External apps still not opening on link click
I have been looking for an answer for a while and found some posts "claiming" this has been fixed however I don't agree that it has at all.
When clicking a link in Firefox (i.e. a play store link) it should produce a native android pop-up asking how it should be opened (on my mobile it would be a choice between Chrome, Nightly and the Play store app).
This is the normal way of doing things in android and is frustrating as hell. I would just switch to chrome but I want to use my browsers sync functions.
Instead I have to wait for the regular desktop page to load completely then click the android icon in the android icon. If I stop the page loading because I'm in a hurry this link wont even work.
Is there any way around this? The addons I once used to fix this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/addon/helper-apps/ and https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/i-love-apps/ no longer work.
All Replies (4)
Helper applications are built into the product when supported. You should see an Android looking icon in the address-bar, tapping that will open the associated native application. E.g, on Yelp (if you have Yelp installed) tapping the icon will switch to it, or Google Maps, etc. You can also long-tap on certain links and in the context-menu you'll see 'Open with App' for example on a Google Map link.
Sorry, you clearly are trying to help but you also clearly didn't read my question.
That is not the normal way for an app in Android to open an app compatible link. It is supposed to pop up with a standard system complete action dialog.
The linked helper apps that used to work no longer function and I want to find a new solution, or at least a work around, because with the current "Solution" I have to wait for the page to load completely (if I stop the webpage loading this icon rarely if never appears) and then try click a tiny icon.
I honestly can't understand why the devs opted for a non-standard solution. It must have caused them a fair amount of extra work to implement a far inferior solution.
I agree with OP. There should be a setting that makes all links that can be opened with an app open in the app immediately (or show the dialog OP mentioned).
On a slow mobile connection, waiting for the page to load just to be able to click the icon and open it in the app is painful! It takes ages...
I think I know exactly what you mean, when clicking a link to a google play store product you want the app to open instead of the play webpage.
Well, in firefox I don't think this can be done, but, yes there's a but, as seen in this screenshot you can make the app open by clicking the little android icon in the address bar, this opens the application instead of the page so you can download the product you want. (Aaronmt mentioned this in an earlier post, so I feel I should credit him here.) I'm merely adding to his post by adding a screenshot showing the android icon circled. Thanks aaron, you helped me out too!
I hope this helps.
Modified by pEnTiCtOn