privacy violation is real and could be much more disastrous.)

Notes:
- The workaround to long-press the link and tap “Open in Safari” is unacceptable - the default behavior should be to respect the user’s privacy preferences, not ignore them
- Most users can’t see or understand the apple-app-site-association JSON file, so they will not be able to predict when tapping a link will open Safari or an app
- Suggested design improvement: tapping a link that has a apple-app-site-association match should prompt the user to select Safari or a third-party app.